So, I’m stuck trying to get the drill press set up for truss pole seats (They have both a “spread” angle and a “rake” angle that need to be set). I couldn’t figure out how to make my CNC’d jig work properly (yes, I probably need to remake it, but let me get the show on the road here), so I reverted to the way I’d done it last time, which was to set up the bevel angle on the drill press table (a very manual and error-prone process, if you don’t know what you’re doing), and then getting the cut depth and spoilboard and jig set up.
The idea is to position the workpiece so that repeatable cuts can be made; brackets come in sets of 6, 12 holes, compound angles — read the 2011 rebuild for lots of detail.
This drill press has the ability to rotate its work table around 3 axes (swing around Z, roll around Y, and yaw about the center of the table. I’d like to set up a jig to cut the proper spread and rake.
First, level the table. Use a bubble level, then calibrate the iPhone level, if desired.
Then, clamp a stop block in place, parallel to the Y axis (so it won’t change under roll).
Spread angle can be set by rolling the table. On my drill press, there’s a single 18mm bolt holding this axis in place. loosen with a socket wrench, and set the angle with a level (I used the one in my iPhone again). Holding it in place while tightening the bolt is a task. Feels like I need a block and tackle. 🙂
Rake is added by yawing the table, or, in my case, I cut a 30-60-90 triangle, and clamped it to the jig. (Rake is always 30º for this build).
Get the workpiece set up to drill the two holes, and get it centered under the drill bit (mine has a laser crosshair, you want both holes to be the same distance from the end of the workpiece).
So that’s the procedure, as I understand it.
I’m not there yet with my drill. I’ll work on it some more tomorrow, now that I think that I have an idea what to do next.