Old drill press ?? looks homemade

[R.Anderson]

Found this on craigs list, interesting looking so here it is

http://eauclaire.craigslist.org/atq/4399607238.html

 

[gungatim]

definitely looks homemade, I have downloaded plans online from old magazines on how to build those out of pipe. Common in the 30's/40's/50's.

For the money you can buy a nice modern (70's'90's) drill press that is much more usable around here. The motor and pulley and scrap put it at about $25 in my book...and I have bought much nicer drill presses for much less...

 

[pepi]

Found this on craigs list, interesting looking so here it is

http://eauclaire.craigslist.org/atq/4399607238.html

Steep price, for what it is.

Home made the water pipe is the tip off, did you not spot that?

 

[exmaxima1]

For the money you can buy a nice modern (70's'90's) drill press that is much more usable around here.

Or a nice vintage press. A few months ago I bought a Delta DP-600 17" drill press for $100.

 

[Major Ramifications]

Quite obviously homemade and worthless (except for the motor).
Eauclaire Wisconson must be an interesting place. That's where the old Martin outboards were made by National Pressure Cooker back in the '40's and '50's.

 

[Fretters]

Quite obviously homemade and worthless (except for the motor).

I wouldn't say worthless, though not worth much. That could actually be quite handy, and is likely to be far more precise than a lot of modern bench drills, judging by how much runout they usually seem to have.

 

[1930artdeco]

Looks like someone did a really nice job.

Mike

 

[RCStocker]

In my 50 years of buying and selling I have never seen a home made drill press before. It is really worth nothing but it is novel and one of a kind. Thanks for sharing the photo.

 

[R.Anderson]

Home made the water pipe is the tip off, did you not spot that?

Yup, thats why it says "looks homemade' in the title I worded it this way because the craigslist posting and title "Old drill press" said nothing about it being homemade.

 

[sasquatch12]

Being an old fart, and remembering times when shop built machines were still in use, i find that drill interesting, and a credit to whoever built it.
The 30's of shortages and little money brought out a lot of ingenuity in guys that needed equipment, so they built theyr'e own, usually from car parts and old farm equipment.
Although they aren't real pretty, many of these machines ran for years, and where easily repairable.
Popular mechanics had many plans over the years to build machines like this.

 

[Outlawmws]

I've got a book from Pop Mechanics for "40 Power tools you can make" And that has similar pipe framing like the cover DP. (c) 1941.

And yep, lots of car and tractor parts, as well as wood and pipe for the structures.

 

[Outlawmws]

In my 50 years of buying and selling I have never seen a home made drill press before. It is really worth nothing but it is novel and one of a kind. Thanks for sharing the photo.

Finally, something RCStocker hasn't bought and sold dozens of, and isn't an expert on... (But still has an opinion on value...)

 

[sasquatch12]

Outlawmws, i had that book also (40 power tools,), and also had a bit later one called 60 power tools you can build. Both were hard cover, neat reading and some ideas are still viable today.

 

[Rust]

Ironicly enough, I just saw an add on c-list for a homemade bench.
It had a pipe fitting press on one side and pipe fitting scrollsaw on the other.
After seeing this thread i looked again.
The add was pulled by the poster. Heck..the add must have been up a week.
I think it might have sold.

 

[sasquatch12]

Yes a lot of Scroll saws back then were also built using pipe frames.
Couple of years ago i picked up a very nice 14 inch bandsaw, frame all built out of large pipe, an exceptional build, with some of the nicest braze welding on the joints i have ever seen. All steel, the builder spent a lot of time on this, and it had been flat belt driven. Now have it running and geared down to cut sheetmetal.

 

[jeffmoss26]

Finally, something RCStocker hasn't bought and sold dozens of, and isn't an expert on... (But still has an opinion on value...)

Hahahaha

 

[Jim C.]

Finally, something RCStocker hasn't bought and sold dozens of, and isn't an expert on... (But still has an opinion on value...)

As possibly the only member of the RCStocker "fan club," I admit that I read EVERY one of his posts with anxious anticipation, and I check for new ones almost daily. Lately I've noticed that he's toned it down a little and seems to have employed a governor on his typically rambling diatribes that are littered with bragging, insults, inaccuracies and general buffoonery. Although small bits and pieces of his prior self are evident, I miss the old unfiltered RC, and can only hope that this is just a temporary period of lucidity that he's experiencing.

Jim C.

 

[DenisG]

Seems to be a better design than most Popular Mechanics homemade drill presses. I'm not sure where he would have found a gear rack for the spindle. Maybe it's been cannibalized from another drill press.

 

[Outlawmws]

Dennis, Its' hard to tell with the pics, but it's could be spider gears from old diffs. They often used the same gear pitch, so you could take them from different rigs and get a difference in tooth count.

 

[DenisG]

Dennis, Its' hard to tell with the pics, but it's could be spider gears from old diffs. They often used the same gear pitch, so you could take them from different rigs and get a difference in tooth count.

The drive gears for rotating the drill bit could have come from a differential, but I'm not sure where he would have gotten the rack and pinion part of it (for lowering the drill bit), unless that was from steering parts and then he still would have had some work to do.

 

[Outlawmws]

Now the spindle does look like a factory job. I wonder if someone dumped a big camel back over and busted it so bad it was beyond repair (they would repair almost ANYTHING back then), and cobbled his up with the quill and driveline?

 

[DenisG]

Franken-drill-press

 

[R.Anderson]

I'll email the seller if they would/can share any info on the construction and when it was made.

 

[sasquatch12]

When looking at the pic i too wondered about the rack, it could have came from another piece of equipment, as i saw an old washing machine years back that had a similar rack in the transmission, but it was square, not round.
But it sure does look like a drill press spindle/rack.

 

[Rust]

Found it. check this out.

http://binghamton.craigslist.org/tls/4394010492.html