Drill Press I-Beam
Drilling holes in small pieces
can be hard to do on a drill press. If you try to hold them with your hand,
they want to spin when the bit breaks through the back side. So to prevent
this, I made an auxiliary table to hold small pieces securely, as you can see
in the photo.
The auxiliary table is shaped like an I-beam — the
top and bottom pieces extend out as clamping platforms, as illustrated in the
lower drawing.
To build the table, start by cutting an identical top and
bottom piece from plywood, as shown in the upper drawing. A dado blade makes
quick work of cutting a groove down the center of both pieces to fit a 2x4.
Once that's complete, glue and clamp the pieces together.
Completing the
table is just a matter of drilling holes in the top and bottom pieces. This
way, you can secure the table to the drill press with carriage bolts and a
couple wing nuts. Make sure you bolt it in at least two slots to prevent the
table from twisting.
Note: When the top gets chewed up with use, just
flip the table over and use the other side.
Have a nice
weekend,
Bryan Nelson
Online Editor, ShopNotes
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