Ten-Minute Job Takes Days

I still have not mounted my Phase II cross slide table on my drill press table. I’m working on it right now. I feel like those ladies in the old commercials who used to say, “I’m cleaning my bathroom bowl” while they were playing tennis or whatever. My horizontal band saw is cutting me a slab of aluminum while I type.

That’s a great machine, although it would be much better with a lubrication system. I don’t know how much lube it needs, but I’m afraid to use it dry. For steel, I sit and dribble Ridgid pipe cutting oil on it, and that means sitting by the saw for an hour for a four-inch cut. I read that you can lube aluminum by putting a paraffin block in the path of the blade. I don’t have a block, but I have some crappy half-burned hurricane candles, and I’m using one of them now. Seems to work. I’ll run out and check from time to time to make sure it hasn’t popped out.

I had a really hard time deciding how to mount the table. It’s about one inch too narrow for the slots to line up with the drill press slots. Very confusing, from a geometric point of view. I’m not about to drill new holes in the drill press table. My solution is to make half-inch-thick aluminum plates, mount them over the drill press slots, attach the plates to the drill press slots, and then attach the slide table to the plates from above. I’ll have recessed bolts going up through the plates through the cross slide table slots. It won’t be sturdy enough to mill on, but then I’m not milling. The objective is to keep stuff from breaking free and spinning and cutting me a new belly button.

I don’t know how I’ll recess the bolts into the underside of the aluminum. I’ll worry about that tomorrow. I guess I can use an end mill and make cylindrical, flat-bottomed holes. Then I can put washers in there and rest the heads of the bolts on them. Countersinking would be better, but I don’t think I have a countersink big enough. I’d like to use 3/8″ bolts, at least.

I think I’m going to get a VFD for the drill press. People are telling me it’s overkill, but think about it. You can’t reverse a drill press. At least not this one. That’s lame. That alone makes the VFD useful. Besides, I found a good cheap motor.

I love machining aluminum. I can see why it’s so popular. It’s like machining cheese. Deep cuts? No problem. Steel is so slow, I can hardly stand it.

Better go check on the saw.