I've got some 5/8" CRS that I want to drill a centered hole in the end of. Seems simple enough, right? I've got a benchtop drill-press that I have mounted on the end of the bench and turned the head so that it is hanging over the edge (the rod is about 18" long and the press column is about 12"....). mount my vice on the table, turn the table
90deg so that I can approach the end. Everybody got the picture?Now to get it centered under the bit, I seem to need about 4 pairs of hands to:
1) slide the vice back and forth to get it under the bit, maintaining parallel to the bit. 2) rotate the table sideways to get it under the bit 3) move the rod up/down in the vice and maintain parallelism(sp?) to the drill-bitSeems like there should be a better/easier way but I'll be #@#$@ if I can figure it out. Too many dimenstions to have to think/move in.
Also, the quill travel is only 2". If I step-drill to the final size, I start off with smaller bits, which are not as long as the larger diameter bits. That means I have to move something to be able to get the bit in/out. THAT means centering everything all over again....
So, other than saving for a floor-model press, is there a better way?
Bill W