Another Craftsman 150 rebuild

[TXNinAZ]

I realize this is about as common a refurb as there is, but oh well. There are many like it but this ones mine.

Bought from a Craigslister after I posted a wanted ad. Didn't get a great deal on it, at all, but Phoenix is tough for finding old things. The only pre war anything's around here are the dirt, and old folks in Sun City haha. Anyway, now I have a drill press, and it's from 1959, at that.

It appears almost 100% original, with the exception of the return feed lock knob having been replaced with a socket cap screw at some point. Oh and no key. The arc of shame is pretty minimal, and the only mechanical problem is the feed return spring not working right. I loosened then lock screw for the knob and freed it, then got a look at the spring- badly mangled. I had planned on just fixing that and putting it into use, but once I had the pinon and feed handle off, I figured what the heck.

After brushing off as much 60 year old grease and dust as possible, I put most everything into the parts washer, including the head casting. Gross.



The problem I've had so far is that I can't get the bearing retaining ring out of the head- I think I need something better than Horror Fright snap ring pliers to get it out [emoji23].

Got started on cleaning up the table as well. First with an 80 grit Roloc green corps disc.

Then followed with roloc brown and maroon discs. Then on to diamond sponges that I got from a bankrupt sapphire glass manufacturer.

Used the sponges to start on the post- in good shape other than the rust layer. If someone in Phoenix has a nice big lathe they'd be willing to turn this on, I'll bring your favorite beer!! Or cash if you prefer lol.

It may bother some of you, but I'm not a fan of the original gold. I think I'm traumatized by the harvest gold appliances I grew up with that my parents only recently got rid of. I think I'll go with a medium gray to match my Strog Hold cabinets and Lista bench bases.

 

[JZiggy]

Nice find! I love these old presses. Hit me up if you need some parts. I have a box full of **** like keys, etc., maybe even the return spring you need.

 

[Zeeman]

I like it. Wish I had one.

 

[TXNinAZ]

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.WHOA! There's PVC pipe in the same room as the air compressor! Pretty sure you can get banned for that...

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Lol. That's the emergency drain for my water heater catch pan. Happily only ever going to be up to ambient air pressure.

 

[Git]

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.WHOA! There's PVC pipe in the same room as the air compressor! Pretty sure you can get banned for that...
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Ya - connected to the drain line for his water heater tray....

Back on track - Looks like your off to a good start

 

[nine4gmc]

There are two retaining screws on the head bearing race, you will not need the snap ring removed to remove the pulley and bearing, you can take it off after you remove from the head. The screw holes, one on each side are below the headband "150".

Changing the gold, blasphemy!! haha, Joke, mine was gray and I went with gold so now that yours was gold and you're going with gray, the world will be back balanced.

 

[TXNinAZ]

There are two retaining screws on the head bearing race, you will not need the snap ring removed to remove the pulley and bearing, you can take it off after you remove from the head. The screw holes, one on each side are below the headband "150".

Changing the gold, blasphemy!! haha, Joke, mine was gray and I went with gold so now that yours was gold and you're going with gray, the world will be back balanced.

Oh wow, thanks for the tip. I was working from evintho's disassembly post, but didn't see a mention of removing the bearings. My crappy snap ring pliers were enough to get the smaller ring for the pulley and rod, but I just can't get enough leverage in the tight confines of the head to get the big one. I'll go back out when I get a minute.

I think the gray paint on the 100 series was great- why'd they have to mess with it?!! Definitely a preference thing, and while I do like to keep things as they originally were, I'm gonna be looking at this thing for the next ??? years, so might as well make it mine.

 

[TXNinAZ]

Ya - connected to the drain line for his water heater tray....

Back on track - Looks like your off to a good start

Thanks!! Feels like a long way to go, but really shouldn't be too bad of a project- I'll scuff the original paint down as there's no reason to go down to bare metal. This stuff has been stuck on there for the last 60 years, it's not going to flake off with my new paint.

