The Dude
Hot Rolled
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2010
- Location
- Portland, OR
"Linear actuator" mounted drill press
Quick update: Just found "self-feeding" drill, at the very least pneumatic after a suggestion from my Tool & Die guy. Looks to be close to what I'm looking for if not exactly.
Does anyone know if there's an off-the-shelf "wall-mount" drill press "head". Okay, kind of odd, here's want to do. Earlier post led me to a programmable Tigerstop to drill 2x4's at pre-programmed intervals (always drilled on a constant center-line, all the same size hole, lots of different lengths and positions for different product styles). The Tigerstop has enough "oomph" to pull the rails, stop, pull to the next position, etc. I could integrate this with a standard drill press but the overall working height on the existing one (used manually with templates, what we're trying to get rid of) is a bit too tall and shortening it would require modifications. These guys are so busy that it would be worth some decent money to have the system "plug and play" (pull the old drill press out, put the next Tigerstop and drill in).
So, the ideal situation would be a dill on a slide (vertical, maybe horizontal?)that I think could even be pneumatic (regulator to control speed). When the drill bit got dull (long time on wood), you'd see it slow down. The Tigerstop has some interlock capabilities to not pull the wood when the drill press isn't retracted so I don't think I'll need a PLC or other kind of interface. I'll plan on using a foot switch to activate it. The only point in automating the pull process and interlocking everything is for quality. As noted on the original post, the labor reduction just isn't there. Few enough holes that the guy can't really do anything to make the process more efficient. He might as well just initiate the drilling with a foot switch but we could conceivably fully automate down the road. Please understand that I'm more looking for a solution for the drill head on a slide than the automation portion. All day long, traveling about 2-2.5" just drilling a hole and then waiting to index.
Thanks for any suggestions,
The Dude
Quick update: Just found "self-feeding" drill, at the very least pneumatic after a suggestion from my Tool & Die guy. Looks to be close to what I'm looking for if not exactly.
Does anyone know if there's an off-the-shelf "wall-mount" drill press "head". Okay, kind of odd, here's want to do. Earlier post led me to a programmable Tigerstop to drill 2x4's at pre-programmed intervals (always drilled on a constant center-line, all the same size hole, lots of different lengths and positions for different product styles). The Tigerstop has enough "oomph" to pull the rails, stop, pull to the next position, etc. I could integrate this with a standard drill press but the overall working height on the existing one (used manually with templates, what we're trying to get rid of) is a bit too tall and shortening it would require modifications. These guys are so busy that it would be worth some decent money to have the system "plug and play" (pull the old drill press out, put the next Tigerstop and drill in).
So, the ideal situation would be a dill on a slide (vertical, maybe horizontal?)that I think could even be pneumatic (regulator to control speed). When the drill bit got dull (long time on wood), you'd see it slow down. The Tigerstop has some interlock capabilities to not pull the wood when the drill press isn't retracted so I don't think I'll need a PLC or other kind of interface. I'll plan on using a foot switch to activate it. The only point in automating the pull process and interlocking everything is for quality. As noted on the original post, the labor reduction just isn't there. Few enough holes that the guy can't really do anything to make the process more efficient. He might as well just initiate the drilling with a foot switch but we could conceivably fully automate down the road. Please understand that I'm more looking for a solution for the drill head on a slide than the automation portion. All day long, traveling about 2-2.5" just drilling a hole and then waiting to index.
Thanks for any suggestions,
The Dude