Whenever I tilt my drill press table for angled drilling, I struggle to get the table squared up again using just my square. To help me do this with a lot more precision, I built a drill press table positioning jig. It’s easy to build and accurate to use.
To square the table, just slip the set-up rod in the chuck of your drill. Then raise the table until it just slightly depresses the extended indicator point. Next, rotate the chuck by hand (don’t turn on the power) and watch for movement of the needle on the dial. The table is square when the reading on one side of the table is the same as that on the other side of the table.
The jig is simply a dial indicator attached to a plywood arm. The arm is clamped to a set-up rod that can be chucked in the drill press. You can use any 5⁄16"-dia. rod. (I used an old drill bit).
