I am looking at getting a small cross-feed table for my drill press. Something that has 8-10 inches of cross travel and 5 to 6 inches of in/out travel. I have a small project that requires some higher precision pieces than I can make by hand, mainly straightening out edges on some relatively small pieces of steel (1/8-inch thick x 6-inches long). The largest end mill that will be used is 1/4-inch diameter for this project. I understand the limitations of a drill press and I know it's not a mill etc. I'm not attempting to do high-precision work only straightening edges. I've looked online and what I am seeing are tables that are mostly made in China. The best I've seemed to have found is the Ellis and Palmgren products. Both are made in Taiwan as opposed to mainland China. If anyone has purchased or used a cross-feed table and has recommendations I would appreciate the information. The budget range is $800 or less if possible.
Drill Press Cross-Feed Table
- Thread starter swines
- Start date
- Views: 12356
jthibodeau89
Gold Member
If only straightenijng edges, how about a small belt sander. For $800 I'll sell my HF lathe/mill combo.
LD1
Epic Contributor
How precise do they need to be? I'd be more inclined to use a 6" belt sander.
3Ts
Elite Member
If you're just after straight, you can also get pretty close with a vise and a file. If you're careful, you can also do parallel edges this way. How accurate do you need to be?
metalbender
Veteran Member
Find a local hobby machinist group. Guys are usually eager to help someone out. Pretty tough if you're far from a city though.
LouNY
Super Star Member
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2015
- Messages
- 14,347
- Location
- Greenwich, NY
- Tractor
- Branson 8050, IH 574, Oliver 1550 Diesel Utility (traded in on Branson) NH 8160. Kioti CK2620SECH
I didn't pay that much for my used milling machine.
BukitCase
Elite Member
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2012
- Messages
- 2,756
- Location
- Albany OR
- Tractor
- Case 580B, Long 460, Allis-Chalmers 160
Good advice from several who do NOT recommend trying to use a drill press as (even a LIGHT DUTY) milling machine - BTDT, years ago.
Or, you can get some invaluable first-hand experience of exactly WHY there are exactly ZERO actual milling machines that use Morse taper to mount cutters, just by going ahead with the plan.
And yes, I AM speaking from experience; tried that ONCE, still have an ancient taiwanese XY vise on my equally ancient DP but I ONLY use the XY part to (semi) precision locate holes. Works well for that; I even discovered that my particular XY vise's X and Y lead screws are exactly 8 TPI, so each turn of the crank moves that axis by 1/8" - makes it easy to (for example) drill hole, crank 8 turns, drill hole so all holes are exactly 1" apart -
I finally gave up on finding a used Bridgeport mill that wasn't already scrap metal about 12 years ago and bought a new Grizzly mill (NOT a round column) - not cheap, but the right tool for ANYTHING requiring side loading.
I know you said you're aware, but so was I - once a Morse taper falls out of the quill, you will likely ALWAYS have trouble getting it to stay put without getting a new male and re-reaming the female (they make MT reamers in all sizes) - Best of luck... Steve
Or, you can get some invaluable first-hand experience of exactly WHY there are exactly ZERO actual milling machines that use Morse taper to mount cutters, just by going ahead with the plan.
And yes, I AM speaking from experience; tried that ONCE, still have an ancient taiwanese XY vise on my equally ancient DP but I ONLY use the XY part to (semi) precision locate holes. Works well for that; I even discovered that my particular XY vise's X and Y lead screws are exactly 8 TPI, so each turn of the crank moves that axis by 1/8" - makes it easy to (for example) drill hole, crank 8 turns, drill hole so all holes are exactly 1" apart -
I finally gave up on finding a used Bridgeport mill that wasn't already scrap metal about 12 years ago and bought a new Grizzly mill (NOT a round column) - not cheap, but the right tool for ANYTHING requiring side loading.
I know you said you're aware, but so was I - once a Morse taper falls out of the quill, you will likely ALWAYS have trouble getting it to stay put without getting a new male and re-reaming the female (they make MT reamers in all sizes) - Best of luck... Steve
dadohead
Platinum Member
Really a bad idea. Drill presses are not designed for the large side loads at the chuck... as stated above you'll damage the taper or bend a spindle. I had an old Palmgren XY rotary table... good for precision drilling only. I have a mill so never used it.
Snag a disc sander/grinder. A 12" disc is big enough and is the right tool to straighten up the edge job you describe. Machinists, tool makers, pattern makers do it all the time.
CalG
Super Member
- Joined
- Sep 29, 2011
- Messages
- 9,193
- Location
- vermont
- Tractor
- Hurlimann 435, Fordson E27n, Bolens HT-23, Kubota B7200, Kubota B2601
It's amazing how quickly a good quality Vixen file can straighten up an edge.
1/2 inch steel might get tedious, but under that, a grinder and a file is my choice. Unless the job is worth setting up on the mill. ;-)
Keeping a drilling machine chuck on it's taper trying to "mill" is a fools mission.
1/2 inch steel might get tedious, but under that, a grinder and a file is my choice. Unless the job is worth setting up on the mill. ;-)
Keeping a drilling machine chuck on it's taper trying to "mill" is a fools mission.
I own a 6-inch x 48-inch belt sander. I've tried making a fixture for the table and passing the pieces through the fixture and the results are not what I want.
Well, it's my money, time, and equipment - not yours. At one point in my life, I owned a Bridgeport J-head, Hardinge toolroom lathe, a 3.5 hp CNC mill, 5 hp CNC mill, 10 hp CNC machining center, and an EDM. I think I understand the difference between true machine tools and a drill press and the capabilities differences between them. But, thanks for the useless comment that is of absolutely no help.
I don't care what you paid or didn't pay for a milling machine. I don't have room for a milling machine, I don't have three-phase power or a rotary phase converter. Why did you bother to comment if you have no information of any use? Just driving through and thought you drop a snarky comment? Noted...
At one point in my life, I owned a machine shop. It had multiple CNC mills, a Bridgeport, a Hardinge toolroom lathe, an EDM, a complete sheet metal fabrication area, and a plastic injection molding machine. The CNC machine tools were high precision and with careful setup and control, parts were regularly made with +0 / -0.0001 inch accuracy. I think I know the difference in how machine tools and drill presses work and why. I'm not trying to make repetitive movements, hold locations, surface milling, or hold precision tolerances. This isn't true machine work.
I can make my metal bandsaw hold tolerances of 0.003 with 12 parts having a miter cut at each end. You'll have to take MY word for the fact that I know what I need to accomplish this task and you don't.
Uh..huh...I think I've already addressed all of this in previous posts. I've tried the belt sander with a fixture. Results were not satisfactory. The side loads etc. will be minimal as this really isn't a true milling operation. It's my machine. If I damage it. I'll fix it.
Thank you very much. I was not aware of that source.
BukitCase
Elite Member
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2012
- Messages
- 2,756
- Location
- Albany OR
- Tractor
- Case 580B, Long 460, Allis-Chalmers 160
Speaking of "snarky", it smells to me like you PURPOSEFULLY left out 99% of this NEW epiphany, just so you could come back with a butt load of "hurt feelings" - sorry I wasted my time. BTW, fitting screen name...
dadohead
Platinum Member
DISK sander/grinder... not a belt. Belts don't sand flat/straight; disk sanders do. READ.
Or you can goober you're DP and have 2 projects...
