I've suffered for years with an old DP with table that slides on the column but does not index. For woodworking purposes (or off-hand metalworking) the table center hole only needs to clear the bit! Forget centering it. Try this: - Dimple the workpiece at exact location of hole to be drilled with a sharp scriber point. Center-punch metal. - Chuck up a piece of accurately center-pointed drill rod and move the dimple to the point until accurate registration is achieved. - Quill is lowered to hold workpiece in position against the table and workpiece is clamped down. - Drillrod is replaced with appropriate drill bit and hole drilled. This works extremely well (better than a FAT laser line!) unless very fine tolerances are required. In that case an X-Y indexing table is advised to position the workpiece within a thou of an inch!