Official Luthiers Forum!

I'm looking for a drill press and would like to use the wagner t-planer with
it, but they recomend a spindle speed between 4000 and 6000rpm. However
I can't seem to find a drill press that goes over 3000rpm, except the huge
and very expensive ones. Anybody having experience with this? is it feasible
to replace the pulleys on those drill presses to get a higher speed? What do
you guys use with the wagner?laurent38790.7200694444

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

I use an old JET. Be sure that whatever you get has a locking spindle so that your deptth adjustment stays where you put it.

Al

My Wagner is fine at 3000 RPM on a Hitachi BRM 16. It's actually a 15" swing, so with the 2-3/4" dia. Wagner, I can thickness a piece close to 9" in width. I did take great pains to get the extended table perpendicular to the center of the spindle.

Ditto on the quill lock!

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

I have two Drill presses, neither one goes the recommended 4-6000 RPM, but both will adjust over 3000. One is a little cheapy Harbour Frieght $39.99 special one of my Kids gave me for Christmas one year and it will run around 3200 rpms and I have used it on fingerboards and it worked fine, just to small for anything else with the width in the gullet. You will love the SafeTPlaner, the advice above is great, level talbe perpendicular to the center of the spindle and quill lock.

Mike
White Oak, Texas

I have one and it works fine around 3000 RPM
I've done a set of sides and one fingerboard but since I got the drum sander I will sell it since no longer use it!

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

Peter:

You may want to reconsider selling your safety planer. I use mine for tapering necks, and rough thinning wood before I put it into the thickness sander. Just a thought.

Al

Laurent I think Wagner are talking about a perfect world which I think we can all agree doesn't usually exist. The most important thing to think about is the distance from the drill head to the column so that reasonable pieces of wood can be planed. something like 8-9" should be OK. The spindle speed on my press goes up to about 4200rpm but I usually run my Wagner a 3700rpm as I find that I get the best compromise of speed and smoothness I have tried it at 3000rpm and it's just fine even at 1500rpm it works but needs a finish with the ROS. In the UK there are a number of reasonably priced large presses available. Mine a Clarke 401B was bought on a tax free day at my local store for ?157 ($270). Every time I look at it wonder how on earth they made it for the money never mind sold it to me for that and still made a profit.

Just look for something with the wide throat and 12-16 gears, they usually have the higher speeds.



Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Thanks to all for the good advice!
The technical dpt. at StewMac responded to my query saying that lower
speeds increase the risk of tear out, but if it works for all of you around
3000rpm, it's all good.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

Geeesh Hesh ,That must be a large bathroom you got there! Maybe your drill press can't be locked down ,My Delta has a lock on the handle that lowers the spindle. That 6.5-7 seems a bit small for joined tops.

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Hesh, me and you need a new drill press if we want to buy the Wagner jig! are you going to suspend your new drill press on the wall?

Hesh,

The lock might be located on the body just above the spindle, more likely on the right, with a bolt to bear on the quill, the part that moves up and down. This could be a good thing, since it has less chance of slop, which the locks on the handle could have if there is slop between the handle and quill. Best would be one with a vernier adjustment that gives up and down stops as well as locking.

When looking at the throat depth or swing ("throat" x 2) as it is called in the brochures, keep in mind that with the Wagner Saf-T-Planer, you get an additional 1.4" or so from the radius of the planer. So 6.5" plus the 1.4" from the Wagner gets you 7.9" or almost 15" of max width if you turn the piece around, leaving 2" or so in the middle of a jumbo plate. The remainder could be planed or scraped.

The ideal would be a swing of 18" or 20" which gets you into the $500 and up range floor models, with additional space requirements. There are radial bench drill presses from Grizzly with a sliding throat, which I haven't seen up close. I was underwhelmed by similar offerings from Shop Fox.

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Now that's what I want! 1200$ It's a milling/drilling machine. I was at BusyBee Tools yesterday. Standing in front of this baby I was thinking about routing saddle slots, truss rod channels and whatnot...

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I'd like to be able to prove, just for once, that money wouldn't make me happy...

Oh, right! My apologies too, Laurent, for hijacking. Perhaps we should have started another thread.

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

[QUOTE=Hesh1956]
I have a Luthier's friend sanding thing too that I have used to make bridges. I have had to move the drill press table so very high that I have to stand on a chair while using it...... [/QUOTE]


Hesh, reposition the drill press so you can stand on the toilet. That'll save some room.

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

[QUOTE=Serge Poirier] Hesh...are you going to suspend your new drill press on the wall? [/QUOTE]
Serge, you genius!!! A wall-mount drill press! The head assembly would attach to studs or cement block (very sturdy!), and you could build a large (say, 2X4ft.) height-adjustable table under it! Hurry up and figure how to do this, license it to Ridgid and retire!

Nah, sorry Hesh for that not so thoughtful one, i'll practice my jokes in our bathroom for a while and will wash my mouth with soap!

Regarding the lock down:

Most drill presses don't have them (even my 16" Jet). Look
at the depth stop, how the nut on the threaded rod comes down and hits a flange sticking out from the main drill head. Dissassemble that and put another nut on the un derside of the flange, so that the new nut comes up against the underside of the flange when the drill is raised. This is your lock in the down position. Set it where you want and then tighten up with the lower of the top two nuts.

Jim

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu