Show and Tell: Magswitch Drill Press Vise Mount! 

You are the best, glad you like the mount and thanks for showing it off!

It is so easy to remove and slide because it should be 90 deg to how it is now. The magnets are mostly over the slots in the table. This breaks the magnetic lines of force. I have a couple of small versions for holding indicators that are harder to remove than that is right now.

For anyone that would like something like this but on the cheap, I made my own. I bought for magnetic tool mounts from Harbor Freight for $52. I had to buy four M8 x 1.25 x 16mm bolts as well. So for a total of $57 I have a device that does exactly what this Magswitch does but for a fraction of the cost.

Did anyone notice that the last switch he flipped crept back to Off ? Only three of the four magnets were activated when he drilled the square tubing.

I appreciate the warning about real life drill press situations (I don't do any heavy duty machining work). This gives me pause to invest a bit more consideration to E-Stop placement.

Having been in a shop situation where a rather heavy workpiece went flying over my head from the bad work holding setup of guy running the machine 20 feet away from me; I totally agree that proper clamping is NOT optional.

Adam, you explained exactly what happened to me. I thought I would just drill a quick hole in a piece of angle iron when the bit grabbed, pulled the vice out of my hand, spun around and hit me in the ribcage and bruised my liver and lung! Spent several days in the hospital! (I was only 16) Lesson learned the hard way!

One of the first shop safety photos I saw as a kid was a bunch of hair and some scalp in a drill press. Always gave drill presses respect, or anything rotating with high rpm's. Before I hit the green button I always think through 'okay, what can go wrong with this'.

Regarding Adam's anecdote about crawling to unplug an out of control drill press: One of the best ways to remain IN CONTROL if the work gets caught and spins on the bit, is DO NOT LET GO of the quill handle, instead HOLD IT DOWN against/towards the table. The work will be trapped, unable to side off the bit or become airborne. Anything so short as to not strike the pillar, you can avoid at arm's length with just a step back (still holding down the quill) and switch OFF with the other hand.

I like to use a less aggressive cutting angle for aluminum. I used the bits that have been ground for brass (same on the lathe) with good results: less grabbing, cleaner, more precise holes.

The best thing about this is that it is quick and easy to install and remove. Lots of accidents (and/or scrapped parts) are due to: "Oh, just this once..." and "I can drill this and be done in the time it takes to clamp the vise to the table, let alone put it away..."

Being there done that and got the T-shirt.....and the scar on my palm to prove it, thats a cracking piece of kit, and no power needed which is a bonus

This drill press vice mount, which was sent for the purposes of review, will be going on sale this week, and you can get an additional 10% by using this link: mag-tools.com/products/drill-press-vise-mount-81001385?ref=xTLJUI_PKn0zc If that 10% discount doesn't appear at checkout then use the coupon code "Tested" and you will get i

Now I have to make one with a lever and neodymium magnets. Thanks Adam!

5:15 the doctor during my prostate exam

Well I know what I am getting My dad and myself for christmas now! Definitely need this!

Cross-slide vice is great alternative to this. Although they have limited range of movement, but also alot cheaper if youre on a budget.

I can’t believe after 50 yrs of making, how much I learn from your videos! What is the white pen you use at the end?

The look on his face when he realized the bolts were in the way😂😂😂 If I had a dollar...

Too right about the nature of Aluminium. I’m a locksmith by trade and whilst manufacturing a part for a job which involved a square alum box with open back I was holding up against a wall, as the drill bit broke through the aluminium the whole thing twisted off the wall, my index finger slipped in through the open back that due to the bite of the bit twisting it off the surface I was holding it to above my head, in an instance my finger had slipped behind and in as the drill bit pushed through, driven forth by the flutes in the drill as it hadn’t fully cut all the way through the Alum and was pushed like a cork screw through my finger until it hit the other side of the piece I was drilling and finally cut through the first hole and spun completely, finally cutting the bits of flesh that the flutes had within them. It happened in a split second and I reactively withdrew the drill bit immediately. I remember that it felt like my finger at been twisted off as I hadn’t seen what had happened until I pulled the drill out. That was only with an 18v DeWalt cordless drill and a 1/4 inch drill bit! 😂 Could only wonder what damage I could do with the drill press lol. I atleast found a whole new respect for the potential carnage power tools can inflict when you let your guard down for a split second!😅. I was lucky, just a love tap compared to what potentially could happen. Haven’t injured myself with a power tool since then 10 years ago so I’m lucky! 😂

