Drill depth DRO Using Powerfix (Lidl) Vernier Calipers

thingiverse

I picked up a cheap pillar drill a few years back for a song. It's not top-notch quality, but it does the job for my woodworking projects. One of the most amusing features was the depth gauge/stop. The scale on it was extremely coarse and the pointer had a habit of swiveling away from the scale when the motor was running. I already had a Powerfix vernier caliper that I bought at Lidl UK. It cost ten bucks and was surprisingly good quality, which is why I used it in every design I've made on Thingiverse so far. My big brother suggested using it as a drill depth gauge, so when they came out with another one at Lidl, I grabbed it to make that happen. My drill had a flip-down safety shield that was supposed to cover the work area when in use. But all it did was get in the way and (ironically) hit me in the face when it was up. Because of this, I dismantled it a few years ago, but I left its mounting plate because it held the fixing for the depth gauge/stop. Now that I was making changes, I could finally remove it, but to keep the depth stop functionality, I'd need to add a matching fixing point in the new part. Getting the old plate off wasn't easy: The drill didn't come with tools to remove the chuck and the original mounting plate wouldn't open wide enough to clear it. I tried using improvised tools to remove the chuck, but it wouldn't budge. I ended up heating the plastic mounting plate until it distorted over the chuck. To avoid this in my design, I decided to make it two halves so removal and refitting would be easier in the future. The next problem was finding a spot for the upper caliper jaw. Luckily, there was a narrow 8mm lip at the bottom of the pillar drill's cast body that could take a slimmed-down version of the lower clamp. It wouldn't be as strong, but it was good enough. My original plan was to drill through the caliper jaws and fix them into the new clamp rings. But the calipers were made of tool steel, and my HSS bits only managed 0.5mm before getting duller than a razor blade. I bought some cobalt drill bits, but they didn't do much better. The last cobalt drill bit left its cutting face stuck in the caliper while the rest looked like an exploded cigar from a Bugs Bunny cartoon! I've attached a picture to prove I'm not exaggerating - my mom told me millions of times not to exaggerate. So, reluctantly, I changed my design so that the caliper jaws slotted into housings on the clamping rings and were then pinched into place with a machine screw. I chopped off the caliper's internal measuring jaws because they kept poking me when I reached for the on/off buttons. Later, I chopped off a large piece of the measuring scale because it got in the way of accessing the drill's pulley housing. I hadn't planned to chop anything at first, but when I made another type of caliper mounting for my brother's Parkside drill press, I realized it made sense. He was more adventurous than me and managed to not only drill his caliper but completely dismantle them to hack them up in a more aggressive way. My design for his machine has been posted as a remix for those who want to go this route. A ten-buck vernier caliper got me started with digital accuracy at the same time I bought my potatoes!