The Diving Board: Drill Press Shelf for Long Stock

Have a piece of wood that's just too wide to fit in your drill press? Ever want to hollow a piece out or drill lengthwise into it for fun (and maybe profit)? Look no further! I designed this piece primarily because I wanted to join pieces together lengthwise, continuously, and be able to expand drilling capacity to ultra-wide boards. This was designed for a Grizzly (you can do it in five minutes if need be) 14" floor model drill press to expand the capacity from 14" to over a meter for a build. All you have to do is drill out the template into a minimum 1" hardwood plywood rectangle to accommodate at least the distance from the drill press' column to the edge of your existing table, install it with six wingnuts and 5/16" (8mm) x 3" (~80mm) along with matching washers, firmly tighten the table, hand tighten the wingnuts while keeping the table aligned with the chuck at the height that'll accommodate your piece, and move the short table out of the way. Sounds like a lot of steps but the hardest part was just getting it installed and designed. If you want to get super accurate (little/no flex), although not necessary, then use a set drilled into a 2x4 with a flat top screwed to the top as a table. If you have a Grizzly/208mm diameter drill press - otherwise, shim the column (the included one is for another purpose) with a gasket of either TPU (preferable) or PETG. I highly recommend PETG because it'll last longer, is cheaper per kg than PLA, and needs all the strength it can get. I would recommend no less than 30% infill, at least 3 wall layers (2.4mm wall thickness) along with 3 top/bottom layers at least, and tree supports. To accommodate stock that's not quite long enough to fit within the base and column lock (this thing is designed to go all the way down), simply use the included shim and it'll mount directly to the drill press column. You're welcome to make/remix your own design if you want to make a smaller one for a smaller drill press - you don't have to swat a fly with a bazooka with this guy. If you have a benchtop one it should work as well.