Neil's News

Depth Stop

24 January 2019

Like most drill presses, mine has a depth stop. This allows one to make consistent holes, with the drill stopping at the specified depth.

[Drill press with plastic depth stop]

Unfortunately, the mounting plate for my depth stop is made of ABS plastic. So there's a lot of flex, which introduces an error of around 5mm.

[Plastic depth stop]

I drew up a template for a new depth stop using Inkscape, printed it out, and glued it to a scrap of aluminum I found in the trash.

[Template on aluminum block]

Then using a bandsaw and a lot of hand filing, I cut the shape out. This was my first time machining a metal block; all my previous work was done in sheet metal. Tapping holes was a new experience for me, but worked as expected.

[Aluminum depth stop]

The new mounting plate for the depth stop is much more rigid. I can't imagine why an otherwise reasonable-quality drill press would use a cheap plastic part here.

[Drill press with aluminum depth stop]

I might need to machine another one of these since my daughter quite enjoyed wearing it as a bracelet. She was very patient as I used a screwdriver to put it on her wrist and take it off.

[Beverly wearing a bracelet]

As always, I'm thankful to be able to use Google's workshops for personal projects.

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Legal yada yada: My views do not necessarily represent those of my employer or my goldfish.