Small angle drill press

**threesixesinarow** · Sep 20, 2018, 08:07 AM

I made a radial adapter that mounts my dovetailed Unimat headstock to a tilting column on a portable wooden base.

The free end of the ball clamps around a cut off piece of bed rod for my watchmaker lathe, and I’ve been drilling with that but the new adapter is more adjustable and saves having to take the lathe apart.

Small angle drill press-ad01_smallandbig.jpg

Next to my bigger, still small angle drill press

Small angle drill press-ad02_tiltforwardleft.jpg

Tilting forward and left, in the regular higher position

Small angle drill press-ad03_tiltbackright.jpg

Tilting back and right, in the upside down lower position

Parts

**DIYer** · Sep 22, 2018, 07:59 AM

Thanks threesixesinarow! We've added your Small Angle Drill Press to our Drilling and Drill Presses category,
as well as to your builder page: threesixesinarow's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Small Angle Drill Press by threesixesinarow

tags: drilling, adaptor

**old_toolmaker** · Sep 23, 2018, 07:56 PM

threesixesinarow,

A great little multi directional portable drill!! I admire your ingenuity and originality!!

**threesixesinarow** · Sep 25, 2018, 06:45 AM

Thanks, Dick,

It beats drilling lots of angled holes by hand! I never tried Archimedes or bow drills, though.

An easy improvement to it was right in front of me for days before I recognized it.

Small angle drill press-e9a699a9-70b1-44f4-8082-95abbc490f44.jpg

**old_toolmaker** · Sep 25, 2018, 07:54 PM

Is that a flat iron in the picture?

**threesixesinarow** · Sep 26, 2018, 07:51 AM

Originally Posted by old_toolmaker

Is that a flat iron in the picture?

Yes, for ballast.

A couple indicator bases might help to anchor the base when it’s on iron surfaces.

**wizard69** · Jan 6, 2019, 12:47 PM

That is one nice solution you have there. It leaves me with all sorts of ideas for a micro drill press. This is perhaps the greatest compliment One can offer up for a design, it gets the creative juices flowing in others. It starts with “why didn’t I think of that” and builds from there.

I must ask, how much of a pain is it to get the angles right with that ball joint? Or for that matter get everything back to vertical square.

**threesixesinarow** · Jan 7, 2019, 05:26 AM

Thanks, wizard69!

I think its lack of nice adjustment is a big reason why the ball joint wasn’t an obvious solution to me, but I use this for drilling lots of small close holes in big pieces of wood where consistency is more important than specific angles, so it’s okay.

Springy split lock washers on the clamping bolts help keep it from slipping while I adjust it.

When I need a more normal micro drill press I just move the quill, or the whole headstock, to a different machine.

**Mr.Pete** · Mar 19, 2019, 06:33 PM

Originally Posted by threesixesinarow

I made a radial adapter that mounts my dovetailed Unimat headstock to a tilting column on a portable wooden base.

The free end of the ball clamps around a cut off piece of bed rod for my watchmaker lathe, and I’ve been drilling with that but the new adapter is more adjustable and saves having to take the lathe apart.