1952 Craftsman "100" DP resto

[Southern]

I read the whole thread, awesome stuff. I'm at the tail end of restoring an old baldor grinder, and I think you can answer some questions that have been plaguing me, if you don't mind:

1) Is there any reason specifically to paint the cast iron rather than powdercoat it?
2) Did you do anything to the stator other than clean and grease it?
3) What was the COO of the new bearings you put in it? Did it feel bad to replace US made bearings with imports even though the tool needed it?
4) What did you do to repair the cloth covered motor wires?
5) What gauge power cord was the new on? 12 or 14? Would 16 work?
6) How did you make the motor label? The Baldor has a similar label riveted to the center band, much like the motor on your press. I think it's aluminum? It's trashed and I am not sure how to make a new one without sending a 2x3.5 piece of stock to a screen printer (making the artwork for the label is easy, already have it. I have a vinyl plotter as well).

I appreciate any advice you can provide. Nice drill press, I'm jealous.

Actually I'm really more jealous of your lathe.

 

[shampoop]

I love this thread!

 

[jtbinvalrico]

Southern......1) To paint or powder coat.....It comes down to ease and cost. In this case a lot us have found that we can very closely approximate that "power bronze" look with Hammertone spray paint. Is spray painting the most durable finish? No. But consider the application: If you told me that you were going to use your grinder in an industrial setting, or if time and money were no object, I would encourage you to consider a tougher finish. But for home shop use by a caring user, spray paint properly done is no problem.

2) The most I did to the stator was to brush off the dust and maybe the slightest wire brushing to remove any surface rust on its exterior. Definitely clear out bug nests, etc. I once found a mud wasp nest on the armature of an old motor that was enough to unbalance the whole motor.....ran smooth when I cleaned it out. A great rule to follow is: Do No Harm. These things are old and brittle, and they get a bit ticked off at being yanked out of their comfy cast iron case and bumped around a work bench. Straighten up what needs straightening, then stop screwing with it.

3) I believe they were made in Japan. Yes, it felt bad....maybe mischievous.....nah, downright naughty......where was I? On to #4.

4) Those cloth covered wires fall under the "don't screw with them too much" category. On this one, I simply taped up any segments that had become exposed. These wires get really brittle. If you move them too much the jacket will crack and require repair. On my 1942 DP, the wires in the motor were so bad I ended up replacing nearly all of them right down to the coil leads.

5) On these rebuilds, I use a nine foot 14/3 power cord I get from HD for $13. I wouldn't use anything less than 14ga.....How much power does your grinder have?

6) The data plate on the motor was in good enough condition to use. Check ebay to see if anyone is selling one.....or check the want ads on sites like owwm for a replacement. If you have no luck with those sources, I'd just have one made - I think if you are going to put all that work into it, then the machine (and you) deserve a proper label to top it off and make it complete.

Do you have a build thread going on this? We've got a lot of grinder nuts here who would enjoy it.....myself included.

 

[nine4gmc]

Bra-Vo!! holy **** thats a nice resto!!!

 

[Southern]

Thanks a ton for all the info. I don't have a build thread going, but I have been taking pictures so I can make a proper resto thread once I get it all put back together.

The stator, spindle, windings and everything look really good. I'm wondering if it hadn't been rebuilt. Along those lines, I'll heed your advice and not do anything to it. Should I grease the rotor to keep everything nice and lubed, or just blow the dust out and put it back together stat?

The wires look to be in really nice shape. I had some advice in another thread to put some heat shrink tubing over them for a little added durability and resistance. Seem like a safe play to you?

Juice on the grinder is 1/2HP, 115AC. I took an aerovox 330VAC capacitor out of it to be replaced with a new aerovox 370 VAC. Somewhere in that mass of numbers is the power you were requesting, heh. I ordered 10 feet of 14/3 from sundial, was hoping that I got the right stuff.

I think I'ma stay on course with the powdercoat. The iron is at the shop now. Not sure what color to do yet. The motor has the same steel band around it that yours does, I just cleaned and polished it shiny, so I have to pick a color for the iron to go well. Original color was a 1950's poodle skirt mint green, you know the color. Kind of leaning that way, but since a powdercoat is forever, I wanna make sure I pick a color that I'm going to like forever.

I think against better advice I am going to stick with the old 99204 hoover bearings that are in it. They spin nice and don't drag, maybe I can repack them if they go to hell. I just can't bring myself to put japanese bearings in a 40 year old Baldor, you know?

