Affordable tilting vise for gear head drill press

I do more woodworking, but bought a 650LB+ gear head drill press at a state auction. I needed a drill press, and figured it was a better deal than the cheap Taiwan made stuff tool stores charge $900+ for.

I spent a lot of time cleaning it up. I also added a VFD, light, drawers and a custom cart.

I bought a 4" tilting Wilton vise from Zoro, but it's made in China and the base is not flat. I tried it on my table saw, bandsaw, etc... It seems two diagonal corners are low on it so it has a slight wobble!?! Less than .005" (smallest feeler gauge I have), but still irritating even though I only paid $100 shipped. Honestly, the Wilton looks like a toy next to such a fine machine (looks to be a Swedish made Arboga drill press imported by Clausing in the early 1980's).

I then thought about just making a woodworking top for it, but I'm also curious about what solutions exist that would add a tilting table top and vise. I'd rather buy used (US or European made) if anyone knows of where to buy such a thing affordably, but made in Taiwan would be ok if the price was right. The T slots are very far apart (9" on center) and take 14mm bolts; different from what I'm used to...

I don't mind spending $200-$300 on a vice or tilting top that will keep its value. If there's such a base, I probably want to get a large one so I can still put a wood top on it.

Universal Vise & Tool made some nice tilting and 3 axis vises. They show up on the bay occasionally.

etc6849 said:

I bought a 4" tilting Wilton vise from Zoro, but it's made in China and the base is not flat. I tried it on my table saw, bandsaw, etc... It seems two diagonal corners are low on it so it has a slight wobble!?! Less than .005" (smallest feeler gauge I have), but still irritating even though I only paid $100 shipped.

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Practice some scraping skills on the base. Make it flat.

Thanks guys. I have seen scraping on youtube. Some insanely skilled people out there. I'm just not sure I have any scraping skills to practice... However, you make a valid point, if someone is going to learn, may as well do it on a $100 vise

etc6849 said:

Thanks guys. I have seen scraping on youtube. Some insanely skilled people out there. I'm just not sure I have any scraping skills to practice... However, you make a valid point, if someone is going to learn, may as well do it on a $100 vise

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Imperfect base:

Its a drillpress, not a jig-bore or a mill. What would you have done if it was a block of hardwood?

File (corner burrs are not uncommon..) and/or abrasive paper will do yah in less time than it took to post about it.
The table it will work on is your reference. Figure of eight movement over a sheet, abrasive side up, and soon done.

Tilting:

Tilt TABLE with Tee-slots if you have room. Don't over-do the size unless you are INTO body-building. Anything put onto the table tends to need to come off and go on again.

Make yerself several top-plates. Metal OR wood.

Drillpressen love fixtures to make bespoke tasking easier.

If scaping scares you or you haven't a scraper etc etc etc , ………..a sheet of thick glass (say 1/4'' PLUS) and some automotive valve grinding paste will soon have that vise base more than flat enough for 99.9999999% of woodwork (and woodworkers)

P.S. even if you scrape the vise base, ….unless you've a surface plate you'll need the sheet of glass as a reference.

I would not bother with scraping that vise. Put a sheet of sandpaper on the table. Hold it down with some oil so it does not move around under the vise. And just sand the base flat. Rotate the vise by random increments from time to time to average out any variations in the table's flatness or in your technique. Don't use too much pressure or you will get a rounded edge. In fact, push it on the sides, as close to the sandpaper as possible. Just let the weight of the vise hold it down.

etc6849 said:

Thanks guys. I have seen scraping on youtube. Some insanely skilled people out there. I'm just not sure I have any scraping skills to practice... However, you make a valid point, if someone is going to learn, may as well do it on a $100 vise

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Although for woodworker's vise you don't need much precision, and the above mentioned methods will perfectly suffice, using a surface grinder would be my choice. I'd do it for you if you were nearby.

Any so called improvements to Wilton, Palmgren, or Chinese tilting vises is pretty much like polishing a turd.

Illinoyance said:

Any so called improvements to Wilton, Palmgren, or Chinese tilting vises is pretty much like polishing a turd.

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Yer not wrong, but they git the job DONE, Walker-Turner DP, plastics, laminates, woods, shiney-wood, "some" steels, even.

Plenty of BETTER goods on BETTER machines, is the BETTER answer than wasting a lot of time here.

If dealing with turds went TOTALLY out of favour, the lot of us would be even more full of shit "than usual" within a matter of mere DAYS, yah?

"Run what you got or go blind"

A man that I worked with went on a western vacation and returned with a buffalo turd that had been preserved in plastic. It was very shiny and he used it on his desk as a paper weight.

Even polished turds have their uses.

But I can understand how a professional in a commercial shop would not want to use his time in this manner. I am sure the management of ALL those professional shops are very willing to purchase all the high quality tools that such professional machinists ask for.

Illinoyance said:

Any so called improvements to Wilton, Palmgren, or Chinese tilting vises is pretty much like polishing a turd.

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EPAIII said:

I am sure the management of ALL those professional shops are very willing to purchase all the high quality tools that such professional machinists ask for.

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Highly on-point sarcasm duly appreciated.

Very nice job on that drill press, I’m jealous. I would (Wood?) also want the vise decent by it being reasonable flat and parallel. My old Palmgren was really “used” so I took it apart and milled it flat. You could do a lot with a mill file and the sand paper stuff people mentioned. You also made sure the table is perpendicular to the spindle right? I’d keep my eye open on fleabay and Craig’s list for something used that you like and give IT the same treatment you did the drill press. They would look good together. No such thing as “too accurate” right?

With a VFD can you make the press crawl? I have no experience with VFDs but am under the impression that you can run stuff really slow. Get a chunk of granite counter top and put that on your table. Chuck a piece of capacity round stock and clamp it in the vise with a v-block and spacer to get close to center of rotation making sure that it is clamped squarely. Charge the granite with some coarse abrasive compound solution and lower the vise base onto the granite with minimal pressure and start turning really slow with continued slight pressure. In theory this would lap the vise base perpendicular to the axis of rotation or at least as square as the table is. A small weight could be added to the downfeed handle so it could run on its own mostly so you could sweep the floor, make coffee or whatever else could be done without deep undivided concentration as you would have lift it up now and then to recharge with abrasive.
I'll add that I've never done anything like this and only imagine it could work. I am going to have another glass of rye now.

EPAIII said:

A man that I worked with went on a western vacation and returned with a buffalo turd that had been preserved in plastic. It was very shiny and he used it on his desk as a paper weight.

Even polished turds have their uses.

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Stepson got an "A" in art class for making a multi-turd pile of dog poop out of clay. All accurately detailed, multi-colour-glazed, and fired. Never did ask what it was like to work with his first nude model.

Teacher was laughing too hard to be disgusted when he explained how he had "tested it for authenticity".

Seems he put it down on the living room carpet.

Sixty-six lbs Avoir of "Judge Roy Bean II" Dalmatian barely gave it a glance. Knew damned well he had never done a dump that tiny even as a pup!

Beside - it didn't SMELL right, and a Dalmatian doesn't much give a damn about "guilt trips" anyway. As with cheap vises, shit happens, it happens!

BOTH Miniature long-haired Dachsunds went all guilty-looking and belly crawling at first eye-shot as only a Dachl-dog can do, slithered away to get their lies in order.

Far too humanoid-civilized for their own good, neither ever even gave a thought to doing the "doggy thing" of sniffing it!

Mind..real as it looked? Neither did I !!!



We now return you to our regular programming as to shop stools and shitty tools.