Odd pin block

[Ron Nossaman]

> Hi Ron,
> 
> Is there any hollow on the bottom of the drill press rig?  Or is it just 
> a flat piece of pinblock scrap sitting on a flat piece of plywood?

No hollow. Just a flat platform with a hole through to feed 
compressed air, sitting on a double wide pinblock plank. No 
channels, no tricks, just two flat surfaces with compressed 
air injected between. The result is levitation.


> How would you rate ease of locating the rig?  It seems like it might be 
> a little cumbersome, moving that big rig for each hole, and getting it 
> aligned perfectly.  I'm guessing it's not, or you wouldn't be using it, 
> but could you elaborate a little?  

Right, it's not a bit (sic) cumbersome. Alignment is what it 
is, enhanced by the tendency of the bit to self center in the 
existing hole on the second pass, or on the punched dimple on 
the first. Anything more demonstrably illustrative would 
require standing at the machine and trying it for yourself. 
That's a much more fundamental educational experience. It's 
possible to screw it up, like anything else, but I've tried to 
make that as unlikely as possible by establishing a process 
that I can do reliably. Using myself as the lowest common 
denominator for shop machine processes seems to be a good 
indicator of the minimal viability of any process. 
Translation: if I can do it, it's easy.


>Does the air not make the rig "loose" 
> but just enough float to move around with a fair amount of frictions still?

With the air on, friction is minimal. It literally floats 
between drill positions. Air off, while the hole is being 
drilled, it sits there nice and solid.


> If I were a cat, I'd have been dead years ago.

I'd have long ago been laughed out of the species as being 
unable to keep up. I have a house full of them, and they're 
all far more able cats than I could ever hope to be - except 
for maybe the hobbling old 18 year old muffin cat who's 
arthritis has the best of her. But that's hardly a fair 
comparison. The best I can do is that my lips don't move when 
I read.
Ron N