anyone convert a drill press into an overhead router?

[Old Deaf Roadie]

A router table is likely cheaper than replacing a drill press, and even if the drill press is cheaper, it would probably produce lousy results because with tools, cheap is rarely effective for any length of time. If you are doing guitar builds and do not own a router, it is time to get one.

 

[mfguitar]

I have done plenty of primitive Pete work in my past and have used rasps and sanding drums in a drill press, only because I did not have the proper tool. No reason to mess with your drill press when you have a router.

 

[ArcticWhite]

Drill presses don't do great with forces perpendicular to the axis of rotation. Sell the drill press and get a milling machine? Or just get a router to do routing.

I took three years of woodshop way back in high school. Saw several guys do serious damage to their hands and arms, using tools wrong.
Drill press is not designed to resist any lateral force.
Buy a used router on Craigslist, or a cheap new one.

 

[Tall-Fir]

I tried it making toys once...I was sorry I tried that, way stupid. It is very dangerous.

I was young and stupid. Would never think of doing that again.

 

[BryMelvin]

Recipe for winning a Darwin Award. Buy a router and learn how to use it. Or buy cut and routed parts.

 

[EsquireOK]

I do have a good router.

Wow.

 

[darylcrisp]

Ok, bad bad idea, thank you all for the thoughts and info.

Some excellent ideas offered that I can put to use.

d

 

[darylcrisp]

I don't quite understand what you want to do to the body. How much wood do you want to remove?

Not sure yet, just some early thoughts and checking out the crazy stuff running around in my brain, lol
d

 

[darylcrisp]

A drill press will not come close to the RPMs necessary for a router cutter to work.

Not only is a drill press unsuitable for side-load cutting, the Jacobs chuck is not designed for router/shaper cutters; they're not axially accurate enough to make clean cuts. This is the primary reason why routers and milling machines have collets--not chucks.

If you want to use a Forstner bit to make round holes without the spur hole, grind the spur round. Leave a little bit of the spur (about 1/8") on the bit to force the wood toward the cutting edges in the center.

If you don't want to sacrifice one of your nice Forstners for this operation, you can buy single Forstners on Amazon. Woodcraft, etc. They're not that expensive. I've done this and it works great:

Thankyou!
you always give very good advice, do it in a generous and kind manner and cap it off with a cool picture.
d

 

[darylcrisp]

So we can kill this thread and bury it out back.....

d

 

[gregulator450]

This is exactly why TDPRI exists. I'm sure more than a few of us have come up with some less-than-stellar ideas, and thankfully we have each other to bounce these ideas off of before we engage in the accidental removal of digits and wreckage of tools.

 

[Sconnie]

Go to youtube and search for Paul Sellers sharpening chisels, then buy the chisels he told you to buy and sharpen them how he did.

This is a tele forum, steer into the purist approach and work only with hand tools. It's easily the safest way to do this.

 

[CapnCrunch]

Ok, bad bad idea, thank you all for the thoughts and info.

Some excellent ideas offered that I can put to use.

d

I have used router bits in my drill press set at at its fastest speed. I don't even remember why. I do remember that the results were not great, but I didn't need to remove much and it worked.

For what you are trying to achieve, why not just file the point off the forstner bit, and just use the DP as normal? The bit will want to walk or wander when you first start so make sure you have a way to control the stock you are drilling into. The other option is to only drill to a depth with the forstner so that the dimples caused by the point are removed by your final pass with your router. You may, or may not, have to build a sled for router to mount on to so that you can reach all part of the cavity without falling in.

 

[CapnCrunch]

This is exactly why TDPRI exists. I'm sure more than a few of us have come up with some less-than-stellar ideas, and thankfully we have each other to bounce these ideas off of before we engage in the accidental removal of digits and wreckage of tools.

Like all internet forums, even the Tele forum displays some common techniques that are recognized and demonstrated as legit here, which in reality should not be repeated by anyone. It's the nature of the internet....

 

[Peegoo]

Thankyou!

Cheers!

We all learned this stuff the exact same way: by asking questions like you asked.

Some of us (myself included) have done dopey stuff with power tools, and some of us (myself included) have been very lucky to still have 10 fingers and two eyeballs.

There are no stupid questions--just stupid people that refuse to ask questions (myself included...sometimes)

I joke about this stuff, but I know people missing fingers and eyes. And I know a few that have died because of a moment of complacency. A pal of mine was repairing a prop shaft journal on a 10-foot lathe at a shipyard, and he got caught and pulled into the machine. It was still running when his co-workers got to him but he was already dead. Another pal lost the use of his right arm because one of his fingers was caught in a horizontal mill. Not only did it pull his finger off, it also pulled most of the tendons out of his entire arm up to the shoulder. Power tools (even small ones like a battery-powered hand drill motor) have no sympathy for flesh, and they can mess you up pretty bad if you make the wrong decision. Chop saws are called Thumb Removers for a reason. Be safe out there in the shop.

 

[galaxiex]

Power tools... any kind...

A fraction of a second is all it takes....
Lack of awareness and attention, and BAM you are missing body parts or are dead.

I think of power tools as some sort of Evil Demon that has absolutely NO MERCY!
They just don't care at all.
They will grind you up and spit you out and not care one whit.

Complete focus, awareness, attention, and knowledge of the tool are required at all times during operation.

... but don't be paranoid about them. That will also lead to injury or worse.

 

[tubegeek]

I joke about this stuff, but I know people missing fingers and eyes. And I know a few that have died because of a moment of complacency. A pal of mine...

Yeesh - those are some gruesome stories @Peegoo !

 

[Peegoo]

Yeesh - those are some gruesome stories @Peegoo !

Sort of like the reason why they used to show those Signal 4 films in drivers' ed class: scare tactics!

 

[CapnCrunch]

Sort of like the reason why they used to show those Signal 4 films in drivers' ed class: scare tactics!

Whenever working around any type of tool, including hand tools, you have to have your wits about you. It also helps to visualize how the tool works and where the really dangerous zones are.

I grew up in farm and ranch country in Montana, and we knew a couple of different guys that were killed around tractors. One guy got his coat sleeve caught on the shaft from the tractor power take off (PTO). It wound his arm around the shaft about 100 time in less than a second and completely pulled his arm off at the shoulder. He bled out before anyone new he was even injured.

Another neighbor stepped off a tractor to deal with something on the ground and left the PTO engaged to the round bailer he was pulling. He got too close to the bailer's pick up teeth/springs and got pulled into the bailer. Not a good way to go.

 

[schmee]

One problem is drill presses aren't built for side loads like routing or milling. Too much spindle flex from a long spindle.. But it can work somewhat of course.