I really don't mean to hijack the tail end of your thread, haha, I'm just sitting at the bottom of a learning curve looking for any advice I can get

 

[softailgarage]

Damn fine job I've been amazed watching this thread and seeing the talent and ingenuity that you have. That thing looks brand fricken new!

I agree, let's see some grinders...

 

[jtbinvalrico]

Southern......No sweat, I love talking old tools.

On the rotor, I'd give any switches and contacts a going over and light cleaning.....same for protection switches in the ends. I like the idea of heat wrapping the wires - slip it on, heat it up, presto: refurbed wire.

I don't see a problem with re-using original good bearings. The only bearings I replaced on this one were the motor bearings, which were beyond shot; the original bearings in the head unit had no play and have plenty of life left in them. One of the benefits of doing your own work is that you get to know your machines - I can replace any bearing in that DP in about 15 minutes if they start to go out.

 

[zacker01]

that's one awesome resto on that Dp!!!! Let me just say one thing, I busted one of the bolts on mine that you loosen / tighten to slid the motor in and out to adjust belt tension. it sucked cause in trying to back it out, I also snapped off the bolt extractor..so no I couldn't drill out the bolt and I made a mess of the hole.. I ended up drilling alongside the broken bit and chipping it out with a chisel until I could drill out the rest of the hole which is now re threaded to a 7/16 size...lol so I made hand knobs for it in hopes that I wont be able to over tighten it like I did with the wrench!

 

[softailgarage]

I have now read this thread from beginning to end 4 times and gotta say, I'm more impressed each time I read it. The attention to detail is amazing and the instructional value immense.
Moderators - Is there someplace we can have this "stickied" too ? It's way too valuable of a thread for it to get lost amongst the thousands of other threads.
JT - It's been 3 months since your last post, I hope your still with GJ. This is by far the best restoration I've seen and would like to see more of your work.

 

[daparrothead]

Wow now that is one fine resto, it would be an honor to have something like that in my shop. You don't see equipment built anywhere close to that quality now days, everything now days is throw away when it breaks down.

 

[JeepinDave]

What an amazing restoration! It probably didn't look that nice when it was new! Bravo! I think you mentioned you are in the Tampa Bay area. So am I.
I read through the entire thread, looking for info on the paint you used. If you don't mind my asking, what brand and color paint did you use? I just picked up a 150 myself today on Craigslist, and I'd like to do a mild resto on it. I don't have access to a lathe, so I'm going to have to work it the best I can. The iron on mine is painted a very industrial dark gray color. The gold looks great, and really gives off that 50's vibe!

One last question: how can I tell the exact year my 150 was built? The model # is 103.24511.

 

[Valts]

That`s what I would call real tool "****".....
And I like it!

Awsome work man, love that attention to details. Hope you`ll take some next project pretty soon.

 

[Giddyup]

I had to read this thread, what a fantastic restoration job. Even better it gets put to the use it was intended for... Great work.

Glenn

 

[GirlnAgarage]

Years later I am working on this, again. After our move the Cman DP is still in pieces and I'm tired of those pieces hogging 8' of the 10' workbench. So I'm going to set it up and put in the house for decorative ambiance in the workroom.

Cleaned up the head band today and a few small pieces. The entire time I was thinking of valve compound and cratex bits. Darn you JB! [shaking fist] I might see if I can do that as a side project once it is setup.

Here's a link to a video I made showing the polishing of one of the feed levers:

Before:

After:

I've already polished my handles but had to ask, does the red ball come off? If so, threaded on or pressed? I just papered up to the edge as best I could. Then took a light run over it to get to a fresh layer of plastic of brighten it up.

They came from the factory with this piece, depending on the age of the press (I know mine has one.) I think it would help dress it up. You can see it in the photo of my drill press below.

Stuart, I'm fixin' to build the same stand for the DP. Was curious what your measurements were on that top and OA dimensions for the foot print? I didn't realize I was cutting it so close but the top dimensions of my sketch are 19.5" x 15" which is slightly bigger than the DP base ~19" x 12.5". I see your DP fills mostly all of the top area on your stand. Do you feel your setup is stable?

Second, what angle did you use for the legs? I was going to go with 10* cut.

Last Q but not least, is your DP bolted to the stand? Necessary or no?

