Compound table for my Dremel drill press table

[Sudsy]

Not sure what projects I'll use this on first...

...it has been a while since I did some real machining. I do miss using a real mill (in school I used a Bridgeport mill for manual milling, and Haas for CNC milling). This cheap compound table cannot hold a candle to those capabilities though. However, since I'm not working with tool steel, this less than $40 USD alluminum and plastic table that I have bolted to my Dremel drill press will work wonderfully for most of what I need it for in this realm of scratch building!



First things first. I used some thread locker on the screws that go through the handle knobs, and added a #10 washer to seperate the handle from the knob itself as well. Before assembly, I also added a drop of oil to the iside of the handle.





To attach the bench to the drill press base, I used the pictured 1/4" bolts seen below, M8 bolts look like they would work as well, just get the length you require. On the bottom side, I used some big fender washers between the nut and the drill press base given the size of the slots where they allowed the hardware to pass through. Remember to put washers between the fasteners and slots folks!





Now, I just need something to mill with tungsten carbide endmill I have for my Dremel...

 

[Rhaven Blaack]

Nice looking new toy! I am certain that you will find a project for it!

 

[zathros]

If you could find a little rotary table, you would be shocked at the things you could make. I do have a small machine shop. I have Indexing heads, milling Heads, all kinds of attachments, even broaching. I've made bicycle crank sets from scratch with a rotary table. If the Dremel head can lean, and you ever need to put a large r radius on the end of a piece than you have, you divide the size of the cutting tool by the larger radius tool you will be using. You you press "Si" on your calculator, go to four digits past yhe decimal point, round up or down as necessary, and the first two numbers are how much you must tilt the Dremel tool to get that Radius. I could put a 9'5" Radius on a .500" thin block, using a 24 inch shell mill cutter. It works equally well for small cutters. You can see this if you take a can of soda and place it on a table. It's flat. If you tilt the can away from you, you go from flat to a very slight radius, minimizing at the size of the soda can's diameter.

The main problem with these machines is vibration. Being plastic, I would be tempted to fill everything underneath I could with some kind of Epoxy, or even concrete, thn bolt it to something sturdy and heavy. This will get you the super nice finish cuts you want, and the tools last longer.

I had a friend who purchased a 3 axis small milling machine, he was a great engineer, but a horrible machinist. He asked me for some help. We first got a lot of cinder blocks and made a proper table. We had trouble getting a good finish only taking off '005" of an inch. I realized they put the motor for the spindle so high up, it was vibrating the crap out of the machine. We scured tha to a wall (the brakcet holding it), and not only did we finally get the finish we wanted, but the machine was at least 50% quieter.

You can do quite a bit with that tool. Keep the "Gibbs' oiled, the screws that keep that tables tight in their ways, as that is what kills all milling machines, if not maintained properly.

Also, if you can mount a part onto the Dremel tool, you can using the table as a vertial lathe, centering the table on the Dremel tool, and going in and out. I don't know if the Dremel mount has a way of going up and down, but it's possible.

 

[micahrogers]

This one is way outside my price range, but is a nice set up.

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Also you could look up UniMat for small micro lathes. I watched a guy use a Unimat lathe and 3 axis mill to hand make a .12 CI 2 stroke engine... he used Aluminum for the crankcase and head, Brass for the bushings, and Chrome Moly for the cylinder liner and piston head. It was amazing.