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Resurrecting this thread following my trip to Harbor Freight today.

I found an exceptionally nice drill press table there for about $32 and containing enough features that I couldn't build one for that price. It's universal fit with integral clamps to secure the table to the drill press table. It's also got a fence that slides in standard aluminum tracks with ruler tapes for proper registration of the fence, and a sacrificial insert in the table top.

Now I've got to go through my various magazines and find another 20% off coupon. I'll be posting a picture of it soon.
 
o1d_dude said:
Resurrecting this thread following my trip to Harbor Freight today.

I found an exceptionally nice drill press table there for about $32 and containing enough features that I couldn't build one for that price. It's universal fit with integral clamps to secure the table to the drill press table. It's also got a fence that slides in standard aluminum tracks with ruler tapes for proper registration of the fence, and a sacrificial insert in the table top.

Now I've got to go through my various magazines and find another 20% off coupon. I'll be posting a picture of it soon.
Click to expand...

I was there Monday for the first time and picked up a circle cutter.I will be going back to look for some more C clamps.Pretty cool store.I bolted my drill press to a table that had a 30 gal. aquarium set up on it that I gave to my friend.My father-in-law had made it for me 20 years ago.It's well built and the saw fits perfect in the middle.I have a bottom shelf to keep my drill bits as well as clamps.Will have to take a look at the table you bought,sounds like a great deal.
 
One thing I noticed about the lazer is one of the lazer lines is not as bright as the other.You could center the lines,but could you also adjust the brightness?The one on the right side is rather dim and hard to see.
 
o1d_dude said:
Resurrecting this thread following my trip to Harbor Freight today.

I found an exceptionally nice drill press table there for about $32 and containing enough features that I couldn't build one for that price. It's universal fit with integral clamps to secure the table to the drill press table. It's also got a fence that slides in standard aluminum tracks with ruler tapes for proper registration of the fence, and a sacrificial insert in the table top.

Now I've got to go through my various magazines and find another 20% off coupon. I'll be posting a picture of it soon.
Click to expand...

Now that I like.

https://www.harborfreight.com/drill-press-extension-table-with-fence-96395.html
 
I sort of lost track of this thread, until I went thru emails and discovered the email notification.

A benchtop drill press does about everything I need, and on a few occasions (very few), I have not had enough vertical clearance to bore a hole at the end of a large piece of wood. Other than that, my Delta serves my needs pertty well. One thing I've discovered is that when I add tools in my shop, I typically do not replace the older. I bought a large bandsaw, and my little Delta is now set up with a very fine blade geared to hobby use, primarily cutting fins and body tubes. I am thinking about buying a miniature table saw, one that is geared to the hobbyist, rather than use my 10" table saw for small work.

OK, I'll admit it, I just like to buy tools! I bought a 12"X24" lathe last Fall, added a bed extender, and I'm already thinking of the next upgrade, a larger lathe. But the one I have now is great for pens, and moderate sized bowls, and of real importance for model rocketry, turning nose cones! I just turned a balsa cone for the Super Alpha, since I could not in good conscience use the plastic nose cone supplied in current kits.
 
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Trident said:
OK, I'll admit it, I just like to buy tools! I bought a 12"X24" lathe last Fall, added a bed extender, and I'm already thinking of the next upgrade, a larger lathe. But the one I have now is great for pens, and moderate sized bowls, and of real importance for model rocketry, turning nose cones! I just turned a balsa cone for the Super Alpha, since I could not in good conscience use the plastic nose cone supplied in current kits.
Click to expand...

You turn pens? I used to turn quite a lot of them, until I got so re-involved in rocketry.
 
I hear you. I was almost 100% devoted to lathe work after I bought my lathe, but for about two months now, it has really been a balance between lathe work and building rockets.

I turned 20 pens in about two months last year, from October to Christmas. Lots of family members are writing in style. :)

I'll always do rockets, been doing them since the early 60s. With the lathe, I now have a better nose cone turning tool!