Thanks

 

[Outlawmws]

Girl! Glad to see you've returned! I noticed a post from you a day or so ago, but was somewhat on the run.

With the cratex you shouldn't need any other abrasive, esp. in aluminum. I've done rifle bolts and the sides of pistol hammers and triggers with no problem.

I believe I see a bolt on Stuart's base in front and with a stand that close to the edges of the base, I would recommend bolting or at least screwing it down, so it has no opportunity to scoot sideways and fall off the edge. Didn't you PU a floor stander? Or did that bet sold?

 

[GirlnAgarage]

Girl! Glad to see you've returned! I noticed a post from you a day or so ago, but was somewhat on the run.

With the cratex you shouldn't need any other abrasive, esp. in aluminum. I've done rifle bolts and the sides of pistol hammers and triggers with no problem.

I believe I see a bolt on Stuart's base in front and with a stand that close to the edges of the base, I would recommend bolting or at least screwing it down, so it has no opportunity to scoot sideways and fall off the edge. Didn't you PU a floor stander? Or did that bet sold?

Hey buddy, yeah I'm drifting in lately. Got tired of the remaining rooms that hadn't been setup, the garage and the workroom. So time to put in some work.

I do have my Delta 11-120 in the garage, it is the first DP I picked up. It is floor standing. (At some point in it's life somebody converted it.) Later I found this Cman. Before the move I I debated getting rid of one but I wasn't really into the idea and I didn't push to hard to sell it.

 

[GirlnAgarage]

Here's my Cman up and running again.

It definitely can't compete with the exceptional job that JB did on his, and a few others have too here on GJ. But made a few parts shiny again, cleaned and regreased others, and put a new belt on. It's a prime candidate for a full, real resto (one day or for someone who can really craft it). For now, it is good. I have reclaimed a good 4' of my workbench, got other parts off the floor and got this vintage piece of iron back up. Looks good inside the house.

 

[Outlawmws]

Nice job Girl! and an Inside the house workshop! Wow!

I can see where this will head to on GJ though! at a minimum, "you have shop tools inside the house? do you have a sister?" that, or offers of marriage (and other offers less formal! ), DH better stay on the straight and narrow!

 

[GirlnAgarage]

Thanks Outlaww.

Yep I keep a workroom in the house. Got use to it when I had my leather workroom. Since I no longer do that but have been imprinted with the use of an indoor shop, I keep one for us. Plus, I need a space to set up a reloading machine.

 

[zacker01]

Here's my Cman up and running again.

It definitely can't compete with the exceptional job that JB did on his, and a few others have too here on GJ. But made a few parts shiny again, cleaned and regreased others, and put a new belt on. It's a prime candidate for a full, real resto (one day or for someone who can really craft it). For now, it is good. I have reclaimed a good 4' of my workbench, got other parts off the floor and got this vintage piece of iron back up. Looks good inside the house.

looks pretty awesome too... and is that really a garage? lol looks 10000000 times nicer than my mess. Between My wood turning wood, machines, tools, metal and steel pieces, fire wood and now trike parts and the trike im re-doing, I can hardly walk in mine. I think 4' of floor is all I have to work in now...lol good luck with it. These presses are serious work horses, keep it lubed and hit all the metal with an oily rag every once in awhile and it will go another 50 years for sure. the only thing you really should do is replace the bearings in it.... they can make the spindle get all funky and when you go to drill a nice straight hole, it will be like your playing with one of those old Spiro graph kits from the 70s lol so far I have used mine to drill steel and wood, as a wood milling machine, as a grinding machine, and I used the planer attachment that sears had for these back in the day. Haven't tried milling mild steel yet, don't really know if I wanna... id hate to bend the spindle and have to try and find another one. I do have an old delta that fits but its too long, the pulley sits a few inches above the top of the machine.... lol

 

[GirlnAgarage]

looks pretty awesome too... and is that really a garage? lol looks 10000000 times nicer than my mess. Between My wood turning wood, machines, tools, metal and steel pieces, fire wood and now trike parts and the trike im re-doing, I can hardly walk in mine. I think 4' of floor is all I have to work in now...lol good luck with it. These presses are serious work horses, keep it lubed and hit all the metal with an oily rag every once in awhile and it will go another 50 years for sure. the only thing you really should do is replace the bearings in it.... they can make the spindle get all funky and when you go to drill a nice straight hole, it will be like your playing with one of those old Spiro graph kits from the 70s lol so far I have used mine to drill steel and wood, as a wood milling machine, as a grinding machine, and I used the planer attachment that sears had for these back in the day. Haven't tried milling mild steel yet, don't really know if I wanna... id hate to bend the spindle and have to try and find another one. I do have an old delta that fits but its too long, the pulley sits a few inches above the top of the machine.... lol