I have looked through their catalogue before and I can think of hundreds of ways I could use their products, unfortunately they are priced higher than I as a hobbyist can justify. This one is super cool and practical tho!

if the piece is long enough you can rotate it up against the piller, that way it won't spin like a propeller and cut your belly open. when setting vice I always do this in case it does grab even when c clamped down. or up against a stop to keep from spinning, Ran a radial drill for yrs. in machine shops and have a great fear for what a drill press can do

Now I want a t-shirt that says "I am not a calibrated instrument."

It should be redesigned with a single, larger knob that activates all four magnets.

"I am not a calibrated instrument" would be perfect for a t-shirt!

I've been on the wrong end of a drill press throwing material around. It's just as terrifying as you say it is and I was only working with a quarter HP motor.

Very cool, I thought it would be very useful so I did a search and it's $400! I bought my used industrial drill press for less than that, point is kind of hard to justify the price.

Looks like you could mount it the other way so you don't have to reach around the back to hit the switches. Also, can you use a non-slip pad for even more grip or would that weaken the magnetization?

Actually the problem with the finish of that hole is more to do with the rpm being too high for the size drill. some cutting oil or any oil would be a great help also .

That drill press story reminds me of the time I was standing near one of the larger bandsaws when the blade's weld snapped, causing a portion of the blade to whip out. The safety stopped it almost instantly, but if I'd been standing a couple steps to the one side, it'd have gutted me.

I love those white-out pens!

Cool! I'd be a little worried about rotation, but you know much more about drill presses than I do. And magswitches are great, I use a couple in my astrodroid to make the centre leg easily removable. (Not my idea originally, there's at least one other builder who also does this.)

I was kind of expecting mounting a largish grind magnet and locking the vice to that. A magnet built for grind fixturing has better hold force.

you don't have to show me the failure. I've been there. my mother who is a knife maker/ gunsmith was freehand drilling out holes in the tang of a blade and the bit grabbed the blade ripped it out of her hand and cut a nice gash in her arm. i made her never do that ever again. i bought her a vice the next day and told her if i ever caught her doing that again i'd take her drill press away. i'd of course never do that but it scared the poop out of me.

I use mag switches for my ground cables on my welder. Great stuff when what you are doing is magnetic :) Unfortunately now I'm learning tig welding aluminum and I'm learning ground connections from scratch again!

the amount of free hand work that Adam does with his heavy equipment always concerns me.

I saw a video someone did they used a permanent magnetic chuck and drilled holes in it for the vise works pretty much the same way but at 4x less cost think I will do mine that way as well. Although this is an amazing product no doubt about it just a bit too expensive for some.

Awesome drill vice sir very lovely design good. Thanks for sharing sir.

Great product. Pricy, but worth it to some that need its abilities. I have a number of their smaller switches... the MagJig and MagSquare I use for shop made jigs. Love them. My only concern with MagSwitch is the lateral loading break force is much less than the vertical break force rating, especially on a slick surface like a tool table. Just be advised that it may still have the ability to move/spin under high loads.

i'm surprised Adam's drill press dosn't have big wheels to lock and unlock the table and adjust the hight. I've always wanted to do that so you don't have to mess with the fiddly little factory arrangements. going up and down should just be a spin like on a mill

A classic "why didn't I think of this" but it is a brilliant idea.

Hopefully the next iteration of this product will make switching on/off more ergonomic.

i remember working with the drill press back in like 10th grade for our FIRST competition, thing was scary when it went wild.

