Hello All:

I have a welding table with a 1/2" top. I need to drill holes in this. I don't want to do this by wielding my Milwaukee heavy drill by hand.

What does one do if you need to punch holes? Do you rent a magnetic drill?

What about chamfering and tapping? Is this done by hand as well. I have some heavy taps but no guide.

The main point is to mount a vice on the table as well as some jigs.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jon

My chassis table. Layed out by hand with a scribe, center punched, mag drilled, hand tapped. The mag drill was key, made the job easy.

http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs217.snc1/8424_528132985822_72100980_31196585_5541767_n.jpg

My chassis table. Layed out by hand with a scribe, center punched, mag drilled, hand tapped. The mag drill was key, made the job easy.

http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs217.snc1/8424_528132985822_72100980_31196585_5541767_n.jpg

Ok thanks for the response.

Jon

I'm doing this very thing to my table.


Here is my thread from OFN.

Jig & fixture table project finally after 12 years, pics

I finally got the opertunity to work on my table I've had for 12 years now. I bought this from one of the machine shops I worked at. It was a Powermatic four head gang drill and the top is blanchard ground so it's precision flat 5' X 2', although since it's a 1969 model I'm sure there's wear in the working area after all those years, but it's more then flat enough for the work I'm ever going to do. Had four columb type drill heads mounted on it. I paid $75 bucks for it and all the heads worked. Only problem was it was three phase. When I first brought it home I gave one drill head to my neighbor for doing some wireing for me. I scraped one head and rebuilt one Morse taper spindle head and was going to rebuild a quill spindle head at a later date. My neighbor and I both bought new Baldor single phase motors for them.

I ended up a few years later scrapping both heads but kept the motors, the original motors ran too high RPM for drilling anything larger then a 3/8 drill. Lowest RPM was like 750 up to 4700 RPM. Crazy right? Anyways I always wanted to drill & tap 1/2-13 holes for Jig & fixture work or welding fixturing or whatever. Thought about having a shop do it but moving this beast once I got it home was out of the question. This table top weighs in the neighborhood of round 500 to 600 lbs. It's heavily ribbed underneath. I though about renting a mag drill and doing it myself, but just never looked into cost to rent a mag drill.

Well where I work now, we have a mag drill and I finally remembered that I wanted to do this and asked if I could borrow our mag drill. My lead said sure, just sign the tool check out log and take it home. We will know who to ask when we need it. He said people use stuff for home all the time. So I signed it out, brought it home and went to work. I'm laying out a 4" on center pattern and using a 100th scale scribing and staking the holes using a eye loop to stake as precision as possible. I could just use a tape measure for what I'm going to use it for but why not do a good precision job of it if I'm gonna do it, right.

The last row on the ends on each side will be three inches from the next row of holes, had no choice cause I would have been into the cast radius under the table and didn't want to do that. I love the coolent trough around the entire table, works great for putting tools in, out of the way of the work area and keeps things from rolling off. I've started the righ side and did 20 or so holes, need to move my D60 and compressor motor and do the rest of the table. Will take about three reasonable days total drilling & tapping to do the whole thing. In the past I've had to drill & tap a few random holes here and there, also there is the columb holes where the columbs used to be, no big deal.

Cool thing about the Mag drill is you can power tap with it since it has reverse. I have a center I put in the chuck, line up the center with the stake mark, drop the center into the stake mark with the mag chuck off and gently lift the mag base off the table just a little one or two times to let it settle in and find center, then with the center in the stake mark I turn on the mag chuck to lock it down. I drill it, have the stop set for the counter sink so they all are the same chamfer depth, then power tap it, done. One hole at a time. I think it's going to be more then precision enough.

I'm going to build a new table base for the top. The one it's on is a little weak in my openion. The new one will be a welded frame with casters so I can roll it around. I have not moved this thing in 12 years and have wanted to forever. I hate where it sits but it's just too heavy to drag around. In several locations I might drill and ream 1/2 thru holes for dowel pin locating holes and stops for locationg material against for repeatability. Anyways, here it is

How many holes are you talking about? If it's just a dozen or so, just suck it up and drill them by hand. If it's like Timmay's table above, rent the mag drill. I think you'll still need to tap by hand tho.

