Two “Gotta-Have” Drill Press Accessories!

Lee Valley Tools is offering a drill press accessory that allows you to keep your “go-to” bits and accessories out in the open, mounted to the drill press column.
It’s the 15K1001 Drill-Press Tool Holder. www.leevalley.com.
It’s simple, costs about 20 bucks, and is made of durable 18mm baltic birch plywood. Shaped something like an oar (5-½” x 10-½”) with a column-mounting bracket (fits 2-½” to 3-¼”), you can keep your favorite bits ready to go and organized for easy access (17 - ¼”, 6 - ⅜”, and 6 - ½” - all blind to stop items from dropping through). While all of the bits will be stowed vertically, there’s a tray-like recessed area (1-¾” x 2-¾”) to put loose items in. To store your chuck key, there is a ⅜” through-hole, and if you want to mount a lamp, there’s a ¾” hole.
This tray is an example of some of the short-run, micro-manufactured products that are now becoming readily available due to CNC machinery becoming more commonplace. This one of several products of this type Lee Valley is making and offering, right there in their facilities in Canada. Others include woodworking clamp storage racks.
The other “gotta-have” are hold-downs\ clamps that fit in the keyed slots in the drill press table. These simple, effective, and inexpensive (under $9 at the time of filming) devices quickly secure pieces to the table so that they: 1.) remain accurately placed throughout the drilling operation, and, 2.) resist the spinning force of the bit entering the workpiece. This is especially important for safe operation of the drill press - avoid damage to YOU as well as the machine. The bigger the bit or device, and the longer the work is being milled, the bigger the risk. These hold downs are an affordable and important solution. They are available from leevalley.com, part number 86N005.
As for the storage shelf, it is one of those products that you could JUST DO IT YOURSELF, but for the price and quality, our time was better spent elsewhere. And besides, we like to reward ingenuity!

[@markk3701]

I am going to make that first item rather than buy it. I got all that stuff laying around and the drill press can easily make the holes. Thanks again

[@mitchellmanning7887]

Thanks for sharing

[@larrymoore6640]

Its the misc accessories that help make the job easier. I like the idea that the hold down clamp had rubber ends on both sides.

[@johnnybx3254]

Great stuff 👍

[@DirtFarmerJay]

Thank you! Cheers! - DFJ

[@TF856]

Lee valley has some really great unique stuff. But I wouldn't buy something made out of wood that I could make myself. That's the catch 22 about this woodworking industry. Woodworking dealers sell so many things made out of wood that you don't even need any tools to make anything out of wood. Therefore why would wood workers buy anything made out of wood from a woodworking store if they can buy the tools in the wood from the woodworking store and make it for themselves?

[@Devils_Claw]

cant u just made it? then y is the workshop for?

[@DirtFarmerJay]

Yes, you can. Some people prefer their shop time be furniture and such, not shop tools, so we offered that option as well. Best, DFJ

[@mannyfilmsinc]

"micro manufacturing'?

[@TF856]

It's getting to be just like Heathkit all over again. They can sell you the tools and the raw materials to make it or they can sell you the ready-made products already put together so you don't even need the tools to make it with. By the way, I have absolutely no interest in modern tools or woodworking machines. Antique tools and machinery all the way!

[@DirtFarmerJay]

Thanks for watching and commenting. As far as old verses modern, to each his own!! Best, DFJ

[@felixf5211]

I work on, restore and refurbish vintage machinery. Light industrial. You can likely guess what I think of vintage tools. As for performance, my main drill press, a Frankenstein Delta DP-220 originally made in 1942, has a runout that can't be measured with a tenth indicator with .010 range at the spindle, and less than 2 tenths - yes 2/10,000" and I'm being generous - an inch down from the chuck. The presses that I sell typically have a runout around 1.5 thou or less. Helps having a large stock of period Jacobs chucks, though I use a Rohm on my main press. They really don't make stuff like they used to without the need to sell your firstborn child.

[@theageoftheawakening4806]

How do you have above average shop tools like that and you can't make a simple wood tray? That's what's ridiculous about the world we live in today. He's got a better drill press than I have at work,and your think he'd show you how to make this shit I'd be embarrassed to stand in front of a drill press that expensive and tell you how I purchased a wood tray with holes in it. You coulda made that in the time it took to film this. Jesus man.....

[@DirtFarmerJay]

The Age of the Awakening - thanks for taking time to write, even if you take strong exception to the product we featured. I'm not embarrassed to show clever solutions to the shop, whether it was made in the shop or in a small scale manufacturing setting, such as what Lee Valley did in this case. I think this is a very clever solution, reasonably priced, and I like to reward that kind of ingenuity. However, there are lots of other organizers and solutions in my shop (some to be featured in future episodes) that I've come up with, or got the idea from somewhere else and just made it. This wasn't a case of whether or not I could make it, it's the idea that I wanted to focus on. I suspect that there are many like you that will find the idea appealing and make some kind of version like this for their setting. As far as I'm concerned, either way, shopmade or bought off the shelf- mission accomplished. Thanks for being a part of the maker community and taking time to write. Best Regards, DFJ

[@TF856]

That's exactly what I was trying to say.