Thanks again to all who advised me on my drill press problem yesterday.
Today I have another issue (I think) and a couple related questions.
I was drilling some sheet metal and noticed there seemed to be some
vibration and runout, so I braced my hand against the table and pointed
at the chuck while the drill was running, and I could SEE the runout!
So, I got a dial indicator and jigged it up such that the measuring arm
bore against the chuck just above where the "teeth" are that engage the
chuck key, and turned the sheave by hand, and I'm getting right around
0.010" of runout there.
I then tried to jig up the dial indicator such that the measuring arm
bore against the part of the chuck with the holes in it (below the
toothed part, sorry for the lame terminology), and I only got a few
(maybe 2 or 3) thousandths of runout there.
My questions are:
1. What is the best way (or "standard" way if there is one) to measure
runout on my drill press? Should I put a straight rod or drill bit
(maybe backwards) into the chuck and measure runout a few inches
*below* the chuck? Is there some other way?
2. What would you folks consider the maximum acceptable runout
(measured in the manner suggested by your answer to question 1 above)
for a $400 Jet 17" swing drill press intended for woodworking?
I just bought this machine, and I want to make sure that I have the
manufacturer address any problems now, while it's new and under
warranty -- and I don't want to risk not realizing until 2 years from
now that this drill press is too screwed up to be acceptable for my
purposes, which will be woodworking, mainly (including hollow-chisel
mortising, once I buy the accessories) and a small amount of metal
drilling.
Thank you for reading my long post and thanks in advance for any
insights or replies.
Jones.
- posted 14 years ago