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Anybody tried this?MichaelP39031.5125925926

I have on two boards now using the Watkins cauls. It worked fine. I am, however considering getting a small arbor press...I'm concerned that it's not friendly to the drill press. I could be wrong.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

I did my first 15 or so guitars using a drill press. I would highly recomend not doing it. The mechanisism is not intended for that much pressure. I had an el cheapo which might be why it got messed up so bad. But then again I'd hate to see you mess up a nice one.
I have now gone the arbor press route. They can be had cheap.

I can't see how it would harm the drill presses gear and rack and that would be the only thing I could see to get any abnormal wear. This would allow me to press 1-21 while on the body as I do not fret till the guitar is finished and fully assembled. I will have to make fixture to hold the guitar and provide the proper support during freting, but this would eliminate hammering 13-16 and still allow me to final fit the FB/bridge relationship after the guitar is final assembled. Now that I have a Drill press with a 16" swing radius I can do this.

I remember seeing someone's take on a fret press that was so simple it made you go "Duh". It was made of wood. It used the cauls that Stew-Mac sells and an hinge. I will see if I can dig up the photo I hope I squirreled away somewhere.

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Aoibeann

Okay, they say the memory is the first to go.....

It does not use the Stew-Mac caul, but it could be modified to use it.



The shoe is a piece of aluminum angle that is loosely pinned so that it can find where it needs to be and not force the fret in at an angle. The designer feels that this jigs gives you a better feel of the frets as they are set.Aoibeann39031.5351157407

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Aoibeann

I second the concern about using the drill press as a fretting press. I did this with mine and the table on the drill press developed a crack, allowing the table to tilt. It was a Delta (which doesn't mean much any more) and I had to replace the table. When you think about the purpose of a drill press, you know, drilling through something, it follows to reason that it wasn't designed to handle a lot of pressure on the table.

Michael, I can't say much about it myself since I've only started using cauls for my last 2 guitars and used a fretting hammer before. I do use the drill press and it works great! But there are many here that use their drill press regularly!

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

I do this, seems to work well.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Michael
I do it all the time. I have pressed in every fret with my drill press. Very
easy.
I broke one table for the drill press from the force. I replaced the table and
use a brace under it when pressing in frets currently

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

yea so do I but neither work well in 13-17 if th guitars is assembled.MichaelP39031.689537037

The drill press is not designed for that kind of loading especially the spindle bearings. It'll work, I just wouldn't do it because you just don't know what damage you are doing.

But don't listen to me, I hammer my frets in.

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

I don't even use a caul, just a locking Bolt from the milling machine next door!!

as to damaging the drill, it's a 30 year old monster in a highschool which has survived nearly 3 generations of teenagers swinging on it si I can't see a few frets doing it any harm!!!

I DEFINITELY prefer using the drill to a hammer. But it's all personal taste right?

That's what I love about the OLF. we can accept that other folks do things ways that we don't/ can't/ wouldn't. Without calloing them idiots or uneducated.

thanks folks, keep it up!!

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My soundclick xx luthier blog xx luthier soundclick

I've done two boards on my drill press. On the cheapo drills like mine, you need to brace the table as others have said. It also bent one of the handles by about 20 degrees. I think on a decent drill press it would work ok.

I have an el cheapo drill press and used John Watkins excellent fret press caul and brass inserts, it was a breeze to press the frets in and if i do break the drill press, i'll get me a monster DP like Martin's

there are two issues here, namely the suitability of a drill press to press frets, and pressing frets on a neck attached to the body.

now in another, younger life i was also a farrier, and often had to drill shoes for studs and caulks. in the truck i only had an el cheapo harbor freight 8" drill press. as the steel hardened through the forging/quenching process, i had to lean on that press heavily, and it was still going strong after ten years of use.

now my forge is cold and it, my anvil and other shoeing gear sits forlorn and neglected in a back corner of the shed, and my experience pressing frets is limited as i have only ever used the technique with the technique a few times, but i can say that in those instances i never had to put anywhere near the pressure on the handle that i did when drilling shoes.

i think that if you're bending handles, breaking tables, etc., when pressing frets, either you had a woefuly defective machine, or you might want to revise your technique to utiliswe less muscle.

if you are wanting to press after the neck is assembled to the body you would need a very large, and thus very heavy arbor press indeed to fit the assembly under it, and if you were to put the sort of pressure that others have said they use, i.e., sufficient to bend handles, crack tables, etc., what do you think would happen to the body?

i think a drill press will work fine to press frets on unmounted boards, mounted unattached necks, and perhaps mounted necks up to the frets over the neckblock, though given the size of support table that would be necessary to accomplish this i would find this unduly cumbersome, and i have arms like an orang utang.

in no instance would i recommend pressing frets over the body unless you rigged some sort of jack system inside for support.