Drill Jig or Not to Drill Jig...

[necchi]

That Chinese/east Asian model is available from dozens of suppliers and is junk.
It's too small, the bearings are loose as well as the chuck and the shaft wobbles.
The drill bit doesn't rotate,, it oscillates, bad news for the kind of work done here.

I just went through this same issue last summer. Your not going to find a suitable drill press "new" for under 200 anywhere. I finally got one from a guy at work that was downsizing his shop because of a divorce,,

At issue is as Keith mentioned is support, you have to rig blocks and/or some kind of support for the stock when working,, it can be an issue when your press doesn't have enough weight to keep itself steady.

Bottom line, if you can't find a higher end drill press 2nd hand or auction/estate sale your much better off with the jig and a hand drill.

It's easy for guy's to say use a drill press when they've set up shop with decent equipment. That can take years,,

The jig shown is good as well as this one, you can get a lot done with it; http://www.cainsoutdoor.com/shop/item.asp?item=04019

 

[Zonie]

Sounds like you got a bad one.
My Chinese drill press works just fine.

As for drill jig/drill press/freehand, IMO the drill jig and drill press are much better.

My first rifles were all drilled freehand using an electric hand drill. Probably the most nerve racking time in the entire build.

The drill press works well if it is used with a coned lower spike to locate the target position but it is a bit awkward unless a LOT of time is spent setting things up right. Having another person to help support the stock is also a good idea.

For drilling the underlug, ramrod thimbles, trigger guard etc. I do like my little home made drill jig.
It's light weight and easy to locate on the starting and ending position marks and it allows the use of a common hand held electric drill.




It wasn't cheap to build because those three drill bushings are industrial grade slip removable bushings. The three of them cost over $40.

 

[necchi]

Sounds like you got a bad one.

Yup,
I won't even give it away to someone that wants to drill straight holes!
It's got a cloth buffing wheel set up on it now and is dedicated to nothing but polishing things that might need it.

 

[fusil de chase]

I found a 8 inch drill press from harbour freight

With ANY drill press If you do not measure the chuck runout or at least turn the spindle with a piece of rod in the chuck and eyeball it, it is a manure shoot. A wobbly under powered inufficent throat press is way less useful then a tight USA made 1930s radio (hand powered) drill from an antique tool dealer (10 bucks)

 

[Vaino]

Evidently drilling holes can be "tricky" judging from all the frequent posts about drilling
"gadgets" and drillpresses.

Most of the drill sizes that are used in gunbuilding are of a relatively small dia., are used for drilling wood and softer metals and require higher speeds which some DPs don't have. My free standing Craftsman DP has 8 speeds....380-8550 RPM and all are utilized. 380 for ctsking, 720 for drilling holes for tang and lock bolt holes and 1325 for drilling 1/16 dia holes for bbl lugs and RR pipes. The upper range of speeds are used for polishing.

Drilling holes so they go where intended isn't possible if a faulty layout is made....the best DP and drilling "gadgets" won't correct this.

If a proper speed is used, feed rate isn't as critical

Went to Ace Hardware and bought some small drills and when home looked at them and all the shank ends were bent....when chucked, the runout was horrible. Promptly returned them and found nothing better, so ordered some online which as it turned out were excellent.

Nothing like sharp drills and if unable to sharpen them, new ones should be used.

I use the DP for starting taps....by turning on the spindle, turning off and while the spindle is "coasting", the tap is lowerd into the hole. A few threads are cut and the tapping is finished manually in the bench vise .....Fred