Oh no, this is my inside the house workroom. Garage is a whole 'nuther mess My sig has the link to my previous garage. I haven't updated since the move, thinking about it though. I suppose I can just add the new garage work onto the existing thread.


re: bearings
I was thinking about those but since this one spins true, well true enough for me, I'll leave them until they force my hand. But I agree with your thinking, no need for a spirograph.

I've got more time with the Delta. In fact never ran this Cman for any projects. I tore it down immediately after I got it home and it's been disassembled since, up until yesterday. So a good, year and a half at least. It won't see dirty or extended work since it is in the house, I'll leave those jobs to the Delta. But I might poke a few straight holes in smaller, one off items.

 

[psychorugby]

Sorry for resurrecting an older thread; I am a newer member of GJ. I found your thread while searching for parts for my newly acquired Craftsman drill press. Your work is absolutely amazing! Even more amazing is that you appear to be local (I live in Riverview). I would love to pick your brain and get our advice as I restore my drill press.

 

[RickP]

You can see it in the photo of my drill press below.

Stuart - I really liked the design of your DP stand. I hope you don't mind if I shamelessly copy it.

Here's a link to my version of it: www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread

jtbinvalrico - I am truly impressed by your attention to detail and the quality of your work. Reading this thread about your restoration really got me thinking that I should find a vintage DP to work on myself!

 

[tcianci]

Congrats on an absolutely beautiful job!!!!!

 

[Coco Kaleel]

Hey jtbinvalrico and everyone,

Thanks so much for posting your build. Your work is truly beautiful. It inspired my dad and I to go out and restore our benchtop version. We finished last week.

-Coco Kaleel
veryhappyrobot.com

 

[jtbinvalrico]

Hey jtbinvalrico and everyone.....

Thanks so much Coco. Guys, check out her website. Lots of really neat fabrication and projects. Keep up the inspiring work and good luck!

 

[WhoWhatNow]

Coco - I absolutely blown away by your site and the projects you have done. Great work. I imagine you are a great inspiration to your friends, classmates and many people you do not even know. Keep up the great work.

 

[cosmopedro]

I also saw your posting of this press over at OWWM.

-RL

Could someone help me by explaining what OWWM means?

 

[cclfn]

Old Wood Working Machines is another web site devoted mainly to the restoration and use of older machines.

 

[cosmopedro]

1952 Craftsman "100" DP resto

Old Wood Working Machines is another web site devoted mainly to the restoration and use of older machines.

Oh, NO! - another forum to eat up my time...!!!
[emoji33][emoji12][emoji79][emoji15]

 

[SDavisH]

More progress......The base definitely looks 60 years old. I like to grind the plate surface on the base. Although the catalogs depict a machined surface on the base plates, a good number of them appear to have not been machined at all. The plate surface on this one was quite rough and had to be ground down. That's original paint covering the entire surface:

After the belt sander, paint, and a column test fitting:

The table has one errant hole made sometime in the past 60 years. Overall, not in bad shape; the rust was mostly of the surface variety:

Easily smoothed out using my old 6 X 48 Craftsman sander:

Done, alongside the freshly painted head unit wearing it's new name plate:

jtbinvalrico. I like that stand your 6X48 belt sander is on, do you?. Where did you get that? I need a stand for my Craftsman 150 bench top drill press and that one looks like it would work nicely.

 

[jtbinvalrico]

That is a universal tool stand from Harbor Freight. As I've done with many of my stands, I made a box on the bottom shelf and filled it with concrete. This increases stability and damps out a lot of vibrations.

As I recall I cut it to fit my purpose, added locking wheels, and used some angled stock to fab the motor mount. Here's a link:

http://m.harborfreight.com/universal-tool-stand-69805.html

 

[SDavisH]

That is a universal tool stand from Harbor Freight. As I've done with many of my stands, I made a box on the bottom shelf and filled it with concrete. This increases stability and damps out a lot of vibrations.