 

[TXNinAZ]

There are two retaining screws on the head bearing race, you will not need the snap ring removed to remove the pulley and bearing, you can take it off after you remove from the head. The screw holes, one on each side are below the headband "150".

Changing the gold, blasphemy!! haha, Joke, mine was gray and I went with gold so now that yours was gold and you're going with gray, the world will be back balanced.

I totally forgot about that pair of screws- thanks! It took a hardwood dowel to punch them out the top, but only took a sec. Unfortunately it looks like someone put the wrong bearings in at some point. What I'm seeing online is that I should use 6202 2rs bearings that have a 5/8 bore. What I found in the machine appear to be metric bearings with a 1" bore [emoji52]. They're Norma 205pp shielded. One is perfect, the other has a bit of grab when you spin it, but didn't notice that until the belt was off the pulley and I spun it by hand. Looking for the proper bearings now...

EDIT: further reading shows that the 5/8th bore bearings are for the quill. Getting 25/52/15mm should be good for the pulley, though I will go with a sealed, rather than shielded.

 

[JZiggy]

Those are the big bearings for the spindle. They should indeed be 6205's. The quill uses the little 6202-5/8 ones. You can find replacement bearings on eBay for pretty darn cheap. I always spring for the double-sealed Nachi type.

 

[TXNinAZ]

Whether you go with sealed bearings or shielded bearings, I would suggest some green Loctite for the inner race/pulley shaft.

With sealed bearings, there is greater friction on the inner race from the seal than the pulley shaft. The shaft will spin in the race somewhat, especially during the jolt of start-up.

I had new sealed bearings in one of my machines and switched them out after I tested by marking the shaft and race with a sharpie. The marks would change every start-up.

Thanks for the advice. Do you find that shielded are preferable in applications like this? Or is it 'just the way it is' kind of thing.

 

[nine4gmc]

How do you lubricate the shielded pulley bearings Frank? Im not looking at my press but i think it would be easy to oil the spindle bearings through the pulley shaft hole but i cant think of how to lube the actual pulley bearings.

Sent from my SM-T230NU using Tapatalk

 

[1982fxr]

glad you finally got one. how much?

my vote is for blue like that wilton you did---don't think we've ever had a blue one on here...?

 

[TXNinAZ]

glad you finally got one. how much?



my vote is for blue like that wilton you did---don't think we've ever had a blue one on here...?

Thanks! Ugh it was $210. Complete with a great motor I guess it's not bad, but certainly not a deal in my mind.

Another $50 for a 1948 100 series- the style after your little one. It needs a switch and a table.

I was actually thinking of that safety blue for it- it would match my compressor pretty well! I'll have to think about it.

 

[Vette10R]

Sweet press! I just picked one up as well! I'll be starting the tear down and cleaning process very soon. What did you use to clean the rust off the post? Sponges?

 

[CrotalusAtrox]

TXNinAZ Glad you are restoring them they will look great. Wish I could of but with trying to build my shop in Prescott and moving from this rental in a year I just did not have the time to spend doing it right.. Of corse I get a Drill Press vise offered to me today from a guy at work and could not pass on it. Whenever I get my place in Prescott finished I may be asking to buy those back from you.

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[TXNinAZ]

Sweet press! I just picked one up as well! I'll be starting the tear down and cleaning process very soon. What did you use to clean the rust off the post? Sponges?

I started with some fancy diamond-'plated' sponges that I picked up, but I think I'm going to build a little 'lathe' out of casters and a corded drill- spin the post with the drill and supported by 4 casters. Use strips of emory paper to pull the rust off, then polish with finer grades. Can't find the thread from the guy who did that, but it should be easy enough. Headed to get bearings in the morning and will probably stop at HF to get throwaway rigid casters.

TXNinAZ Glad you are restoring them they will look great. Wish I could of but with trying to build my shop in Prescott and moving from this rental in a year I just did not have the time to spend doing it right.. Of corse I get a Drill Press vise offered to me today from a guy at work and could not pass on it. Whenever I get my place in Prescott finished I may be asking to buy those back from you.

