Ooo well I was about to suggest ripping the motors and planetary gearboxes out of eight dollar drills that seems to work well with battlebots.

How about this
 

My Dad had a device simialr to what you are talking about that was a Craftsman. It works simlar to how you describe. There is a flat round "base" with a clearance hole through it for the drill chuck. Attached perpendicular to the base is 2 parallell shafts. A "slider" moves freely up and down the shafts. Attached to the slider, is a std issue electric or cordless drill motor.

That "press" tool works extremely well on irregular surfaces or something very large that you cannot fit into a regular drill press. I'm sure by the time you read this post, it will be after you have to turn in your project, but I wanted to let you know I understand where you were going and what you were after. If I can find the unit at my Daqd's place, I'll shoot a digital photo and post it so everybody can see what you are talking about.:cool:

We have a neat little Craftsman drill that has a water bubble on the back of it (similar to a level). It tells you when you are perpendicular to the earth. Just as long as your drilling surface isn't slanted, you can make fairly straight holes.

I have one of these. The "sliders" are actually like a dual bar vise and the chuck needs to be removed from the drill and attached to the chuck device that comes as part of the kit. You then attach the drill shaft to the other side of the "follower". The drill, follower and chuck then can move up and down the parallel bars. There is also a depth stop collar so you can repeat the depth of drilling from one hole to another. Additionally, the base has some "v" jaws so that you can drill round stock as well. It does not work with most adjustable torque or hammer drills, though, as these interact with the drill chuck. My Skill hammer drill does not work at all with this setup.

The device is called a "Portalign".
ed. Al

Thanks Al. I couldn't remember what it was called. Used many times when I was a kid. It is actually very useful. One neat feature though, pull the shoulder mechanism off the slider shafts, and fire up the drill!! Beware of Helicopter! Learned the hard way!:p Also, another not so neat trick, to accidentally hit the trigger on a IngersallRand 1/2" Drive Impact with a 12" extentention and a Snap-on 15mm swivel socket. Talk about a helicopter!! :p Learned that one many times the hard way. Sorry to digress a bit. Wondering what Gui came up with...:cool:

I'm working on it...
 

My little drill press is due Friday, and I have a little bit more work to do. It's essentially a CIM bolted onto HDPE that slides up and down on two parallel rails, with a flat piece of tubing at the bottom. It's actually rather funny.. I finished the drill part of the drill press early, and it works great (CIM geared down to 1100 rpm, 6-volt controls work fine).

In an amusing twist, the drill is actually helping to assemble the press. I drilled out 3/8" holes in the HDPE to act as a bearing, moving up and down the shaft. However, I ran into the 3/8" hole and the 3/8" shaft... sans reamer, of course. So, I plugged in a 3/8" bit into the CIMdrill and opened up the hole a little bit, and it worked like a charm :)

It's a bit ghetto, but I hope it will work. A very short time will tell; I'll take a picture and post it here Saturday!

Ahhh. Nothing like inspiring young minds!!:D Can't wait to see what you came up with. It is interesting to see what creative ways people utilize that little trailer tongue jack motor!:cool:

PM,
I'll match hand scars with you anytime.


Good Luck GUI, sounds like you are almost home!

Most painful thing I ever did to my paws-spilt end of 2 finger open on a table saw. Poor judgement on setting up fence to rip 1 1/2" molding...:( Luckily still have fingers intact:)

Recently had to swap body on a 2005 Dakota for impact testing. Rasied body on hoist so that I could roll chasis out, swap body, and roll chasis back under. Only problem was the hoist I was using was an old dual buried hydrolic post hoist. Lifted body, couldn't roll chasis past elevated posts!!

And just 2 weeks ago, I was installing front Airbag Sensors on a 2004 PT Cruiser. Removed the battery. Wanted to put it in the trunk. Walked with the battery in on my arm, hit the power lock button to un lock the trunk. Walked to the back of the car, pulled the latch, and was getting angry because it wouldn't open!! Thena wisecracking co worker so rudely pointed out that I was holding the battery!!! Can we say Homer's favorite line, Dohh!!:p

Moral of this story, don't ever become to broke to PAY ATTENTION!!:D

Found this