Drill press

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Rafiki50289
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Drill press

Post by Rafiki50289 »

I recently acquired a ovalmatic jig and need a press to attach it to. I'm not sure what I need in terms of performance can anyone please recommend some for me please.
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Re: Drill press

Post by VLe »

Are you looking for a professional way to drill hundreds of balls for customers or a DIY-way to drill mostly your own balls? The budget defines a lot here.

For a drill press some "minimum requirements" that can save you a lot of time:
- Sturdier the better
- at least 4" spindle travel
- drill-mill (with morse type fastening cone) is a lot better for ovaling
- cross-feed table
- speed should be able to adjust slow, E.G. 250RPM

Since you have already bought such an expensive jig, i suppose that you are going the pro-way. Someone else can suggest you a good drilling machine.
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Rafiki50289
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Re: Drill press

Post by Rafiki50289 »

I am looking for something personal for now and eventually I will upgrade. I got an amazing deal on the job and my budget is low. Can I go to Lowe's harbor freight Sears or somewhere? Maybe someone can give me a link to a good one.
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Re: Drill press

Post by georgeh »

Rafiki50289 wrote:I am looking for something personal for now and eventually I will upgrade. I got an amazing deal on the job and my budget is low. Can I go to Lowe's harbor freight Sears or somewhere? Maybe someone can give me a link to a good one.
The presses at both Lowe's and Harbor Freight are pretty much unacceptable for drilling bowling balls (unless they have some new ones). Delta, Jet, Enco are a few of the most popular for presses and can be easily found on craigslist very reasonable. If you are looking to buy new, tool dealers handling Jet and Delta plus WoodCraft stores are all over, along with the now e-tailer use-enco.com. Plus A good source for used drill press information, is woodworking forums. I've seen where they really trash older Sears Craftsman and Montgomery Wards presses.

There are a few necessities for drilling bowling balls. A 16" swing minimum ( the distance between the column and the center of chuck), spindle depth plunge of at least 4.5" (to compensate for installing removable thumb slugs and the distance needed between ball and drill bit to insert and remove bits) along with a depth indicator, a 5/8" chuck, at least a 1/2hp motor, and adjustable speeds down to 300rpm or so.

Hope this helps
Last edited by georgeh on March 15th, 2017, 6:25 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Drill press

Post by JohnP »

Look at some of the presses Grizzly.com sells. I've never seen one other than in their catalog, but they are known for quality equipment. For a home shop or even a low volume pro shop you don't need a floor model as long as you have a good sturdy table. Another web site to check out is Innovative Supply, they have good equipment but will be pricier. -- JohnP

Edit: The link to the Innovative website's drill sheet is below. If you see a press you're interested in, but without a jig, call them and see what they will sell just the press for.

http://innovativebowling.com/Drilling-E ... t_c_1.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Drill press

Post by Rafiki50289 »

Thanks for the info. Am I better off getting a tabletop or a floor press?
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Re: Drill press

Post by georgeh »

Rafiki50289 wrote:Thanks for the info. Am I better off getting a tabletop or a floor press?
Depends on the type of ovalmatic jig you've acquired. If it has the x-y plates of the older style jig or whether it was bolted to a mill drill. If it was bolted to a mill-drill, you will need a x-y table.
A benchtop, with the table removed or rotated to the rear/side and the jig mounted to a plate attached to the base may work, depending on max distance base to chuck.

I used am older ovalmatic clamped to the table of a floor model (with 4" clamps) for a while.
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Re: Drill press

Post by Rafiki50289 »

Its an older ovalmatic where I don't need the X and y table what where the specs of the drill you used I seen a used 34" tabletop drill for sale
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Re: Drill press

Post by russelldean »

1 800 use enco. Or check out specs on the website. Overseas press will do just fine
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Re: Drill press

Post by georgeh »

russelldean wrote:1 800 use enco. Or check out specs on the website. Overseas press will do just fine
I just noticed Enco (use-enco.com)was purchased by MSC ( redirected to mscdirect.com) and has a larger variety of tools and tooling.

FYI, drill press swing is 2x the distance from the center of the column and center of the chuck, so a 16.5" or 17" swing press with a 3 1/8" column (17/2-1.5625=6.9375) would give you about 7" from column to chuck, plenty of room to mount a jig. A 34" press I'm guessing, is the height, typical bench model and if it's less than 16"swing there may not be enough room to mount the jig on center to the table or base. A 34" swing press would be a huge possibly a 3 phase monster.

I personally would purchase a used 16.5"-17" floor model, due to the overall height of the jig plus the size of the ovalmatic x-y plates . I don't believe I've seen an original Ovalmatic mounted to a bench model press, not that it can't be done.

And, If you were looking to reconfigure the jig to a mill-drill, one would need the taller version (similar to Jet 350020) of a mill-drill that generally comes with a power downfeed.
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