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Recently I did what’s called the ‘big 3’ upgrade on my car’s wiring. You replace the oem wiring from your alternator, etc. with 1/0 gauge cable, thus allowing s

Recently I did what’s called the ‘big 3’ upgrade on my car’s wiring. You replace the oem wiring from your alternator, etc. with 1/0 gauge cable, thus allowing substantially more power through. This is for speakers. I made my own cables and was in the process of upsizing one of the battery lugs by drilling the hole bigger on a drill press. I was just holding the wire steady with my left hand while pulling the drill handle down with my right. The drill bit caught and spun the cable around, including somehow my hand in it, winding my hand up in the cable very tight against the still spinning drill. It’s a small drill press and didn’t have enough torque to keep spinning, but had the drill been stronger I’d have at least broken my hand if not worse. As it was my hand was swollen and scratched pretty good. When you make your living typing this really makes you think.

myself248 5y ago
Having had this happen a few times, I'm pretty obsessive about workholding now. It's a shame that a good drill-press vise can cost almost as much as the drill press itself, because it's really important for safety. You should image-search the term "radial drill" sometime. ;)
- LeifCarrotson 5y ago
  Where are you finding these $30 drill presses? $21: https://www.amazon.com/Irwin-Tools-Drill-Press-226340/dp/B0001LQY4O https://www.amazon.com/Irwin-Tools-Drill-Press-226340/dp/B00... $25: https://www.harborfreight.com/4-inch-jaw-capacity-drill-press-vise-30999.html https://www.harborfreight.com/4-inch-jaw-capacity-drill-pres... You don't need a high-dollar Kurt milling vise for a drill press, and you only need to constrain the part in one degree of freedom (rotation about Z axis). Just put a single fastener in your table and drop the slots in that vise over it. Gravity and quill pressure hold it in Z, the table holds it flat against rotation about X and Y, and you want it to have the ability to slide a bit in X and Y to let the drill find the center of your punch/pilot hole. If the drill catches, the torque will push against the stud and it can't move.

myself248 5y ago

Having had this happen a few times, I'm pretty obsessive about workholding now. It's a shame that a good drill-press vise can cost almost as much as the drill press itself, because it's really important for safety. You should image-search the term "radial drill" sometime. ;)

LeifCarrotson 5y ago
Where are you finding these $30 drill presses? $21: https://www.amazon.com/Irwin-Tools-Drill-Press-226340/dp/B0001LQY4O https://www.amazon.com/Irwin-Tools-Drill-Press-226340/dp/B00... $25: https://www.harborfreight.com/4-inch-jaw-capacity-drill-press-vise-30999.html https://www.harborfreight.com/4-inch-jaw-capacity-drill-pres... You don't need a high-dollar Kurt milling vise for a drill press, and you only need to constrain the part in one degree of freedom (rotation about Z axis). Just put a single fastener in your table and drop the slots in that vise over it. Gravity and quill pressure hold it in Z, the table holds it flat against rotation about X and Y, and you want it to have the ability to slide a bit in X and Y to let the drill find the center of your punch/pilot hole. If the drill catches, the torque will push against the stud and it can't move.