Motorized Drill Press Table 

Cristy17, hello. I know this posting was done 2 years ago but I am in the process of TRYING to motorize the drill table on my Delta 70-200, with a heavy 22" sq. cast iron table. You said you had a heavy table, did you use all of the parts listed, what power supply did you use ? Thanks for your time. "I'm ssssooo lost" !

@@grevillebalzarini3684 Hi. I built my table. I did the "XY axis" so it's heavy but not sure if its heavier than your wrought iron table. In the comments of the You Tube video the creator listed everything you need. It was a fun build. I wouldn't say it was easy but not too difficult either.

Let us know what you find mate! Other Aussies need to know!

That's awesome!! I use it way more than I ever thought I would!

Yeah, sounds like a bad motor. I'd ask for another one. If it doesn't spin freely without a load, snow ball's chance it will spin with one. Glad you enjoyed it!

IMHO... straight up and down gives you the option of tilting the table without interference. I'm in the process of TRYING to get my table motorized and mine is parallel to the column.

@@grevillebalzarini3684 I don't understand what you mean. With this design, mounting the motor to part of the table that rotates, you have no option to tilt the table regardless of how the motor is mounted to it. Clocking 90 here still makes it more compact and costs you no function. To be able to still use your tilt function, you would need to mount the motor to the portion of the table that traverses up and down the column where it doesn't rotate. So, motor and switch on the part the table that traverses up and down the column. And then whatever table you want to have on your press, including the one it came with. That is what I ended up doing and used the drill press table I already built. I don't tilt my table anyhow. I find it cumbersome and not repeatable. I have it locked at dead 90 degrees to the quill and I don't mess with it. I use the Woodpeckers Duax when I need angled holes. Which has the added bonuses of being more repeatable and providing more ease in accuracy.

@@StoneyMeyerhoeffer Thanks for the reply. My motor, the same design as the posting, is all mounted to the Gear Box of the Drill Press Lift System. It is out of the way of the Table be tilted. I'm not sure how to post pictures then I could show you what I have done.

@@grevillebalzarini3684 That is what I said to do. The gear box is the "part of the table that traverses the column" My point is that my comments about clocking the motor were specific to his design.

@@StoneyMeyerhoeffer My misunderstanding, sorry.

Thanks for the kind words! Hopefully I can create more than one video a year in the future 🤣. Knowing people watch and enjoy is certainly motivation!

Dean, I agree 100%. Initially I thought this would be 'cool' or nice to have, now I would argue it is a necessity! I was just using it last night at had several different sized items to put some holes in. I thought, this would be a PITA to manually crank this everytime I need to switch positions

Yeah, I've seen how they're cut, but for the soft metal the coupler had, the dremel seemed like the easiest method to get it 80% correct. For the application (some could argue the motorized table is unnecessary), it was more than good enough!

@@JoshIlles you can just take a chisel and gently tap it out. it's a semi-circle when it come off. It took me 1/2 a second and two gentle taps. no cutting involved.

I have a Prusa i3 MK3S, I use PrusaSlicer and for modeling, I use SolidWorks

Added the link to the video description and also available below. I uploaded all the files I could find. Unfortunatley, I couldn't find the template used to route out the gap for the switch box. www.prusaprinters.org/prints/138913-motorized-drill-press-switch-box

@@JoshIlles Thank you!

The rack and pinon keeps the table more or less in place. The motor doesn't need to constantly hold it up. That being said, I will occasionally use the table lock to prevent it from spinning. If I clamp on a fence and need to make repeat holes, I will clamp it down. I just have to be careful to unclamp it before I try and move the table.

No functional reason, just thought it looked better!

I just leave it loose, I rarely find I need it to not swivel

You're right! It would definitely make it a lower profile. I'm not sure if there was a particular reason I went vertical

@@JoshIlles i was only thinking if you went to full down travel, would it hit the motor or run out of travel on the strip of gear down the side? Either way it wouldn't take much to rotate it lol. Still an awesome idea and execution.

I couldn't find the exact 24V 160RPM motor. I was able to find a 100 RPM 12V motor: www.amazon.com/Makermotor-Shaft-Reversible-Electric-Motor/dp/B0765KZ3TJ/ It will be a little slower and will need a 12V power supply instead of a 24V power supply. Generally, you can google "24V gear motor" and look for one at a similar speed with a power greater than or equal to about 80 watts. To find out what size power supply you need, take the power of the motor (80W) and divide it by the voltage (12V) and that will give you the current (6.67A). Add 20% (~8A) and look for a power supply that can output at least that much current.

Is that the 160rpm motor? Thanks for your time!