The one thing I have always told my students involved in my high school robotics team is USE THE CLAMPS. Not only for safety, but it helps with some accuracy.

I’m impatiently waiting for favorite things!

Great idea for locking down the vise....and then I saw the price, ouch! 😀

Wanna hack that tool for some crazy jig making potential? Notice that the MagSquare 165 by MagSwitch looks very similar to the size of each corner switch in this tool. It looks like the company simply took 4 MagSquares and built them into a jig that lays each on their side. Fashion up some t-track frame from 80/20 extrusions and a drilled plate from 1/4" thick flatbar, and size to your needs. The MagSquare has threaded holes on the sides (M6 I think I heard) for attaching to various other jigs. Look at their website and notice how many tools have the MagSquares as the base component. And here's a tip: the magnets don't hold in shear very well if your metal table has been waxed (as advised by some for corrosion protection), so you can apply a little RugGrip tape to the bottom of the magnet to reduce sliding.

Im stealing that vice-on-a-plywood. I don't have 4 giant electromagnets in my shop.😂

My biggest problem with magnets in a shop, is the shavings they pick up. I have used air to remove these, but I don't really like it. Any other ideas for this

I wonder about accuracy with this setup. Getting that magnetic vice situated exactly where you need it to put a hole where you want it sounds like a lot of fiddling - getting it near to where you want it, activating one magnet, then nudging and tapping it to get it right, then activating the others - and even then, getting the hole within .5mm of the mark would be the best I would think possible. But I suppose if you need more accuracy than that, you'd use the mill instead.

Looks great but he should reorient the vise so that the magnets are side to side instead of front to back (depending on how he most often uses the vise)

My favorite vice mount is an x-y stage.

4:52 Preventing lift is great and all, but isn't that irrelevant when you can so relatively easily jig it side-to-side like you do there? Isn't it in the horizontal direction you primarily need to prevent movement so that it doesn't spin out of control?

Hey, Mr. Tester - How about testing what actually matters? The twisting force from a stuck drill bit is what counts, if you'd rather not see a violent injury. The vertical hold down force is worthless marketing blabber. Let's see it stay put when a 1/2 inch bit sticks in a hefty piece of Aluminum. How about it? Can you test that?

Adam, I have been a fan of *yours* since I first watched Mythbusters, and it's because you say amazing things like, "I am not a calibrated instrument." 😏 While living in this repressed (tech/social) area, it is hard to connect with like-minded question askers and problem solvers. Any tips?

Does that press have a continuously variable pulley system? Those are so fascinating to watch!

Oh, I'd love to have one of these! Where can you get them in Canada?

Are those just random magnets that you keep on the side of the drill press?

Well, now I need that too....

Random idea: a floor mounted emergency cut-off switch..? (For when you have to tiger crawl ;)) Plugs are sometimes hidden behind other items in a shop. Seems like high risk items such as a drill press could use something like this :)

Using cross slide table with vise on it. Got to be precise.

I wonder if they have an electromagnet version of that, so it could be plugged in and give you even more holding power.... Cause I have seen a drill press spin an 80 pound object around like a rag doll. It was a long pipe in with a vise clamped to the table, the bit grabbed the metal of the pipe, and spun it till the pipe hit the post of the drill press. Operator was fine but his dignity landed on the floor with him. (Drill press was on lowest speed was probably only reason he was not hurt. much)

Drill Bill looks like an ancient droid doesn't he? Gonk gonk gonk weerhhhhhrrrrrrrr

Table saw is still worse, was in shop working my raw material through the joiner when the kids on the table saw didn’t hold on hard enough, 4 foot board flew backwards into a door (1/4 steel plate over the door stopped it… that shop was designed for screw ups). At least they knew to stand to the side or it would have impaled them.

Now it just needs a 'quick-clamp' mag lock. That corkscrew seems so dated next to the mag locks.

Did you check the horizontal holding power on the mag switch?

Does swarf build up over time, causing you to release the magnet to clean? There fore releasing your position? I could this being extremely handy.

