Drill Press Fence Height

[dale]

How tall should a drill press fence be? Is 3 1/2" too high? If you had one that high and the handles hit it when you lowered the bit, would you rearrange the fence or just lower the table?

[LCHIEN]

How tall should a drill press fence be? Is 3 1/2" too high? If you had one that high and the handles hit it when you lowered the bit, would you rearrange the fence or just lower the table?

that depends on the drill press.
Some have long handles like mine (Hitachi 15") and they whack the fence when you put the table at a good working height. Worse, my grizzly fence (sam as the one sold by MLCS) has the locking knob for the fence right where the handle goes by knocking another 3/4" off the clearance.

The (bad) solutions are to lower the table (and fence) but then you increase the bit to drill surface so you have to lower the bit several inches before it hits the work and then it subtracts from the drill depth (or set the stop so the quill doesn't go so high which also limits the travel).
The other bad solutions are to place blocks and other elevation items under the workpiece.

My solution was to get the low profile fence drill press table from woodpeckers as described here:
http://www.bt3central.com/showthread...ght=woodpecker

[sacherjj]

I think the knob placement is a common problem on that Grizzly/MLCS table. I was pretty happy with the quality of that, until I tried to use it. I have to unscrew one or more of my handles to drill holes with it.

[Lonnie in Orlando]

My fence is just a jointed 2X4, so it's less than 1-1/2" high. The height has worked well for me. A taller fence may restrict using short bits - eg counter sink - near the fence, because the chuck will hit the fence.

It's attached to the table with 6" bar clamps, and has hold-downs to secure the workpiece. The hold-downs fold back on each side of the post to clear the chuck and drill body.

- Lonnie

[ejs1097]

My fence is 2 1/2" high. Another thing to consider is bumping into the chuck for holes close to the edge. When this happens I have a straight 3/4" ply aux fence I clamp to the table.

I've removed 2 of the 3 handles on my drill press to prevent hitting the fence with them regardless of the table height.

[RayintheUK]

Here's how I did it, but on a Jet, so I don't know if it's applicable to your problem:



Ray.

[Tom Miller]

I think you should go as low as you can with the fence. You can always make a vertical support that attaches to a low fence when you need it for taller items.

I recently made a shorter fence to replace my 3.5" tall DP fence (Rockler DP table), after I had banged into it one too many times with the DP chuck. Since the old fence was made of MDF, I had to glue some broken pieces a few times. I made it with BB ply, and got it down to ~2" tall, since I was re-using the 2" tall aluminum fence support. I put the t-track on top to facilitate flipstops.

Regards,
Tom

[LarryG]

In general, I agree with Lonnie and Tom's the-shorter-the-better thinking. However, my current fence is only 3/4" high -- and it's too short. I'm forever needing to drill matching holes through two pieces of 3/4" thick stock, and when I stack them atop each other, there's nothing to keep the top piece from sliding out of alignment. The next fence I make, RSN, is going to be more like 1-1/4" high.

[newood2]

I have the Ryobi DP 120 and use a 2.5" high fence. Works quite well for anything.

[scorrpio]

I prefer low fence. Aside from handles problem, there's the issue of chuck hitting the fence when drilling holes very close to the edge.

I personally use a length of aluminum extrusion from 8020inc. It is 1" tall, but I can easily attach a taller fence to it when needed.

[RodKirby]

This works for me 99% of the time - 1-1/8". In the background (against the wall), you can see the taller fence I use very occasionally.




The single "arm" is all I ever need - for full quill travel.

[glencross]

drill press fence height

I have a 2 1/2 inch high fence and where the handles hit the fence I cut out a slot so that the handles no longer hit that darned fence!
Hope this helps.

[bthere]

I have two fences. The main one is about 3" tall with T track in the top and face. The handles on my Delta don't hit the fence in any usual operation.

The second fence is about 7/8" and is used particularly for those small pieces where the chuck would hit the taller fence. It has a T slot routed in the top.

I also have a couple of tall facings (about 8") made out of 3/4" MDF.that I infrequently use on the front of my 3" fence. The can be used butted up to each other or separated as needed for clearance for the chuck/quill. They do require a little jockeying to keep out of the way of the DP handles. Like I said, they are for very infrequent use, and, if necessary, I would notch one to have clearance and get the job done.

[John Hunter]

Here is the one I built. I have been very happy with it. I used the Rockler T-track kits and a piece of old counter top.

[dale]

Thanks for all of the input! It sounds like most people prefer a shorter fence. Fewer quill handles (if that's the right terminology) also sounds like an option. I also like Rod's dual fences.

As my first fence probably won't be my last fence, I think I'll try to shove the whole thing through the TS and try to shorten it down to 2 1/2"; if it doesn't work I really haven't lost much.

Pretty soon, I might be able to change my signature!