Drill Press Table Redux

 

 

I bought a Nova Viking bench top drill press.

 

Like all drill presses, the table is designed for metal work.

 

 

 

I plan to get a DP Pro table from Woodpecker's when it becomes available.

In the meantime, I built a temporary woodworking table for the Nova.

Sketchup

Using cutoffs...I ripped and crosscut two table sections...the top is 3/4 ply...

Used the Infinity 1/4 inch blade on P66 in multiple passes to create two 1/2 inch deep and 3/4 inch wide (a wee fat) dados to hold t-tracks

The top plate received through dovetail grooves to accomodate MatchFit clamps.

First a 1/4 relief cut was made using the Infinity blade...then the 14° dovetail bit was used on the router table.

This enables quick set up of MatchFit clamps to hold larger stock.

And the fence lock downs will use these dovetail grooves.

The bottom plate is 3/4 MDF, dovetail grooved on the bottom side from left to right and front to back .

This will provide many options for clamp surfaces to connect to the Nova table.

At the table...the side clamp location was perfect...

Front view of the two clamps...very solid hold...and it provides super quick intall and removal.

The base plate and the top plate were glued up and clamped.

 

Then the edges were resquared on the P66 and a round-over was made on the top with router.

The t-rails were crosscut to fit with a hacksaw...then chamfered at the belt sander, screw hole drilled (11/64) and then counter sink chamfered with a metal burr grinding mill.

The fence was milled and the surface of fence has dovetail groove for a stop block using MatchFit accessories.

The bottom edge was chamfered at 25° at router table. This will serve as a dust relief.

 

The stop block with the MatchFit knob.

Fence with block.

The fence construction had a tail plate with MatchFit lockdowns knobs.

The back right side corner of the table had to be cut out to allow easy access to the table arm handle.

Cut was made at the bandsaw, sanded at Rigid and then rounded over with Ryobi router.

Access to handle...

Ready to use

I used a pair of MatchFit clamps underneath to hold the table and then a pair on the table to hold stock against the fence.

I prepared to buy a couple more to replace my stock.

There were a couple of things that I did not like about using them on the drill press...

#1 was that you had to hold the clamp up as you were changing out the workpiece in a production mode.

#2 was that the clamp had to be dead on when holding down irregular workpieces or there were issues with holding power.

Then on MatchFit (MicoJig) site I saw that they had a new version of their dovetail clamps.

There was an addition to the clamp, a coil spring, that provided tension to hold up the clamping mechanism.

A major improvement.

Additionally there was a new pad design available...the X-Pad... and this pad improves the ability to hold-down pressure and the in-line pressure.

These pads will also retro fit on earlier MatchFit dovetail clamps.

For example, this enables secure holding power, without using the fence, on cylindrical stock.

Holding and irregular piece in two planes...

   

 

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