Drill Press X/Y Table

I previously made and used an X/Y table on my Delta floor standing drill press.  I've since sold that tool and replaced it with a Nova Voyager direct drive drill press. 

This post is about making a new (and improved) X/Y table for the new drill press. 

Nova Voyager Press

The previous table slid on 1/4" thick metal plate guides that slid in slots cut into plywood. With the leverage of threaded rods it worked well enough, but there is plenty of room for improvement. This version runs on linear slides salvaged from an old CNC project. 

A little sketching helped me visualize the assembly strategy.  There are 3 layers, a top, middle, and a bottom.  

Three Layers

1. The long rails mount on the bottom of the  top layer. 
2. The slides for the long rail mount on the top of the middle layer. 
3. The short rails mount on the bottom of the middle layer.
1. Four rails, 300mm long, were offset and used so the X/Y table could move forward 8.25". The 2nd layer is supported by 4 slides. 
4. The slides for the short rails mount on the top of the bottom layer. 
5. A removable fence mounts on the top rear edge of the top layer.
1. The fence/alignment strategy might mount on pins the drop into holes. 
2. The fence could be an L shape, with a short side and a longer side.
1. It could mount short side forward, or
2. Long side forward, or
3. Thickness edge forward. Perhaps the sides of the L fence are different thicknesses. Either thickness could be the forward edge. 
   
6. The height crank on the drill press needed to be accounted for.  Thus the notch in the rear right corner of the table. 
7. X and Y handles move with the table.  What they thread through is attached to the layer below. 
8. T-Slots running left to right on the top layer provide the best option for clamping parts down. Top layer is a sandwich of 12mm plywood with 5mm plywood between the tracks. The track is embedded into the 12mm layer so only 5mm sticks up. Track is .75" wide and .375" thick.  It works with both 1/4" and 5/16" t-bolts. One 48" long strip was cut in half to make two strips for the 24" wide X/Y table top. 
9. Strips of 1/8" thick plywood sit sandwiched between bottom layer and the drill press table. They account for the heads of the screws that hold the sliders to the other side. 

The bottom/last layer then was mounted to the drill press bed. I needed to screw up from under the bed into the bottom layer. There are square nuts embedded into the bottom layer's top surface.  8mm bolts screw up from below the table to hold the X/Y table in place. 

As I can move the top forward and back I see no reason to make the fence adjustable front to back, but it was  worth making it removable as well as variable in width and height. Fence yet to come. 

For the all-thread I used HDPE to make the blocks. One was drilled and tapped for the steel all-thread.  All were fit into CNC cut pockets for precise positioning and screwed in place. Between the bottom and the middle the all thread is flat on the bottom board.  I cut a shallow groove 1/16" deep below it using a 1/2" ball nosed bit it so it doesn't rub.  The second block is for the middle plate and collets to hold the all-thread in place. It took a bit of work after the CNC was done making it to get it to fit into the pocket made for it. Nylon washers are between the collets and the HDPE blocks. 

Y axis

X axis

Assembly started with the top.  T-track screwed into slots.  Rails screwed to the bottom. Collet block installed and screwed in place.  Middle layer installed by feeding it onto the all thread, and screwing it onto the slides.  Y axis rails screwed to the bottom side of the middle layer.  Bottom layer fed onto the all-thread, then screwed onto the slides.  

Last step was to mount this X/Y table onto the drill press table. 

Bolted down

The handles can slide off and be re-positioned if they bump into boards clamped to the table. The all-thread can also be turned quickly with a socket in my hand drill. 

This X/Y table makes positioning work more precise, and allows spacing a sequence of holes easy by counting turns of the handles. One 360° turn move the table 1/16". A half turn moves it 1/32".  A quarter turn moves it 1/64".   Sixteen turns move it 1". Eight turns move it 1/2". 

4D