A drill press can be used pretty much the same way, but... The drill press is not really built to be a press. If you only do the occasional job this way you'll probably never have any trouble, but the drive mechanism on the drill press is much less strongly built. You're also putting a strain on the bearings and on the chuck that is probably not all that good for them. The type of press Jim is talking about only cost $20 to $30 bucks. Go ahead, splurge. They come in various sizes and types. Usually they are rated by the amount of pressure they are capable of delivering. One-half ton, one ton, etc. You'd have to have a pretty strong right arm to actually generate this amount of force, but the press would stand up to it. The presses with higher ratings usually have a bit more leverage and are probably easier to control. None of them are particularly well made -- well, they are if you want to spend the really big bucks, i.e., hundreds -- but most are somewhat adjustable so you can get a reasonably smooth stroke out of them with a bit of fussing. The one we use did not have any method of mounting various tips, so I took it apart and had a hole drilled and tapped dead center. One-half inch by something. Now I can mount a variety of different tips for various purposes. We use it mostly for pressing capstans, key leads, etc. Del -------------------------------------- ----- Original Message ----- From: "Susan Kline" <sckline@home.com> To: <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: December 20, 2000 10:50 PM Subject: Re: Danger technical content!! > > How would Jim's heavy new press compare to simply mounting > some appropriately shaped jig in the chuck of a drill > press, and using it with the power turned off? Does Jim's > new gadget have more leverage? > > Del, you can be as wordy as you please. The details help. > > Susan
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