Excited about my new old Atlas 63 drill press!

[Redboy]

My drill press is my most used tool. Indispensable.

For the past eight years or so, I've been working with a Ryobi that I bought at Home Depot. It was selected at the time for it's price tag - it was the cheapest thing on the shelf!

To be fair, the little Ryobi wasn't a terrible machine. It was definitely a great value, and very functional. I gave it to my neighbor and he's thrilled with it. But I'd been thinking for some time that I would really like to replace the thing with a good, solid, American made machine...

Last week I brought this beauty home!

 

[pendragon1998]

If I had a beauty like that, I would drill EVERYTHING!

 

[drivesitfar]

RedBoy: did you buy it as is? i'm guessing a GJ member sold it to you because it does look like a high quality restoration. what are you going to make or do with the DP?

nice upgrade and wishing my old Walker Turner was that shiny.

cheers and welcome to the forum

 

[Redboy]

If I had a beauty like that, I would drill EVERYTHING!

LOL!

RedBoy: did you buy it as is? i'm guessing a GJ member sold it to you because it does look like a high quality restoration.

I wouldn't be surprised if the previous owner is/was a GJ member. He's a machinist by trade and had some great stuff in his garage, but apparently this drill press came from his friend's grandfather, who'd been the original owner. That guy was also a machinist who liked to tinker, but he certainly kept his stuff in good nick!

I do need to replace the belt, and I'm quite sure that I need to replace the motor start cap but the markings have rubbed off so I am not sure what value to use. Hoping someone here has some insight.

 

[Redboy]

what are you going to make or do with the DP?

I drill a lot of holes in aluminum, primarily. I'm an audiophile hobbyist, and I build Hifi tube amplifiers.

Like this:

 

[drivesitfar]

RedBoy: check out this thread and i'm sure you'll be salivating before you look at too many of the pictures. also a lot of guys that restored those awesome drill presses might have your answers so post a few pictures of your new drill press on that thread and ask away or PM them.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=93916&highlight=broken+vises

also i picked up some organizers full of TV and computer stuff so if you want to PM me with your email i'll send you pictures of them and see if you might want me to throw them in a flat rate box if you pay the shipping. i was going to put the batch on EBay so if they are worth a something i'd like to see them go to a good home. lots of transistors and i think old memory chips and stuff i don't have a clue.

PM is (private message in case you didn't know)

cheers and again nice DP.

 

[Redboy]

drivesitfar: Thanks for the generous offer! I've sent you a PM.

 

[LXCam]

Awesome score bud, major congrats on finding such a nice unit.

 

[Redboy]

Awesome score bud, major congrats on finding such a nice unit.

Thank you! I'm pretty stoked about it too, and I'm excited to get the belt and capacitor replaced as soon as possible.

By a happy turn of fate, I also located an original slow speed attachment for this thing! It didn't come cheap but it will be great for those times when I'm cutting big holes with the hole saws.

 

[drivesitfar]

Red: the slow speed works great for drilling metal too. awesome drill press. i got your PM and i'll email you pictures soon.

cheers

 

[exmaxima1]

My drill press is my most used tool. Indispensable.

For the past eight years or so, I've been working with a Ryobi that I bought at Home Depot. It was selected at the time for it's price tag - it was the cheapest thing on the shelf!

To be fair, the little Ryobi wasn't a terrible machine. It was definitely a great value, and very functional. I gave it to my neighbor and he's thrilled with it. But I'd been thinking for some time that I would really like to replace the thing with a good, solid, American made machine...

Last week I brought this beauty home!

I don't need another drill press, but I'd LOVE to have that Yamaha receiver on the wall!

 

[Redboy]

I don't need another drill press, but I'd LOVE to have that Yamaha receiver on the wall!

It's a sweet little receiver but it drifts off channel a bit. I'm sure it could stand to be re-capped!

 

[sasquatch12]

Very nice drill press.

 

[schor]

Nice drill press. I love the old atlas presses. I've got some vids of mine on my youtube. I made my own slow speed attachment.

That press was well cared for, not often you find an older press without the table all drilled up.

 

[Redboy]

Nice drill press. I love the old atlas presses. I've got some vids of mine on my youtube. I made my own slow speed attachment.

That press was well cared for, not often you find an older press without the table all drilled up.

Hey Steve, nice to see you here. I watched some of those videos when I was looking for information on this thing! Yours really cleaned up well, too!

Would you happen to know what value capacitor I need to find for the motor?

 

[schor]

Hey Steve, nice to see you here. I watched some of those videos when I was looking for information on this thing! Yours really cleaned up well, too!

Would you happen to know what value capacitor I need to find for the motor?

Sorry, don't know about the capacitor, most of my motors do not have caps, maybe because they are vintage motors?

Maybe you can take the whole motor into a motor shop and they can help you.

 

[HanShotFirst]

That is BEAUTIFUL!!! I have a couple of Atlas lathes and I've become a vintage Atlas fan; just damn good stuff.

 

[Mark in Indiana]

Beautiful drill press...but where's the arc of shame?

 

[Redboy]

Beautiful drill press...but where's the arc of shame?

Dunno... I guess that's up to me!

 

[G20-Budo]

Very nice drill press! And your audio equipment you make looks great too!

 

[Redboy]

Very nice drill press! And your audio equipment you make looks great too!

Thanks! This old thing's a real pleasure to use.

 

[G20-Budo]

Thanks! This old thing's a real pleasure to use.

I'm looking for a drill press something like that. I hope I can find a decent one here in my area. AND you found the low speed pulley setup! Good stuff.

 

[Joe-R]

Hi,

I realize this thread is kinda old but I thought I would post on it anyway.

Where did you find that beauty? It really looks sweet!!!

Did you find a capacitor for the motor? You might try posting a close up of the motor on here and OWWM to see if anyone has more info.

And lastly I love your tube amps! I am also into designing tube amplifiers but haven't messed around with them in quite a while.

Joe