New drill mount.

[gundog]

I have been going to add an electric drill to my SB now for a couple years. I finally got around to making the parts. The mount is a design shared with me by a former Shop Botter and I modified it to suit my needs. I then designed the clamp mount for the Milwaukee hammer drill. I got the idea for using a hand held drill from another botter who posted a picture a few years back.

The reason I used a hammer drill is for 2 reasons the first is they have a nice round section near the chuck to mount to. The second reason for using this hammer drill was it had the RPM range I was looking for 750 RPM max on Low and 2500 RPM max on hi. The hammer drill can be ran in the non hammer mode.

The 2500 RPM will be just right for drilling some aluminum extrusions I sell. I bought a hand held router speed control that I will use to dial in the RPM I need. I have a IR non contact RPM meter to get my RPM's at different points along the router speed control dial.

I need to pick up a couple extension cords to finish the install and I also need to check the tram on the drill spindle to table. I will follow up on a post after I get it all finished.

I have one more addition to finish on the SB that will be a clamping fixture for the X0 end of the table to allow me to edge drill some parts I make. I got a piece of extrusion from SB that they used on my X rails that I plan to use for the fixture.

It looks like by adding another mount to my Gary Campbell dust foot I will be able to re-use the dust foot by just moving it to another mount. I also need to add a little longer piece of DC hose.

Mike

[Red F]

Thanks for posting that.
I'm thinking of doing a similar modification on my buddy soon.

[Bob Eustace]

Very nice Mike.

[Brady Watson]

Very Nice!

Now you can drill anything!

These are quite nice if you need them: http://youtu.be/xC5oKBiHUgI

-B

[gundog]

I have not tried it yet what my main use for the drill will be drilling some .500" 6061 AL extrusions the drill bit is stepped to drill a pilot hole for a #10 screw and a countersink. Z depth is going to be very critcal to not make the countersink too deep or too shallow. I have my doubts that the SB can drill a series of holes without losing some Z height in the aluminum but I will see.

I am wondering if anyone has converted the Z axis to a Ball screw type Z rather than the rack and pinion. I am thinking the ball screw setup would be better at repeating than the rack and take less torque on the stepper motor but I am not sure this is a guess for me. What do you guys think?

I have a CNC bed mill I have been using for these parts but with only 32" of X travel and the parts needing to be drilled up to 8' long it is a pain to index them.

Mike

[coryatjohn]

I don't know how happy you will be with that Milwaukee drill. I have the same exact model and it is terrible. I've used it a number of times in hammer mode and after about an hour of use, the torque dropped to nearly zero. It has almost no endurance. Once it gets hot, it essentially becomes a paperweight.

I hope you have better luck with your one.

[Brady Watson]

Mike,
A screw would no doubt make better use of the stepper than R&P, but integrating it would take some thought on a PRS. If you had an Alpha, I would say yes - no problem - because they have a lot more torque than the Standards do. Worst case, just do some testing, peck drill & peck countersink at low speed & see where you need to be.

-B