Here is the nose cone I turned last weekend for the Super Alpha kit. Next to it is the plastic cone now included in the kit.

super-alpha-nc.jpg
 
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Lee, where are you buying the good balsa for your nosecones?

The one that came with my Super Alpha was so heavy, upon opening the package I immediately thought to build the SA with 24mm motor mount. No additional nose weight required and it flies great on D12's.
 
Kit,

I've bought a fair amount of balsa from Hobby Lobby. I've found their balsa to be of pretty decent quality. Ours has a several 3" square blocks (12" long) for $9.99, so that would be $6 with the 40% off coupon. (I'm cheap, and always buy from HL using a coupon).

I've never turned anything larger than 2" square, since I used to turn on a drill press, and found that a BT-60 sized nose cone was about my limit.

I saw these large blocks last week, and forgot about them, while waiting for another 40% off coupon.

Thanks for the reminder -- I may have to print a coupon and go back in the morning!
 
Trident said:
I hear you. I was almost 100% devoted to lathe work after I bought my lathe, but for about two months now, it has really been a balance between lathe work and building rockets.

I turned 20 pens in about two months last year, from October to Christmas. Lots of family members are writing in style. :)

I'll always do rockets, been doing them since the early 60s. With the lathe, I now have a better nose cone turning tool!

Here is the nose cone I turned last weekend for the Super Alpha kit. Next to it is the plastic cone now included in the kit.
Click to expand...

I started turning pens in 1999, and turned hundreds of them. I never sold any, though, I didn't want it to turn into a job. They were all for me and for gifts. I've made several graduation and wedding pens for friends, which were some of my favorites. I haven't turned any pens in quite a while now. I've thought about turning nose cones, but haven't tried it yet. There's one guy on here that turns nose cones out of pine. I do use my lathe for cutting centering rings to their final diameter, which works well.

I have the big Harbor Freight flatbed lathe, which has worked very well for me. No problems with it. How is turning balsa? I've often wondered, since balsa can be so light. How do you mount the balsa blocks to the lathe?
 
Regarding pens, I've taken the same approach. They are all for gifts. I just do not want to make my hobby a profession, where I dread going to the shop to make something. :)

Nose Cones:
The easiest way I've found to turn balsa is to use a dowel. If not too long, it needs no support from the tailstock. Otherwise, you can dribble a little CA on the end, and use a live center. Another method is to glue a small circle of plywood at the end, to give some bite for your live center. I use a scroll check, but a large Jacobs chuck will work. A collet chuck would be ideal, I just haven't purchased one yet. With a collet chuck, you could reliably take the nose cone in and out of the chuck with good repeatability. A regular chuck leaves indentations in a dowel if really tightened, and if you remove the nose cone, re-aligning when returned to the chuck is really hard.

I cut the dowel long enough that I can have a short piece of body tube over the dowel, when it is checked. This way, I can slip it onto the shoulder when turned down, and have a reference for sanding the base of the cone, perfectly sized for the body tube.

On this latest Super Alpha nose cone, I turned within a 1/4" of the final profile with a gouge, and then used thin CA to toughen the balsa enough to use my standard lathe tools to get a pretty smooth finish. Then just used sandpaper to give it the final sanding. I used a parting tool to cut off the very tip that had the plywood block, leaving a pretty pointed tip. Sanding at slower speed, I was able to get the tip to its final pointed shape.

I learned the CA trick when turning spalted pecan for pens. It was about as light and crumbly as balsa, and the CA allowed me to turn the pen blank down to the exact contour required.

Balsa reducers are pretty easy, too. Just run the dowel all the way thru your balsa, and put a piece of body tube at each end to get the correct fit. The dowel, sawed off even with the end of the balsa, makes a really excellent anchor for the screw eye, too.
 
