Foot-Operated Drill Press

[Bill Ballard]

At 3:22 PM -0500 3/16/04, John Hartman wrote:
>This is the one I use. It has a an air cylinder to advance the 
>quill. You can control the rate of feed with a valve and you simply 
>press the pedal (out of view on the floor plate) to drill the hole.

John,

I've envied your pneumatic drive since the first day I saw it, the 
best part of which is the steady pressure with which air pushes the 
bit into the work. Thanks for your picture, it reminded me of an old 
dream. (I'm going to print it out and take it to my favorite 
machinist.)

I just went out to the shop to compare how the quill on my 
30-year-old Sears floor model drill press could have an air cylinder 
attached to it (more specifically, the non-rotating sleeve 
surrounding the quill). I'm curious. It appear from the picture that 
this outside sleeve is nearly fully extended (I guess, nearly 4" of 
it below the cylinder's yoke), whereas the depth stop on the quill 
would suggest that the quill was at the beginning of the throw.

The only difficult part in all of this is coming up with the yoke. 
But I can't imagine that the sleeve would need to be 5" down&out of 
the head casting, only just enough to allow the yoke to clamp on to 
it (1", maybe).

Bill Ballard RPT
NH Chapter, P.T.G.

"There are day people and there are night people, and they will 
unconsciously seek each other out so they can drive each other crazy"
     ...........AM Radio Psychologist Dr. Joy Browne
+++++++++++++++++++++