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Hey, why didn't you get that before I came over yesterday?!!! That looks like it's in perfect shape- nice score!

The little 100 series may still be exactly as you sold it to me by then- finding a table for it may take a while! That, and I'm dying to get my engine swap going for my MR2. Been collecting parts for it since last summer and would have done it over Christmas if not for buying the new house. Always another project to start lol...

 

[TXNinAZ]

Here are those sponges:



I read that getting the column out was hard for some people- I don't know what the problem is? I loosened the screw and it popped right out! Our summers may be awful, but I sure love the lack of rust!!

 

[Warped5]

I started with some fancy diamond-'plated' sponges that I picked up, but I think I'm going to build a little 'lathe' out of casters and a corded drill- spin the post with the drill and supported by 4 casters. Use strips of emory paper to pull the rust off, then polish with finer grades. Can't find the thread from the guy who did that, but it should be easy enough. Headed to get bearings in the morning and will probably stop at HF to get throwaway rigid casters.

IIRC, that poster had a DP with a shorter post (don't recall brand). He turned a pair of centering cones and mounted that all up in a larger press. It spun and he polished it up.

FrankLee also has quite the excellent thread here about his DP adventures.

I did mine in black powdercoat and found a NOS motor locally for cheap.

 

[TXNinAZ]

IIRC, that poster had a DP with a shorter post (don't recall brand). He turned a pair of centering cones and mounted that all up in a larger press. It spun and he polished it up.



FrankLee also has quite the excellent thread here about his DP adventures.



I did mine in black powdercoat and found a NOS motor locally for cheap.

Yours looks great! I love the feed handle knobs- how did you attach them?

 

[Warped5]

Yours looks great! I love the feed handle knobs- how did you attach them?

Took my queue from FrankLee's thread.

Popped the handles off and tapped them on a lathe.

IIRC, I used Phillips screwdrivers because the shaft was round.

 

[TXNinAZ]

Well I'm waiting for bearings, so more cleaning. Got my vise permanent on the bench for one end, then casters from a Home Depot liquidator along with an 8 amp Milwaukee corded drill. That thing has some nuts on it!!

First passes with 120 grit are slow, but steady. 320 after that, and we'll see how shiny I want to make it. If I get it looking too polished I'll be irritated when I put a big scratch in it, so maybe not go too crazy...

Oh and I think the 5/8 grade 8 bolts will hold the Wilton pretty well [emoji3]

 

[TXNinAZ]

Runs pretty smoothly!!

https://vimeo.com/165377418

And before anyone says it, yes I realize gloves are a bad idea. In this instance my workpiece is turning slowly at low power and even if my glove did get caught (it did), I wouldn't (didn't) lose any digits.

 

[Zeeman]

Well, that was cool. I'll try that on my bandsaw pedestal. Nice job.

 

[CrotalusAtrox]

That is sweet, cool seeing the C1 being used, the very nice C1 that was a you **** deal if I recall.

 

[TXNinAZ]

That is sweet, cool seeing the C1 being used, the very nice C1 that was a you **** deal if I recall.

$100, so yeah [emoji3]

Super happy with it so far.

 

[nine4gmc]

Not gonna lie, my nuts jumped up my *** when i saw you get close with that hand, though i did mine on my metal lathe and it will take an arm off if youre not careful. It would probably just hurt real bad, maybe dislocate a digit on that drill rig but still frightening.

Sent from my SM-T230NU using Tapatalk

 

[TXNinAZ]

Not gonna lie, my nuts jumped up my *** when i saw you get close with that hand, though i did mine on my metal lathe and it will take an arm off if youre not careful. It would probably just hurt real bad, maybe dislocate a digit on that drill rig but still frightening.

Sent from my SM-T230NU using Tapatalk

I could stop the column from spinning with my hand. That would be bad for the drill, but there really was no danger in this setup.

 

[TXNinAZ]

Had a few minutes to continue disassembly. Gave me an excuse to buy a new puller set to get the motor ends off. New motor bearings on the way.

