[sdiy] X-Y table

[Paul Higgins]

Is an X-Y table the same thing as a machinist's/cross-slide vise?  I've 
seen lots of examples of the latter, which bolt to the table of a drill 
press and give you (kind of) a poor man's milling machine.  I've never 
seen something called an X-Y table, though.  Who makes them, and what 
price should I expect to pay?

-PRH

On Friday, March 26, 2004, at 06:59 PM, James Patchell wrote:

> Minimum requirement for the precision drilling of holes, in my 
> opinion, is a drill press with an X-Y table.  If you have a Drill 
> Press, you can buy the X-Y table for around $50 or so.  Get one with 
> the biggest travel you can afford.  Generally, in the Y direction, you 
> can only go about 6 or 7 inches (limited by the drill press), but in 
> the X, you can go up to about 16 if you get a big enough table (more 
> expensive).
>
> If you don't have a drill press, and want one, I recomend getting a 
> Drill-Mill, if you can afford it (a good one will cost about $1000).  
> Not only can you drill, but being able to use end mills for cutting 
> odd shaped holes in panels is really handy (plus many other metal 
> working wonders you can do).
>
> With an X-Y table, you can locate holes to within 1 mil (0.001 inches).
>
> Now, if you don't want to do that, goto front panel express, download 
> their program, draw up your panel, complete with an engraved legend, 
> upload the finished drawing, get out your credit card, and a few weeks 
> later you have a perfect panel....depending on the size, you can 
> expect to pay anywhere from $50 to $400 for a panel.
>
> -Jim


Paul Higgins
email: higg0008 at tc.umn.edu