metalworking pillar drill experiences

[routercnc]

Some updates. First of all taking the cover off is no big deal - the spring mechanism is not affected:

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I noticed that the casting was not great with some flash around the holes so I filled them flush:

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Then I had a look behind the electrical box on the front - glad I did as one of the wires had been trapped by one of the plastic ribs:

I re-seated it so the cable was free.
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Then I drilled and tapped the casing to take an angle bracket, then squared it up with the chuck (to try to get them parallel to each other and keep the DRO accurate):


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Then I machined up a plate bracket, bolted a piece of extrusion to the plate, then mounted the DRO:

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Then I used a couple of M6 rose joints and threaded rod to join the DRO to the quill depth stop arm. This is because I couldn't be sure that the DRO would be absolutely parallel to the quill and didn't want to side load the slider. Also there is a tiny bit of play in the quill when extended which would also load the slider. Keeping the rod long minimises any error:

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Here it is fully extended:

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I had to cut a bit off the end of the spring cover / depth stop casting so it didn't hit the DRO slider.
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Works a treat - the quill can be locked off at any depth by setting the nut on the underside of the depth stop threaded rod, or a maximum depth can be set by the nut on the top side of the threaded rod. Only probably is that the DRO readout slider resonates/buzzes quite loudly when the drill is running. I'll have a look and see if there is a pre-load set screw somewhere to take out the play.
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On a related note I also managed to knock up a drill press table with fence, hold down mini-clamps, horizontal clamps, and G-clamp options, plus there will be a production-stop on the fence for repeat jobs. Centre pocket is to take a 60x60x18 mini spoil board which can be replaced when it is full of holes.
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Here it is being machined, then some of the bits trial fitted:

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And here it is with a trial fit on the drill press (still need to add bracket to the underside to hold it onto the table):

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Got one of these Bessey clamps on order - it will sit on a wooden batton and be adjustable fore/aft:

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Plus thinking about adding a pair of drill press vices which sit either side of the chuck centre - makes it easy to drill angle plate, or hold long thin parts on edge. Again the pair of vices would be mounted on a wooden batton which can then adjust fore/aft.
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Should be enough clamping options there I think !