My metal working tools are very limited and primitive.
Have a heavy duty Rockwell drill press that’s probably 40 years old, I bought it for $20 as salvage equipment, it had been converted to a lab mixer and the table was gone. I made a MDF box that is bolted to the slots in the base. Checked the perpendicularity to the chuck and it's .004" out on a 10” circle. OK for me. Been looking for a table with a 2.75" post for months. Found a complete floor model DP at the recycle yard but the head and motor were bad and they wouldn't let me just buy the post.
Cut Alum on my craftsman band saw, and table saw. Starting to collect taps and dies as I need them.
So after reading this thread I don't think I'm ready for doweling. I'm hoping my machine will be good enough to do the alum machining to make my second machine.
I’ll run some test pieces and take them to my old Co. and measure them on the computerized measuring equipment. From there I’ll be making decisions on my machine.
Hager |