Let's see your drill press slow speed attachment.

[CalsXS2]

I know a lot of us talk about wanting them. Some of us have them. Some want to make them.

So show what you've got. I don't care if it's OEM or home made. Maybe we can bounce some ideas off of each other.

My first pic is a Craftsman Vari-Slo. It came on a Craftsman 100 I picked up a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately the column clamp was broke. And it was missing the control lever. I've since then had my friend weld the clamp, and I made a control lever. It matches the OEM knob real nice.

The second pic is the start of one I'm going to make for my 1939 Delta DP220. Someone gave me the larger slow speed pulley for the spindle. This left me with an extra. So I'm going to make a plug for the center of the column and have something similar to one of the OEM versions. At least that's my plan. This will get me down to 185 RPM. Then I might be using a VFD with my 3 phase motor. I should be able to slow it down even more. I'm thinking for tapping holes. I've got the stock. Now I just need to start whittling,,,lol.

Let's see what you've got.

 

[McBrownie]

Homemade one for a 1960's Delta-made Homecraft/Penncraft. I really like how this turned out and it works really well:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=312834

 

[Waterlooboy2hp]

When I put this Walker Turner (WT-900) together, the slow speed unit was missing. Looked for a photo of an original on E-bay and pretty much just copied the design. Only real difference is that the bearings for the shaft, are in the cast iron block, instead of the pulley. The original one on E-bay, sold for $286.00. ---- John

 

[CalsXS2]

Very nice work guys.

John. Is that a tie rod end?

 

[McBrownie]

Very nice work guys.

John. Is that a tie rod end?

Cal,

I wondered the same thing.

John,

Please share more details. That attachment looks like NOS. Great job!

 

[bczygan]

There is a guy here on GJ who makes and sells one for the Craftsman DP.

Bill

 

[Waterlooboy2hp]

Very nice work guys.

John. Is that a tie rod end?

=======================

No, the cast iron block, was once the center hub of a brake band flat pulley with spokes. You can see remnants of the spokes. One spoke was extra heavy and became the mounting point, for the 3/4" adjustment rod.

I single pointed a thread, on the 3/4" piece of bar stock and then turned down one end to a smaller size and also threaded that. The rod was then threaded into the block and set with red Locktite . It is kind of like a threaded shoulder bolt. ----- John

 

[nine4gmc]

Interesting Waterlooboy, I know Drivesitfar has a similar drill press and is looking for a slow speed attachment. That came out great!

 

[crguy]

This shop made unit is on an early Delta 220 I just bought. I think it'll work just fine.

 

[McBrownie]

This shop made unit is on an early Delta 220 I just bought. I think it'll work just fine.

I like the designs that let you adjust the belts without having to move the motor. Yours is a great example of that.

 

[McBrownie]

There is a guy here on GJ who makes and sells one for the Craftsman DP.

Bill

That would be JZiggy.

 

[CalsXS2]

I found these pictures on ebay. They show 2 different Delta designs.

Then there is a guy named ksierens on the machining forums that made one simular to Delta's. It's pretty slick and basic. Nothing holds it in place. Just belt tension. I can't get his pictures to load for some reason.

I've got some parts on the way. I'm going to study all the designs and put my own little twist on something.

At first I was just going to do something like ksierens. But now I'm getting some parts from a guy and it includes the Delta clamp that goes on the outside of the column. Same as the last two pics. It clamps to the column with a big bolt. Then also clamps to the plug with set screws.

What am I going to do with this clamp you ask. I'm thinking of using a treadmill incline motor as a table lift. I think that extra hole in the clamp will come in handy.

 

[bczygan]

There is a guy here on GJ who makes and sells one for the Craftsman DP.

Bill

Here's a link:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=5459127#post5459127

 

[Shiftless]

Here's a link:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=5459127#post5459127

JZiggy is a great guy. You can't go wrong dealing with him. His restoration and fabrication skills are first rate.

