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I'm aware that there is a separate type of vise specifically for drill presses, but the workshop where I'm at are a little short on budget and I'm wondering if a normal bench vise like this one
can be used for a drill press as substitution for the specialised one. Also, does anyone know whether it's difficult to unmount a bench vise from a bench? Many thanks.
I'm wondering if a normal bench vise like this one can be used for a drill press as substitution for the specialised one.
There is no reason why it can't. The only thing is for the "regular" bench vise, you will have to make extra checks that the piece you are drilling is presented to the drill bit at the correct angle since the regular vise does not have indents for plumb/square.
Also, does anyone know whether it's difficult to unmount a bench vise from a bench?
Without knowing how the vise was mounted, we can't really answer that. If it's just bolted or screwed on, it should come off fine. If it's welded, good luck.
The problem with using a vice like that on a drill press is that it is difficult to keep the work piece in the same plane as the table of the drill press. If the piece is canted then your holes will not be perpendicular.
Personally, I have a couple of vises for my drill press, but never use them for wood. I more typically use a clamp or just a fence.
I have used a regular vise many times on a couple of drill presses and on a milling machine. Because sometimes you just need a bigger vise.
I wouldn't recommend it for precision work, mostly because bench vises are designed to be able to clamp a wide variety of objects rather than to easily reproduce particular clamping configurations. So expect to spend significantly more time re-registering your work if you have to move it. Of course, that whole "clamp a wide variety of objects" thing has its advantages too, and has been the reason behind most of the times I found myself using one.
Also, be aware that most bench vises aren't particularly square. Don't assume that the top of the jaws are parallel to the worktable. Most of them are canted slightly to one side or the other. On some of them it will change based on how tight the rotation bolt is. (Just generally, they don't tend to be very precise implements.)
All that said, sometimes big, deep jaws just make things enough easier that it's worth the extra fiddle-factor to get the alignment right. For a drill press like the one pictured, I recommend using carriage bolts where the square section matches the width of the slots in the table. From there either drill the holes in the vise's flange bigger or turn down the shafts of the bolts and re-thread them as necessary depending on what you have.
You will not easily be able to use a vice like that (or any vice) on a drill press, because you will have no way to reposition it. To mount it on the drill press' table you would have to screw it a thick piece of wood, then bolt the wood to the table, but then it would not move so you would have no way adjusting.
To make an adjusting fixture you would need an xy-table, but xy-tables are not normally mounted to drill presses because they are too large and heavy.
Normally work is clamped to the table as LeeG shows in his answer. In addition to a vice grip clamp consider getting a clamping set:
Clamping sets cost only about $60 and are an incredible deal considering the functionality they offer.