If you have a table top type drill press then flip the base around 180* and clamp it to the table to drill into the top.

It cost a extra $27 to have the shop we buy most of our steel from to pierce 66-5/16" holes on 4" centers when they were laser cutting out the 1/2" tops for a couple of new tables. Having done it with a mag drill before I thought it was well worth the money.

Just recently did similar thing. My top is 4'x7' 1.5" thick. Had some inserts made with 3/4 o.d., 1/2 13 threaded i.d. welded under top. I drilled top with a drill hd drill jig feeding by hand, clamping it down at each location. Really wasnt that bad. Just a little time. Now I can clamp things down in the middle of the table.

My advice would be to rent the mag-drill. As said before, it will be easier than a hand drill and you can power tap also.

I did this on my work table. There are 60 something 5/8-11 holes in it now on a ten inch grid. One of these days I will get the rest of them done. It also has .500 dowel pin holes along the back and one end creating a very square corner to work off of.

Also, the best way I have found to keep the crap out of the threaded holes is to use set screws.

YouTube - MAG DRILL 3 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrywEcV0qPA)

I have a 3 foot by 6 foot cast iron surface plate that I bought from a mold shop a couple of years ago that I use as a work table. The thing is 7.5" thick (lightened and webbed in the middle, but still a couple thousand pounds). I plan on doing this with it eventually, except I'll have to drill oversize and use helicoils, adding to the fun of this task. As soon as I find a mag drill on CL that's cheap enough I'll do it. I have no illusions of getting this done in a day if I'm to do it with any consistency, so renting a mag drill is out.

Yeah, how many holes are we talking? Drilling 1/2" plate by hand is no problem w a sharp bit, provided you only need to do a handful. I agree it would probably have to be over a dozen holes before it'd be worth the time and hassle of renting a mag drill. Also helps if you understand how to sharpen bits on a sander or grinder.

It cost a extra $27 to have the shop we buy most of our steel from to pierce 66-5/16" holes on 4" centers when they were laser cutting out the 1/2" tops for a couple of new tables. Having done it with a mag drill before I thought it was well worth the money.



This thread is awesome! This is exactly what I'm planning to do for my fab table. I'm building it 3' x 4' x 1". The plan is to drill/tap holes for my milling clamp set on a 4" grid. I've already starting building the base and am using the same 4" overhang in this picture above. I'm going to see if I can get my 1" top cut like you did.. I really want the rounded corners and I'm not setup to cut 1".

I can rent a mag drill for about $40/week. The guy at the welding shop that rents the mag drill said I can use it to tap too, just like the video above.

So when using the mag-drill to power tap, do you apply just enough pressure to get the tap to grab and let it self feed? I have always been afraid to try that an end up buggering the threads....

So when using the mag-drill to power tap, do you apply just enough pressure to get the tap to grab and let it self feed? I have always been afraid to try that an end up buggering the threads....

Yes.

My advice would be to rent the mag-drill. As said before, it will be easier than a hand drill and you can power tap also.

What are you using for tap lube?

Don't remember the name off hand. I'll try to remember to get it tomorrow and post it.

Well, it looks like I'll be picking up a mag drill tomorrow, finally, so I'm planning to proceed with drilling a grid in my table. I can't decide how many holes to drill. The table top is 33.75 x 78.5, with a 3.5" pocket on one side, leaving 75" of usable width. Neither dimension is divisible by 4 or 6 inches, and the depth isn't divisible by any integer.

Here are the facts: this is a cast iron surface plate, 6.75" thick (lightened and webbed), but 1.5" thick at the thinnest point. I plan to wind up with 1/2-13" threaded holes after drilling, tapping, and helicoils.

Any suggestions on a hole pattern? Would you drill all the way through, or only the depth of the helicoil?

