Drill Press Depth Stop Collar

Instructions

Cut out the depth stop collar using the Shaper Origin and the 1/4-inch cutter. The two inner holes should be inside cuts, the outer shape is an outside cut. My drill press spindle is 2-1/8 inches in diameter and I cut to the line with no offsets. In a later step when the pieces are separated, the saw kerf thickness will reduce this diameter and allow for a snug fit when the bolts are tightened. Next drill two 5/16-inch mounting holes on either side of the portion of the collar that will attach to your drill press spindle. These are to accept 5/16-inch mounting bolts to tighten down the collar. I rounded over all edges, including inside the two circle cutouts, with a 1/16-inch roundover bit at the router table at this stage. Cut the collar into two pieces as indicated in the photo so that there is a front piece with the depth stop mounting bracket on the left, and a rear yoke piece. Sand all edges smooth. Mount the collar to your drill press with the 5/16-inch bolts and locking nuts. In my case, I cut the pieces with a bandsaw with a thin kerf, so the pieces did not grip the spindle tightly. All I had to do was run the yoke flat faces over a belt sander for several seconds to remove more material. Determine how long of a depth stop rod you will need and cut the rod to the appropriate length. My drill press has 6 inches of travel, and allowing for the extra four inches or so to reach the stop collar bracket, a 12-inch rod was sufficient. Attach the bottom of the rod to your depth stop collar using two 1/2-13 nuts, washers, and lock washers. Tighten it. Place one push-button nut onto the rod below the (existing) bracket mounted to the drill press, and the other above. The upper push-button nut will limit how far down (depth) the spindle will travel while the lower push-button nut can be used to lock the spindle at a specific depth, such as for using a drum sander. One caveat with this design is that the thickness of the collar (3/4 inch) reduced my spindle travel distance by that amount. I have not encountered a situation where that is a problem and if it happens, the collar is easily removable.