Text B. Using a Drill Press

The main operation performed on a drill press is, of course, drilling holes. Actually, though, there are a lot of jobs a drill press will do. Tapping, grinding, polishing, buffing, sanding, and routing are just a few. We'll discuss three operations-drilling, buffing, and grinding.

It's pretty tough to plug a hole, at was drilled in the wrong place. It's much easier to locate the exact position of the hole to be drilled. A useful tool for doing this is the combination square. Use a scriber or punch to mark the spot. Next you must indent this mark with a center punch. Center punching should be done carefully and accurately.

Metalwork should be mounted. Do not hold your work to the drill-press table with your hand. You might lose that hand! The drill may catch or jam and start the metal piece spinning. If this happens it could cut your hand or fly loose and hit someone. You could break the drill, too. Use а С clamp to hold your work to the table. Always support the work (especially long, thin strips of metal) pretty close to the hole being drilled so that it cannot spring. You can use a drill-press vise for holding small work. Once your work is secure you are ready to start drilling.

Attachments for a drill press are needed when you want to perform other operations. For example, suppose you want to buff a piece of work you made. An attachment called an arbor can be used. It will hold a buffing wheel. You apply buffing compound to your work, turn the drill on, and hold your work up to the spinning buffer. Hold on tight!

How about grinding? You can do that with a drill press, too. You need a special spindle and a grinding or cup wheel. Speed of the drill press should be about 5,000 r.p.m. The object to be ground can be held in a drill-press vise under the cup wheel and the wheel brought down with the feed lever. Or, by using the column collar under the drill-press head, you can swing the head back and forth across the work.

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1. What basic parts has a drill press?

2. Where does the spindle revolve?

3. What operations can be performed on a drill press?

4. How is the spindle sleeve moved?

5. What is provided by the spindle sleeve movement?

6. How can you identify the spot for drilling?

7. What rules of safety must you follow?