For those that refurb motors, do you put in all new wire? I'm sure there's nothing wrong with the old stuff, but the insulation is so crunchy I just hate to leave it all in there and have a problem in the future.

 

[TXNinAZ]

I really dislike working on these old motors. See the link in my signature for what I usually do to refurb them.

On my recent Dunlap grinder refurb, I cut back the wires nearly to the windings, installed new wires and thought I fup'd the whole thing. I had to redo the new wires with a smaller, more flexible 14 gauge wire.

Thanks for commenting- I just read through your motor thread- very helpful. It was a little easier to disassemble for me, as this one has a capacitor start, so I have more wire length to work with, it seems. Oh, and it's Arizona, so nothing was corroded- even getting the bearings off wasn't much trouble.

My plan was to use 14 gauge to replace the old stuff, would you recommend that, or something else?

EDIT: oh, it also helped that someone in the last 58 years had replaced the cord, so that also gave me some more wire length

 

[vertguy]

I just picked up a gray 150 and really like your approach for cleaning the support column. What did you use to attach it to the drill??

 

[TXNinAZ]

I just picked up a gray 150 and really like your approach for cleaning the support column. What did you use to attach it to the drill??

I used a plumbers test plug. When you tighten the nut, it expands the rubber section on the ID of the column. Tore up the threads badly by chucking the drill on them, but no big deal- could have threaded a few nuts on there to chuck on I guess. Bought mine on Amazon for like $14, but a plumbing supplier would have plenty.

 

[vertguy]

Thanks! I assumed you used one of those plugs, but I could not figure out what they were called. Looks like we are searching for the same parts as mine is missing the depth stop lock nuts as well.

 

[TXNinAZ]

Thanks! I assumed you used one of those plugs, but I could not figure out what they were called. Looks like we are searching for the same parts as mine is missing the depth stop lock nuts as well.

My lock nuts are here- I actually need the little lever/set screw thing. There's lots of presses out there, but I haven't found that part yet.

 

[vertguy]

I believe the column ID is about 2.5". Do you recall what size test plug?

I believe those feed stop rods are 5/8". What is the TPI count?

Confirmed the threads are 5/8-12 and the column ID is a hair under 2.5 inches.

This one has the right OD... https://www.amazon.com/Cherne-269913-2-Inch-Plugs-Small/dp/B00DZV3S46/ref=sr_1_11?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1466784602&sr=1-11&keywords=plumbing+test+plug

 

[TXNinAZ]

Confirmed the threads are 5/8-12 and the column ID is a hair under 2.5 inches.



This one has the right OD... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DZV3S46/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Yep that's the one I bought. Worked great.

 

[Bears Fan]

Love the idea for polishing the main shaft

 

[TXNinAZ]

Well after being interrupted a hundred times by other projects, I finally got back to this. Time for some paint.

The color is Rustoleum dark machine gray. I think 'dark' is a stretch, but it looks nice.

Thought I'd try something a little different on the motor paint and spice it up a bit. If I don't like it later I can always change.

Hanging the motor parts seemed like a good idea, but not so much- too many areas that weren't even. Take two.

Now time to start reassembly. My special sauce to help with bearing install- no trip to the freezer for me!! Heated the bearings a bit with my heat gun, spray some magic juice on the bearings, and Bob's your uncle.

And then chilling the bearings to get them into the headstock.

Getting close!!

 

[TXNinAZ]

Had trouble lining up the belt for some reason. Finally measured it and looked online to see what length it should have been- it was 2" short. Got a cheap 45" belt to get it going.

And she runs!! Getting the motor back together properly was a pain, but I did it right the first time, so that's good. Replaced the cord, as well. Just couldn't stand to put all this work into it and leave that over sprayed, chewed up cord on there.



Final touch will be to get a new motor plate. I sent the old one to a GJ member but haven't been able to get a hold of him. Will make one in InDesign and print on sticker paper I suppose. That method worked nicely on my block grinder:

 

[JZiggy]

Lookin really really good!!