 

[pmat]

My 1947 delta drill press homemade slow speed attachment utilizes the 3/4 inch bore in the top of the casting. Made from scraps except for the 2 bearings. The front belt is fitted with the pulley swiveled to the side allowing both belts to be tightened by pulling the motor back as you normally would.

 

[lafester]

I suppose VFD attachments don't count.

 

[Cleave]

Here's my home-machined version.
Includes homemade boring bar on drill press, end mill slotting, bearing pressing with 3 year old helping. Super fun and it even works. Cut aluminum stock with hacksaw and filed square.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=401616

 

[Davefr]

I suppose VFD attachments don't count.

^^^Sure they do.

I was sitting on Grandpa's knee and he was telling me about the old days when you had to change belts and pulleys to change DP speeds. He also told me he had to hand crank his Model T to start it.

 

[930dreamer]

20" Clausing DP with two speed controls;

 

[rannoch]

I saw a thread somewhere where the OP used a cast iron weight and thought it was a great idea.

Drilled an offset hole using a temporary slow speed attachment, cut the corner out with a hacksaw, so I could drill and tap a hole to clamp it to the column, drilled and tapped a 1/2" hole to hold a bolt with a multi speed pulley mounted to it (5/8" bore with oilite bushings tp 1/2")

Note this is for a Powr-Kraft branded Duro drill press with a smaller column.
Also, the oversize washer on top of the column is attached to a pipe plug that held the temporary slow speed attachment to the press.

If I ever finish fixing my Atlas 53, I'll probably do the same type of slow speed attachment.

 

[mjbuffum]

I already had this same exact drill press, but this one had the slow speed, and the bidding only went to $10!

 

[ndnchf]

VFD for me. With a 3/4hp motor, it has plenty of power at low speed and infinite speed adjustment.

 

[larry_g]

View media item 62444

The hand lever in the picture engages the back gear and the knob above it is pulled to disengage the direct drive. Just like the back gear in a lathe. At that point you visually count the revolutions. I forget the real number but in the range of 20-30 RPM.

See more here https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/album.php?albumid=5185


lg
no neat sig line

 

[DirtFish17]

New member here. There are some incredible machines here! I am very interested in doing the slow speed modification to my 1940's Walker Turner 20".
Thank you all for the great ideas!

 

[Jwallace1]

Nice press i have been looking to build some sort of slow drive for mine as well, i just finished up the refresh a few months ago, i have thought about making one of the cardinal 18 slo drives with some shaft and pillow block bearings but haven't gotten around to it yet, i cant get the picture of the cardinal setup to upload but you can google search it, they made kits for walker turner but i haven't ever seen one used for sale. welcome to the forum

New member here. There are some incredible machines here! I am very interested in doing the slow speed modification to my 1940's Walker Turner 20".
Thank you all for the great ideas!

 

[JZiggy]

New member here. There are some incredible machines here! I am very interested in doing the slow speed modification to my 1940's Walker Turner 20".
Thank you all for the great ideas!

DirtFish and I collaborated on a nifty 5-step pulley setup for his Walker Turner. Here are some pictures he took for me, it turned out great!

 

[FrankLee]

Very nice work... both of you!!

 

[DirtFish17]

JZiggy built the custom pulley setup for my 20" Walker Turner with a 3" ID post and 5 step pulleys. It popped right in with one screw adjustment. I could not be happier! Not only is he a great person to work with but the product he produced was awesome. My slowest speed is down to 210 rpms for using large diameter cutters and multi speed setup gives me a huge selection of speeds to choose from. Two thumbs up! I highly recommend!

 

[FishSkiPaddle]

I recently purchased this Craftsman 15" Drill Press Floor Model 101.03662 manufactured by Atlas. It is in very good condition and as you can see, it has the slow speed attachment. The slow speed attachment was not being utilized when I purchased it. The spindle pulley was partially broken, I assume this was done by the previous owner trying to remove it. I removed the pulley and found the bearing retention plate missing. I have sourced both parts, installed them, turned the motor pulley upside down and am ready to run it with the slow speed attachment. My question is, how do I determine the length of the belts and how do I tension them? I see on the slow speed attachment, there is a hole for a 5/16" bar(mine is missing), I assume this is for tensioning.