Makes an excellent Christmas gift. ...in case any of you guys want to get me one.

I dunno. Seemed Adam was holding back a bit there around the 4:50 mark. First he pops it off no problem, tries again and seems to suddenly be straining much more. Might be a nice product but I'm not really convinced, especially given how easily it shifts side to side as well.

Have you tried brass drills in aluminium? the leading vertical flat really reduces the tendency to grab.

When you go sleep after shower and you wake up with this 😅🤣

Power tools often lack subetlety when demonstrating who is in charge while using them.

4:47 the last switch you turned backed off. I feel this video alone is reason for a rethink of the orangutan to machine interface. I would prefer a definitive tactile feedback in the handle the magnets are activated. Maybe a lever action instead. I wonder if this is why your able to lift the vice off the platen at all. Great idea but I feel it needs some improvements. Thank you for all you do Adam.

Ah, the spinny thing of death. Been there, survived that. Don't want to experience it again.

I think you have the vice bolted down in the wrong orientation. I think its meant to go 90 to how you have it bolted to the the magnet

That Magvise base doesn't seem that impressive. I've been meaning to mount magnets to my current vise, but I may decide I am too lazy and try the Fein magnetic vise. I just need to catch it on sale.

Can you flip the vise 90° so you have the switches on the sides instead of front and back? I saw some other magswitchs with only one switch, isnt this one a poorly designed product? I mean, you have to make sure 4 switches, which sometimes flip themselves back, are in the correct position which you cant quickly recognize because you cant clearly see marks near them.

Can't you machine a custom T-Nut? The washers kinda make my heart hate a perfectly good product xd

Hi, what is the propper name of the white paint pen like tool Addam used to label the vise base? Thx.

I wouldn't have the switches in that orientation as the back ones seem a little awkward to get to (back and front) If possible I would have them on the sides (right and left) as would be easier to turn on and off.....

Can make a pretty good one using microwave transformer coils. Who knew, they’re not just for popcorn or home made stick welders anymore😉✌🏼

So does anyone know how one might get a switchable magnet they can attach just about anything to that isn’t very expensive? This is cool and might use it for an idea I have, but seems it might be overkill. Definitely not using it for a vise.

Does anyone know what he is using to mark the tool at 5:44? The white liquid in the tube Thanks in advance

Sold out? The link above says "available Oct 2022"

Any advice for a beginner in metal work. Such as roofing and sheet metal maybe metal bending tips?

Good idea. I'd get one, if I had 500 bucks laying around doing nothing. I'll stick with 2 dollars worth of nuts, washers and bolts to secure my vice to the drill table.

Seems like at 4:43 ish the front left magnet switch wasn’t fully engaged? Potentially why it’s lifting at all.

Can confirm the bits break off these things and fly like bullets if you arnt careful enough

What’s the model of this dry out white pen again? 5:40

I think you're supposed to clamp your vise 90 degrees from where you did 🤔 That puts the knows on the sides of the vise.

Pretty cool, except for it costing more than my Drill press...

put some T nuts in the table and use some countersunk fasteners so you have a flat plate on top so you don't have chips in the groves sticking to the magnet

Nigga be out here putting switches on everything

Does anyone know the grade and thickness of the leather that are on the work benches?

Sorry Adam, but a mount that one can manually slide and even lift on/from the drilltable is nothing I consider save to hold the workpiece for a drill press.

The amount of wobble in that drill press is scary. I really lament that newer machines have greatly undersized footprints. Somehow common sense went out thr window about 1975 or so when this became the norm.

Is it just me, or do any other viewers want to make some proper clamps for holding that vice onto the base? Washers and big spacer blocks just don't look right.

There is no way Adam is going to turn four switches every time. Hopefully this is reasonably strong with one or two, but you have to wonder that they couldn't design it with a single lever.

I often wonder if he would think my hole is pretty

it should be SO easy to design the Magswitch with only one easy switch, don't know why they need four hard to use switch?