Adjustable depth gage

Claim 1

In a drill press having a head with a lug extending therefrom with a cylindrical passage therein, said head mounting a reciprocating quill of the type having a bracket secured thereto for movement therewith while said quill carries a drill bit which rotates about an axis for selective reciprocating movement in a forward direction toward a workpiece and a reverse direction away from said workpiece relative to said head along said axis, an adjustable gage comprising a cylindrical rod having a substantially smooth outer surface and a normal axis substantially parallel to the axis of rotation of said drill bit with a portion of said outer surface slidably engaging the passage in the lug. threaded means for detachably mounting said rod on said bracket whereby said rod moves with said quill freely through said passage in said lug, measuring indices on said portion of said outer surface of said rod adjacent to said passage in said lug, a slotted deformable stop having a bore extending therethrough for receiving said portion of said rod whereby said stop is slidably mounted at a selected position on said rod remote from said bracket as determined by said measuring indices, said stop having a slot extending from an outer surface thereof to said bore thereby forming a pair of adjacent portions separated by said slot, one of said portions having threads therein adjacent to said slot and the other portion having a passage therein aligned with said threads, and a single threaded handle extending through said passage into said threads so that turning of said handle in one direction causes said stop to deform thereby clamping the same in engagement with said rod at said selected position whereby said stop engages said lug to positively limit said reciprocating movement in said forward direction and turning said handle in a direction opposite said one direction causes said stop to disengage said rod so that said stop is free to slide along said rod to another selected position.