Poor Man's Proxxon

[The Iceman]

I picked this up a few months ago after wrestling with that 30 year old drill press. I just didn't feel It was exact enough and the Run Out was more then I wanted to accept. So I found this drill on Amazon (SE 97511MDP) Lol no name

Pros:
1. 85 dollars
2. Run out is almost nil
3. High Speed (8,000 rpm)
4. Variable speed (dial switch)
5. once finally setup, seems to be very exact!

Cons:
1. Base is off by about 1/16
2. un-adjustable base
3. base is made out of some cheap cast of some sort.

I purchased a t4 aluminum 1/4x4x14 plate and epoxied 1 1/4 aluminum angle bar to it. I bolted the plate to the base plate (slotted it for play). So adjustments will be a pain if I want to drill something other than the Rears or DFW. I set it up to drill the rears with a spacer then when I drill the DFW I can remove the spacer. I've only done 3 cars but test drilled about 100 times. lol

Do I wish I bought the Proxxon, yes but also wish I had a bottomless pocket book too. Maybe in a few years!

Link:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0040YJTTU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[TRE]

thats exactly what i have works great

 

[B_Regal Racing]

WARNING: inexperienced builder commenting -

I did a lot of research in this area (drill presses) and read a lot about squaring the table. There is tons of information on this forum about the subject. While I would say 1/16th would be excessive, I will say that the table does not have to be perfectly square (I believe QT said this, as well as John). In either case, I believe the secret here is to use a fence and do not reposition the car on the bullet until both rears are drilled. What ever error occurs when drilling the left rear will be the exact opposite error in the right rear. The car may dog track a bit, but the rears should not touch the rail and the rears should track straight. At least this is what I have seen in intentionally taking the table out of square. The key is to ensure that the bullet is flat on the table and pressed against the fence. The only thing that I see that could affect the drilling of the rear axles is debris, the improperly positioning the bullet against the fence, or the pin not being positioned properly (from a gross point of view).

This was one of my keys to gaining some speed...

 

[down4derby]

I've used that press for a few years. I attached a glass plate to the base of mine to square it up. It works great!

 

[ngyoung]

As long as you have a fence and don't adjust it between doing each of the rear holes it won't matter if the table isn't exact.

 

[quadad]

I have come to a similar conclusion in general, that a decently spinning drill press can be modified to be accetably plumb using something other than the factory base or table saving some real $$$. I have gone a little overboard on this myself and shimmed a granite surface plate (with real good flatness) to get nearly perfect readings all around with my indicator (similar to that used on indicator check tables). I also believe that not every Proxxon or MicroMark is totally perfect as well - and you have no recourse if they are "off a little bit" because there are no specs guaranteed on these.

 

[TRE]

I just drilled another body with the poor mans proxon it was dead on