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Trident said:
Regarding pens, I've taken the same approach. They are all for gifts. I just do not want to make my hobby a profession, where I dread going to the shop to make something. :)

Nose Cones:
The easiest way I've found to turn balsa is to use a dowel. If not too long, it needs no support from the tailstock. Otherwise, you can dribble a little CA on the end, and use a live center. Another method is to glue a small circle of plywood at the end, to give some bite for your live center. I use a scroll check, but a large Jacobs chuck will work. A collet chuck would be ideal, I just haven't purchased one yet. With a collet chuck, you could reliably take the nose cone in and out of the chuck with good repeatability. A regular chuck leaves indentations in a dowel if really tightened, and if you remove the nose cone, re-aligning when returned to the chuck is really hard.

I cut the dowel long enough that I can have a short piece of body tube over the dowel, when it is checked. This way, I can slip it onto the shoulder when turned down, and have a reference for sanding the base of the cone, perfectly sized for the body tube.

On this latest Super Alpha nose cone, I turned within a 1/4" of the final profile with a gouge, and then used thin CA to toughen the balsa enough to use my standard lathe tools to get a pretty smooth finish. Then just used sandpaper to give it the final sanding. I used a parting tool to cut off the very tip that had the plywood block, leaving a pretty pointed tip. Sanding at slower speed, I was able to get the tip to its final pointed shape.

I learned the CA trick when turning spalted pecan for pens. It was about as light and crumbly as balsa, and the CA allowed me to turn the pen blank down to the exact contour required.

Balsa reducers are pretty easy, too. Just run the dowel all the way thru your balsa, and put a piece of body tube at each end to get the correct fit. The dowel, sawed off even with the end of the balsa, makes a really excellent anchor for the screw eye, too.
Click to expand...

That's a good idea, using the dowel. I do have a collet chuck, as well as a big Jacobs chuck and a scroll chuck. I agree, the collet chuck would be the best.
 
o1d_dude said:
Resurrecting this thread following my trip to Harbor Freight today.

I found an exceptionally nice drill press table there for about $32 and containing enough features that I couldn't build one for that price. It's universal fit with integral clamps to secure the table to the drill press table. It's also got a fence that slides in standard aluminum tracks with ruler tapes for proper registration of the fence, and a sacrificial insert in the table top.

Now I've got to go through my various magazines and find another 20% off coupon. I'll be posting a picture of it soon.
Click to expand...
I paid a bit more for my Craftsman Table. I like it tho.Kind of a 'Must have accessory" if ask me. Even tho I paid more,I still ,with time involved and parts & pieces(Clamps,fence,ect) could not build on for what I paid.
 
o1d_dude said:
Resurrecting this thread following my trip to Harbor Freight today.

I found an exceptionally nice drill press table there for about $32 and containing enough features that I couldn't build one for that price. It's universal fit with integral clamps to secure the table to the drill press table. It's also got a fence that slides in standard aluminum tracks with ruler tapes for proper registration of the fence, and a sacrificial insert in the table top.

Now I've got to go through my various magazines and find another 20% off coupon. I'll be posting a picture of it soon.
Click to expand...

Have you used the drill press table yet? How is it? I just got a 20% off coupon, and I'm dying to use it...
 
I bought a drill press from Harbor Freight for $29 a few years ago. At the time I needed it for just one job. Since it was so inexpensive, I figured I could just throw it away afterwards if it didn't prove to be useful.

I'm still using it. It's one of the tools I use most when building larger rockets.

I probably should, however, invest in a better drill press . The main problem I have with this one is that the bit wiggles around. So, my centering rings, for example, are a little out-of-round. I assume a better drill press won't have that problem. So, I can't recommend the cheap Harbor Frieght one. A better one is more expensive, but, if you were to use it as much as I use mine, it would be worth it.

-- Roger
 
jadebox said:
I bought a drill press from Harbor Freight for $29 a few years ago. At the time I needed it for just one job. Since it was so inexpensive, I figured I could just throw it away afterwards if it didn't prove to be useful.

I'm still using it. It's one of the tools I use most when building larger rockets.

I probably should, however, invest in a better drill press . The main problem I have with this one is that the bit wiggles around. So, my centering rings, for example, are a little out-of-round. I assume a better drill press won't have that problem. So, I can't recommend the cheap Harbor Frieght one. A better one is more expensive, but, if you were to use it as much as I use mine, it would be worth it.

