Work holding for drilling question

Jan 13, 2006 2 Replies
A

I have a piece of mild steel 2"x8" 5/8" thick I had to drill and tap 5-40 thread on one end lengthwise. I clamped one end in my cheap drill press vise() so it stands vertically and tried to center drill it. (I know it's bad to clamp long peace by one end) Vise wasn't bolted to the table. It vibrated really bad but I managed to make a hole but broke a tip of the center drill :( Then I rotated my worktable vertically with bolted vise so my work piece is clamped horizontally so it won't vibrate. I found that it's impossible to accurately adjust vise position so drill bit gets into the same hole. I removed vise and after positioning my workpiece manually clamped it with wise-grip clamp.



I hated the whole process it was a pain and holes where inaccurate. I am lucky I didn't break the drill bit.



What is a "right" way to do this? I am planning to get a xy table but for now all I have is a cheap drill press vise from HD.



Thanks, Alex


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A

An angle plate, with your bar clamped to it, and having the end rest against the drill press table. Lacking an angle plate, a piece of square tubing or something similar works well too.

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D

I won't claim this to be the "right" way, but it works:

Make a drillguide -- just drill same-size hole thru another piece of smaller material, perhaps angle.

Set up your workpiece so the drill lands where you want it to. Now place the drillguide on the workpiece using the drillbit in the drillpress to position it. Clamp the drillguide with visegrips or whatever. Drill hole.

The drillpress keeps the drillbit vertical, the table provides vertical counterforce against drill thrust, and the drillguide maintains horizontal alignment of drill to workpiece.

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