 

[FishSkiPaddle]

It looks as if the previous owner add the guard on the side of the motor and the collar on the column below the table. I don't see the purpose for the guard and where should the collar be located?

 

[Beerhippie]

Thread resurrection!

Here's my work-in-progress $20 Darra James ToolKraft with treadmill motor and controller:





At 300 rpm, as shown, it pulls perfect coils of swarf from aluminum using a 1/4" bit or counter-sink. It works well from about 200-2,000 rpm, but the old bushings start to threaten to come apart at the high speeds.

I'm having all the worn-out bronze bushings bored out and replaced with needle bearings tomorrow. That should reduce the noise and run-out a lot! It should also greatly increase the cost of the job. So far, the housing for the controls was the most expensive part of the project--treadmill price was "haul it off!" Before the machine work, I'm less than $100 into this project.

I'd like to make or purchase an intermediate pulley set up like those above (mounting it will be a problem--this is a small press), as the treadmill motor is rated 1.3 cont. hp, but at about 4,000 rpm. Reducing the speed by half would be a huge increase in torque.

 

[Michael_PE2003]

I made one for my Craftsman Mohawk since there is no factory made unit. Beacuse of the limited room under the belt guard, there isn't room to use the eccentric to tension the belts so I had to make a spring loaded idler with four positions for each of the belt positions. Also, the idler had to have good ball bearings as it is possible for it to turn almost 10,000 RPM at the highest spindle speed. (not that I'll likely ever do that. I also made the bolts for the idler and center pulley hollow with cross holes so the bearings can be greased without taking anything apart.

 

[Beerhippie]

I made one for my Craftsman Mohawk since there is no factory made unit. Beacuse of the limited room under the belt guard, there isn't room to use the eccentric to tension the belts so I had to make a spring loaded idler with four positions for each of the belt positions. Also, the idler had to have good ball bearings as it is possible for it to turn almost 10,000 RPM at the highest spindle speed. (not that I'll likely ever do that. I also made the bolts for the idler and center pulley hollow with cross holes so the bearings can be greased without taking anything apart.

That looks pretty close to the size of mine. Mine is torn-down for a visit to the machine shop tomorrow, so I can't get any measurements, but the belt is about 15" inside loop, lightly stretched.

I don't know that I'd even use the sheave stacks again, as the variable speed motor would cover all the speeds I use. But with the motor spinning faster for a given output speed, I'd have a lot more torque.

You wouldn't be interested in a collaboration to make something for mine, would you? I have basically no machine tools. Drill press, bench and angle grinder are about as close as I come.

 

[Michael_PE2003]

You wouldn't be interested in a collaboration to make something for mine, would you?

No, not really. It was a lot of work and I’m in the middle of turning a pile of well used parts back into a functional Supermax milling machine.

Oh, and I know almost nothing about running a milling machine and knew nothing about how to put one together before starting this one so it’s a challenge.

 

[Beerhippie]

No, not really. It was a lot of work and I’m in the middle of turning a pile of well used parts back into a functional Supermax milling machine.

Oh, and I know almost nothing about running a milling machine and knew nothing about how to put one together before starting this one so it’s a challenge.

S'cool!

Thanks for the reply and best of luck with the new tool!

 

[Death Row Dave]

20" Clausing DP with two speed controls;

I have the very same classing 20 , this is a drill press . Tough as a roofing nail

 

[jmarkwolf]

Below is a pic from the Delta Rockwell 15in drill press I inherited from my dad.

For years I thought that he had fabricated the middle pulley assembly, but I've since seen many examples on the web of the same setup.

The bottom part clamps to the post, the top part tensions the belts by way of the dovetail. I don't know how long he used it but I've been using it for over 50 years without a hitch.

Still don't know if it was commercially available or someone sold plans.