-- Roger
Click to expand...

I had a Harbor Freight floor model drill press a few years ago, and it had the same problem. What I finally did was to take the chuck taper out of the spindle, cleaned the male and female tapers, and put it back together. It seemed to help.
 
jadebox said:
I bought a drill press from Harbor Freight for $29 a few years ago. At the time I needed it for just one job. Since it was so inexpensive, I figured I could just throw it away afterwards if it didn't prove to be useful.

I'm still using it. It's one of the tools I use most when building larger rockets.

I probably should, however, invest in a better drill press . The main problem I have with this one is that the bit wiggles around. So, my centering rings, for example, are a little out-of-round. I assume a better drill press won't have that problem. So, I can't recommend the cheap Harbor Frieght one. A better one is more expensive, but, if you were to use it as much as I use mine, it would be worth it.

-- Roger
Click to expand...

Even though I have an old Delta drill press I bought one of the earlier versions of the Harbor Freight drill press. It drilled triangular holes... I sold it to a friend that didn't care, he had GAS(gear aquisition syndrome).

Because those fly-cutters are so scary I've modified Harbor Freight hole saws to cut my rings, those smaller than 5" anyway. Grind out the tooth set and the holes are the right size for the tubing I use. For larger holes out to 12" I found a circle cutter for a router or die grinder at a used tool place. It only goes 3/8ths of an inch deep but flipping the work over doubles that. It has a 3 fluted cutter with a ring that keeps it in place. I haven't found a new cutter for it, maybe another web search would find one, or more.
 
dave carver said:
Because those fly-cutters are so scary ...
Click to expand...

My cheap-o drill press doesn't spin the cutter fast enough for it to be too scary. :)

I make the cuts very slowly (otherwise the wood gets hot and scortches) and cut one side about half way then do the rest from the other side. For inside holes, I position the cutters so that the angle is on the outside. This makes the ring have a lip on the inside. I cut the holes a little too small and sand away the lip until the ring is the right size. It takes just a second with a rotary tool to sand the ring to the right size.

I've modified Harbor Freight hole saws to cut my rings, those smaller than 5" anyway. Grind out the tooth set and the holes are the right size for the tubing I use.
Click to expand...

What do you mean by "grind out the tooth set?" Filing the inner or outer edges so the hole is slightly larger or smaller? I've used hole saws for rings 54mm and smaller, but always had to reduce the outside or enlarge the inner holes manually.

For larger holes out to 12" I found a circle cutter for a router or die grinder at a used tool place. It only goes 3/8ths of an inch deep but flipping the work over doubles that. It has a 3 fluted cutter with a ring that keeps it in place. I haven't found a new cutter for it, maybe another web search would find one, or more.
Click to expand...

I use a home-made jig on a router to cut larger circles.





​

The jig works well for a range of about 6 to 12 inches. I attached the jig semi-permanently to the router, so now it's a dedicated circle cutter. :)

The circle-cutting jig is one example of why I appreciate having a drill press. I would have never been able to drill the holes accurately in the small wood block with a hand drill.

-- Roger
 
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While this thread is still alive and kicking, here's a picture of my setup in it's final configuration. Not visible in the picture is the four legged table/bench I made to support the unit. For that, see picture #2. The drill press is held in place with two bolts through the slot in the bench top and wing nuts to secure it all in place. It's sturdy.

The HF drill press extension table cost me about $28 with the usual 20 percent discount coupon. It seems fairly well made and I'm satisfied with the quality of the materials. I'd be hard pressed (pun) to make my own table for that amount of money. The Woodcraft store where I shop charges more than $28 for the hardware alone.

Someone mentioned the fly cutter being scary. The best tip I know of is to paint the ends of the cross bar with fluorescent paint so that when the cutter spins under power you see a bright ring warning you to keep your mitts out of the way. Probably don't want the fly cutter rotating all that fast for most materials anyway. See the linky way up above for a table of recommended speeds for various materials.
 

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