Another Video from our transplanted Capetownian.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlUA9WUas-ADemo of his attempts to make a square hole in a box on the cheap. A good thought on buying the XY table and mounting it on the wooden base, and it will do quite well for occasional use, but for more serious use I would recommend having a proper milling setup, this is for the odd one or two holes a quarter on the odd project you are doing for yourself. More than that either get it laser cut or CNC milled, or get a proper milling setup. Draw it up and give Chris a call along with some company.
From the comments a few things.
Use the clamps correctly, so that they hold the material down to the table. Incorrect clamping can at least destroy the box and at worst cause it or the tooling to shatter and injure you. Boxes are easy to replace, but I have had a very uncomfortable morning at the ophthalmic surgeon getting a metal speck removed from my eye. Not fun when you see him coming towards your wide open and numb eye with a needle, all the time being reassuring. Almost as bad was going to the doctor and having him do 4 stitches in my hand, cut by broken glass. Walked in and he was on duty, he told me I was a silly bugger and I had to agree with him. Good doctors that you can talk to and enjoy the experience are hard to find.
For plastic boxes a sacrificial piece of scrap wood cut to act as a force spreader to allow the clamping to be spread over a large area of the box so it does not slip is good. If it fills the box and you mill it as well it is no big loss.
Shop vac attached near the cutter to remove chips will be a good idea so you can easily follow the lines.
Remember the diameter of the cutter is actually important.Cut inside the lines. You can actually use 2 or more cutters if you want, the smaller one used to clean up the corners only, and the bigger one cutting the long lines.
Speed is needed, the faster the better on the smaller bits, and a cutting lube as well will help, even with plastics as it helps cool the cut so it does not string as much.
Drill press is dangerous, and not really meant for large axial loading, the bearings will wear out fast if you do this a lot. Thus when doing this have the work as near to the top of the press as possible, even if it means you only drill down the thickness of the material. This will lessen the wear on the spindle inside, which is not going to handle this well for long.
Keep your tools clean and lubricate them before and after use. They will last longer, even in a dry climate.
With the table take it apart and clean out the grit from it and apply a good lubricating oil, best cheap one is a synthetic car engine oil. They all will have grit in the moving parts from manufacture, unless you buy the top range where it has been hand adjusted and cleaned to a near mirror finish. Cheap will need work and cleaning from new. Adjust the slide padding to get it down to a smooth run on the entire length of the travel. If it binds at any point you need to polish the spot down to make it smooth.
Any other comments welcome below. Not I am not a machinist, but have seen some really good ones in operation, and know some really anal toolmakers. He can do amazing things with turning and machining various materials.