Did a search of Amazon, eBay and googled it. eBay sellers were out of stock at the time I bought, but Walmart of all places had exactly what is described. And at the best price I found. DC24volt, 160RPM. for $59 free delivery. Just finishing up my install and will post a video in the next day or so. www.walmart.com/ip/Yaegoo-DC24V-80W-160RPM-Reversible-Worm-Gear-Motor-Reversible-Electric-Gear-Motor-High-Torque-Speed-Reducing-Electric-Gearbox-Motor/637383349

Looking in my Amazon cart, I had two from around that time. I believe this is the right one though! It's easy enough to measure the two shaft diameters with calipers and find the right one. www.amazon.com/dp/B078VS9BVH?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Thanks for watching! I edited to video to include the links to the motor, coupling, and switch in the video description! I also included the specs for the motor around 2:34!

www.amazon.com/uxcell-Reversible-Reducing-Electric-Motor-JCF63R/dp/B0732FFSGS/ref=sr_1_5? People had a hard time finding the original one linked. Here is a new source for an identical motor (updated the description as well)

Honestly, I don't ever clamp it and I don't have many issues. If you haven't already, Marius Hornberger just released an awesome video on his drill press upgrades that include an auto clamp. His stuff is next next level.

@@JoshIlles After I posted my comment I thought; hmmm, is there even a need to clamp? The 'rules' say you should, but realistically it shouldn't matter. Thanks, and thanks for telling me about Marius's video.

Just updated the description with it.

Thank you Josh! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Peter, I would. But unfortunately I am in the middle of relocating so my printer is packed up for the foreseeable future. I'll try and see if I can upload the files to an online repo and maybe you could order from an online service?

Not sure what motor you have. If it's the same style but if it's faster (higher RPM) it might not have enough torque. It's hard/ impossible to say the motor you need based on those specs as the motor power requires depends on your table weight, the friction between the rack and pinion (gear that makes the table go up and down), and your desired speed. That being said, I'm sure you've already checked, but it always helps as a sanity check to make sure the table is unlocked 🤣 You can check if your power supply is not beefy enough if you have a multimeter. Set it to check voltage and put it on the output of the power supply, it should read 12/24V, whatever the power supply is rated at. Then start the motor, if it dips significantly, then the power supply might not be enough. If you check the current on the motor name plate, there should be a rating, it might be named FLA (full load amps), I'd pick a power supply based on that and double the current as head room (ex 5a motor current = 10a power supply) just to be safe. Hope some of this information might help, good luck, I'll answer any questions I can 👍

​@@JoshIlles I got the same style you posted but the next one up because the one you posted was not available. I'm starting to think the PS is the problem. Thanks for all of the info, great stuff. I will check the voltage drop and see what I get. The amperage for the motor states 4 amps, my PS is 6 amp... just might be the PS. Thanks for taking time to reply to my question. As I said, " I'm LOST " !

@@JoshIlles I thought I had replied before this to your posting but just incase. First, thanks for the information, just what I needed. I just ordered a 15 amp power supply and it should be here tomorrow, 5/16/23. I'm hoping it will spin the motor at a reasonable speed, if I remember correctly the rpm for the motor was either 160 or 180. Thanks again for the info, thanks for the great posting. It will have taken me even longer to gather the correct parts, at least I had a good starting point. GOD Bless

Hello, Josh and others reading this posting. I was having a problem where the motor that Josh had suggested, wouldn't operate my Drill Press Table. I couldn't find a Power Supply (PS) like the one suggested so I purchased a PS with 50% more Amps than needed, but I wasn't correct in my power needs, what is needed is something two or three times the needed amperage of the motor. I have, at Josh's suggestion, made a few electrical measurements, Power Drop when the motor is under load, and the current draw when running. As it turns out, with the electrical measurements and Josh's suggestions I purchased a 15 amp, 24 volt PS... Drum Roll please... The motor operates my table, happy joy,,, a little slower than I wanted but it will do until this motor decides to say good night. My Table is a 20+ inch Cast iron Unit, heavy is the main underlying pressure that slows this Table down to where I'm thinking MORE TORQUE ! Thanks to Josh Illes and the others who made a suggest. It is working and I am happy with this mod, again thanks Josh.

I tried a Power Supply with three times the amperage and it worked out. It probably could use some more amperage but for now it is working and not getting hot. My granddaughter thinks I'm a wizard setting it up... so thanks for the help !

Stepper motor could work, but you would need to get a fairly beefy one for the required torque. Plus you'd need a stepper driver which adds cost and complexity... Generally when I try to make things too feature rich and complex, they never cross the finish line. I believe for this application a standard gear motor is the right tool for the job

Ron, I have one, I just generally leave it unlocked. I haven't experienced any problems

Great I will do this as well. @@JoshIlles

Thanks! I plan to, I am working on making them more frequently!

I'm honored you think my video has that much influence 🤣.

@craigmayhan8620 The switch is a double pole, double throw (DPDT); you use each "throw" (position up vs. down) to change the direction the current flows through the motor. Essentially you're swapping which lead is positive and negative. Here is a schematic diagram from digikey forum.digikey.com/t/polarity-reversal-using-a-dpdt-switch/626. Here is another blog post telling how to use a DPDT switch to change motor direction www.robotroom.com/DPDT-Bidirectional-Motor-Switch.html

@@JoshIlles Yes, the switch on off on reverses the direction of motor, not the issue, what wires go where, went to the listed sites, all Greek to me. 2 wires coming out of motor, (DC ) power supply, converts AC to DC, wires coming out of power supply 2, with a plug. Cut off plug? split wire and connect to ?Where, switch? Motor? alligator clips on end and just test connection?, don't want to burn up a 75 dollar motor. all wires go to switch? (have wired up electric trains, is this the same concept ? Thanks