As I recall I cut it to fit my purpose, added locking wheels, and used some angled stock to fab the motor mount. Here's a link:

http://m.harborfreight.com/universal-tool-stand-69805.html

Thanks jtbinvalrico. What did you cut the top and shelves out of? I like the concrete in the base idea.

 

[6PTsocket]

That is a universal tool stand from Harbor Freight. As I've done with many of my stands, I made a box on the bottom shelf and filled it with concrete. This increases stability and damps out a lot of vibrations.

As I recall I cut it to fit my purpose, added locking wheels, and used some angled stock to fab the motor mount. Here's a link:

http://m.harborfreight.com/universal-tool-stand-69805.html

I am restoring a King Seeley/Craftsman jointer that is painted gold. Does that make it the anniversary year, 1957 ? I got a replacement part on eBay and it is gray. I also have to fabricate a missing bracket. What is that gold you used and is it a close match to the old Sears color? Whether it is or not, it looks fantastic and should be good enough. I just want my jointer to function properly and not be a total eyesore. That dp restoration is fantastic. You did a beautiful job.

amaes......That guy's work is impressive. I dare say my emblem reproduction is tame compared to that. [emoji481]

Progression of an aluminum part that was originally plated:

After the wire wheel.....note the casting line across the part:

Casting line smoothed off.....100gr:

150gr:

220gr:

400gr wet:

600gr wet:

800gr wet:

1000gr wet:

After metal polish......a can of Mother's and a rag. Bolted up to the depth stop:

Cleaned up a few other pieces and started paint. The "done" pile is growing:

Stuart - I really liked the design of your DP stand. I hope you don't mind if I shamelessly copy it.[emoji481]

Here's a link to my version of it: www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread

jtbinvalrico - I am truly impressed by your attention to detail and the quality of your work. Reading this thread about your restoration really got me thinking that I should find a vintage DP to work on myself!

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[Farmall450]

Most antiques are worth more if not restored and left with the origional patina.

Not this one...lol.
Look at how fine of a job the OP did.

 

[Maui]

Now that I have a blueprint for how to restore my Craftsman 100, let's see how it goes!

Maui

 

[Zeeman]

My hat is off to you for your restoration of this DP. Wow!

 

[bubinga]

Excellent! The band came out very nice.

The motor band is complete. I ended up not using the lathe drum I made because I found that the means of securing the band to the drum really complicated things and I didn't want to spend even more time overcoming a hardware issue on a jig.....so I just mounted the band flat to a board and worked it from there. I started with some aluminum sheet cut to the correct dimensions, with just a bit extra to allow for smoothing the edges:

I started with 400gr wet and worked my way through 2000gr wet, here's the progression:

This band won't come out right unless the surface is sufficiently polished, up next is the buffing wheel and some compound:

Mirror finish after some Mother's.......ready to be selectively scuffed up:

Here's an original band I used for reference. This one is marred after some time in a bath to remove rust, which removed the rust but left pitting. The textured lines are 1/8" across, and are 1/8" apart:

Hard to see in this pic (due to the glare =)........penciled lines mark off 1/8" lines on the band. I used these to guide my tape layout. The tape is laid out one stripe at a time:

I used 0000 steel wool wadded up in some forceps allow control. The blue tape holds up very well, allowing multiple passes to achieve a uniform scuffing to approximate the original finish. The steel wool will need to be rotated every couple of inches to allow for a proper cut on the surface:
Installed and ready to be put on the DP:

Just needs a new cord and grommet. Final assembly to follow soon.

I know this is an old post, but,
Wow, You made that out of plain stock?
Looks great,,
looks like factory.

EDIT
Darn Photobucket.........
That's why it is Nice to just Host pictures her, They stay here.
Some sights are not nice enough to provide us the feature.

 

[oldbeardedone]

I just purchased a Craftsman floor model drill press. It was purchase by the mans grandfather new in the 1950's. It looks just like yours with the vari-slo speed option on it. The vari-slo speed is missing the front curved plate that is used to adjust it with. I am not sure if there are any other parts of the vari-slo speed missing. Do you have any pics of that assembly? The Drill press works great and it seems there is no play in the spindle. It is all there. I am going to remove the vari-slo speed option for now and start the cleaning and polishing. You have set the bar high as to how they can look.

Thanks for any guidance you may have

 

[bubinga]

Welcome oldbeardedone
You should get some help here I am soon.
Sorry, I have a 150, No vari-slo.
Stick around, Its a great group of guys.