Here are a couple of pics. click for hi-res.
http://asmc.net/pics/d/7849-2/IMG_2147.JPG (http://asmc.net/pics/d/7847-1/IMG_2147.JPG)http://asmc.net/pics/d/7854-2/IMG_2148.JPG (http://asmc.net/pics/d/7852-1/IMG_2148.JPG)http://asmc.net/pics/d/7580-2/IMG_2079.JPG (http://asmc.net/pics/d/7578-1/IMG_2079.JPG)

Any suggestions on a hole pattern? Would you drill all the way through, or only the depth of the helicoil?


Through holes. Blind will fill up with dust, slag, anything you might spill, etc. Blind if you end up wanting holes over webbing.

Just remember to not have the tap bottom out at the chuck if it's not thru the table all the way. Watch the hard stop on the mag chuck too. Don't want to break the tap. Hit the stop button a bit before it's bottomed out and let it coast to a stop then hit reverse to back it out. You can hit reverse while it's still coasting to a stop and it will just reverse no problem too. Does not have to be at full stop. It's just like a regular hand drill actually.

Well, it looks like I'll be picking up a mag drill tomorrow, finally, so I'm planning to proceed with drilling a grid in my table. I can't decide how many holes to drill. The table top is 33.75 x 78.5, with a 3.5" pocket on one side, leaving 75" of usable width. Neither dimension is divisible by 4 or 6 inches, and the depth isn't divisible by any integer.

Just come in 1.5" on the long side, and 1.625 on the short side. You will end up with a 72x30" square. with 12 holes lengthwise and 6 holes the other way at 6" on center.

What are you using for tap lube?

Forgot about this until today.

It's called TRIM® Tap Heavy

Master Chemical Tapping Fluid - TRIM® Tap Heavy

• High Viscosity Heavy-Duty Tapping Compound
• Sticks to taps for heavy-duty tapping
• Use on taps over 1/2" diameter
• Apply by squeeze bottle or brush
• No mineral oil content - water washable
• NO AIR SHIPMENTS



http://www.nolansupply.com/bysubcategory.asp?category=Fluids+and+Lubes&supercategory=Master+Chemical+Tapping+Fluids&subcategory=Master+Chemical+Tapping+Fluid+-+TRIM%26%23174%3B+Tap+Heavy%26nbsp%3B&type=False&specs=True

Here are the end results... The hardest part was laying out the grid. The drilling/tapping was tedious, but easy. I went with 72, 1/2-13 (helicoiled) holes on 6-inch centers. 12 across, 6 deep. Thanks for the suggestion Snowbird13.

I'm happy with the results. The table is much more useful now. I still have to add a couple of holes to mount the JD2 notchmaster, as the mounting holes in that are much less than 6" apart.

Click for hi-res:
http://asmc.net/pics/d/10328-2/IMG_2761.JPG (http://asmc.net/pics/d/10326-1/IMG_2761.JPG)http://asmc.net/pics/d/10333-2/IMG_2762.JPG (http://asmc.net/pics/d/10331-1/IMG_2762.JPG)http://asmc.net/pics/d/10338-2/IMG_2763.JPG (http://asmc.net/pics/d/10336-1/IMG_2763.JPG)http://asmc.net/pics/d/10343-2/IMG_2764.JPG (http://asmc.net/pics/d/10341-1/IMG_2764.JPG)

Here are the end results... The hardest part was laying out the grid. The drilling/tapping was tedious, but easy. I went with 72, 1/2-13 (helicoiled) holes on 6-inch centers. 12 across, 6 deep. Thanks for the suggestion Snowbird13.

I'm happy with the results. The table is much more useful now. I still have to add a couple of holes to mount the JD2 notchmaster, as the mounting holes in that are much less than 6" apart.

Click for hi-res:
http://asmc.net/pics/d/10328-2/IMG_2761.JPG (http://asmc.net/pics/d/10326-1/IMG_2761.JPG)http://asmc.net/pics/d/10333-2/IMG_2762.JPG (http://asmc.net/pics/d/10331-1/IMG_2762.JPG)http://asmc.net/pics/d/10338-2/IMG_2763.JPG (http://asmc.net/pics/d/10336-1/IMG_2763.JPG)http://asmc.net/pics/d/10343-2/IMG_2764.JPG (http://asmc.net/pics/d/10341-1/IMG_2764.JPG)


I'm jealous, that's a nice looking table. :smokin: