Craftsman 103.24821 Drill press restoration

First, thanks to several members who have recently posted on their own restoration projects. I didn't want to hijack someone else's thread...but nearly everything i've done so far is due to the great info posted here in similar threads. I've always loved older tools, and recently restored a wilton bullet vice from the late 60's (with help from this forum). So the sickness begins....

Found this on CL
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I was pretty excited the engraved band is in decent shape - I believe the press is from 1956
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quite a bit of rust, and a lot of cosmetic work to do, but it runs great

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I got it home last weekend, and finally Sunday night was able to spend about 1.5 hours disassembling. Everything went well, with the exception of the baseplate and the pulley.

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Tonight I was able to get the pulley out (which may have been a mistake as I have NO IDEA if I can get this back together), and began an electrolysis treatment for the head.

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After about 30 minutes

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I also worked with the wire wheel. Total time tonight was about 2 hours, including assembling the dunk tank.

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Put some more break free on the baseplate....maybe thats a lost cause. Considering just leaving those attached and combination of electrolysis for base and wire wheel for post.

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Couple of questions for the experts out there....do I replace/rebuild the bearings, and motors runs great - should I tear into that or just fix up the exterior?

Thanks everyone

Cal

Great start so far.
Don't use an abrasive on the band to clean it. The turnings are fragile. I recommend using Nevr-Dull polishing wool and elbow grease. It should be available at any hardware store (the Nevr-Dull). It comes in a can.

Thanks for the suggestion - inwas wondering what to use for that.

What's the secret for getting the spindle pulley out and off the shaft? I have one that I'm disassembling and have reached that stopping point.

FrankLee said:

If you've got it apart that far, you may as well do it once, and do it right.

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Agreed - thanks for the reference from your other thread. I'm hoping to order replacement bearings this evening.

This morning found the tank looking like this

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and when I pulled the head free found

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after a quick squirt with a hose - took most of paint off and all rust. Hitting it tonight with a wire wheel and then primer...but a warning - surface rust starts FAST in the open air. I had to go to work, and couldn't finish prepping this AM...so more work than I anticipated this evening

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FrankLee said:

I've had several stuck columns/bases and always got them apart.

There are three machined cylinders in the base that hold the column.

To get the column out:
- Lay the base/column horizontal supported by a milk crate or similar.
- Inspect the bottom of the column under the base and make sure it's not mushroomed or damaged.
- Wire brush any rust at the bottom of the column and spray with penetrant.
- Remove the wedge bolt and spray inside with penetrant.
- Hold a short piece of 2x4 on the column; with the 2" side against the column and the end grain against the base collar.
- Use a BFH and whale on the 2x4 forcing the base off.



It may take a couple pieces of 2x4. I've split and destroyed 2x4 pieces, but was always successful getting bases off.

You may also want to lay something over the column to protect it from errant hammer blows.

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Well - still working on getting the base off. So far split 3 2x4 pieces and hasn't budged. Soaking overnight in break-free and will go at it again tomorrow. Meanwhile working on a bearing puller for the front spindle

Nice find! I like the look of the gold paint scheme with the original "100" swirled headband.

What HP is that motor?

1/4hp....and was just getting to trying to figure out whether to just do exterior of motor or break it open to get into it. I have no experience with any of this stuff...let alone motor rebuilds. I'm going to dig thru the forum on it

Yep that was pretty ugly...I'm thinking mine has also been exposed to a lot of moisture as the bottom is caked with rust. I've wire brushed what I can and soaking in WD40. I did get the set bolt out and filling thr hole with wd40 too. Just a matter of time and some BFH persuasion.

I suggest heat on the base as well. The contracting and expanding between the column and base will allow further penatrant between the two, eventually allowing it to become loose enough for you to hammer it out. My restoration drill press was circa 1946 and was never apart. It took work but it came apart, made things much easier to restore, and i would not call the job difficult.

I strongly suggest you attempt to find a period motor and baseplate in the 1/2 hp range. My OTHER drill press i will restore this fall ( identical to yours except 1947 and grey not gold) has a 1/2 hp craftsman motor on it. Your 1/4 hp motor is highly anemic for a floor model full size drill press.

Definitely replace all bearings while you have the press apart. Japanese bearings are most expensive, ( which is what i used, retail at my local bearing supply was like $18 a bearing but worth it) cheap chinese bearings can be had for $3 a piece but would be sad for you to use them.

Also i suggest, if you keep the 1/4 hp motor on that press, take it apart and at least clean, and repack the existing motor bearings ( on each end of the motor).. my bearings were siezed, but only from 75+ year old grease that turned into solid. I used a parts washer, washed mine out, and repacked with synthetic mobil 1 axle grease. It ran like butter afterwards. I have since sold it.

Keep up the good work. To bad you don't have access to a sand blaster. Mine made my restoration go way faster and a lot easier. Regardless, excellent work so far.
PS, your thread will prolly be moved to the vintage tool discussion forum if the mods are paying attention, so heads up ..

chrispyny said:

I suggest heat on the base as well. The contracting and expanding between the column and base will allow further penatrant between the two, eventually allowing it to become loose enough for you to hammer it out. My restoration drill press was circa 1946 and was never apart. It took work but it came apart, made things much easier to restore, and i would not call the job difficult.

I strongly suggest you attempt to find a period motor and baseplate in the 1/2 hp range. My OTHER drill press i will restore this fall ( identical to yours except 1947 and grey not gold) has a 1/2 hp craftsman motor on it. Your 1/4 hp motor is highly anemic for a floor model full size drill press.

Definitely replace all bearings while you have the press apart. Japanese bearings are most expensive, ( which is what i used, retail at my local bearing supply was like $18 a bearing but worth it) cheap chinese bearings can be had for $3 a piece but would be sad for you to use them.

Also i suggest, if you keep the 1/4 hp motor on that press, take it apart and at least clean, and repack the existing motor bearings ( on each end of the motor).. my bearings were siezed, but only from 75+ year old grease that turned into solid. I used a parts washer, washed mine out, and repacked with synthetic mobil 1 axle grease. It ran like butter afterwards. I have since sold it.

Keep up the good work. To bad you don't have access to a sand blaster. Mine made my restoration go way faster and a lot easier. Regardless, excellent work so far.
PS, your thread will prolly be moved to the vintage tool discussion forum if the mods are paying attention, so heads up ..

Click to expand...

Thanks - I was thinking 1/4 hp was light. I will see what I can find in the 1/2 hp range circa 1950s. I did received the pulley bearings today -opted for the higher end ones. Now need to work on a bearing puller. Sandblaster would definitely be a help...maybe next time.

Movement! Well after some heat, lots of PB Blaster, 1- 8' 2x4 cut into smaller lengths and pulverized by the BFH...she gave in. Finally I can work on the base and column.

I also decided to send off the Chromed parts for a re-do. Unfortunately have to send them across the state as I could not find someone local to FL west coast. They will take 3-4 weeks....should have done that first

I'm a ways out on this...but is there any thoughts on paint color? I've never been one for gold paint...but it was the original color. Really like Ryan's finished press

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=303251

And HOW do you get the chuck so shiny????? I've worked it over with a wire wheel and mine still looks aged.

Good thread, I appreciate all the detail, hopefully in another month or so Ill be able to start on mine, so this will really come in handy! You're doing really nice work.

Anymore update pics?

uniballer said:

Anymore update pics?

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Will get to it this weekend...this work and family stuff gets in the way of my hobbies

Not much exciting about whaling away with the hammer on the base but things should get better from here. I had a nice PM from a member and can hopefully acquire his vintage 1/2 HP motor to upgrade the press.

After viewing the restoration thread posted above...I'm reconsidering re-chroming the few pieces and may just strip and polish....with....the 9x20 south bend lathe I just made a deal for Lord my wife is a patient woman....

Re: Drill Presses of Color

FrankLee said:

I'll only use Rustoleum Dark Machine Gray, but the pictures below may help you decide. Many of these belong to GJ members. Other were found on Vintage Machinery. My personal favorite non-gray is the copper one.

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Thanks - that's helpful...I'm going to stew on this for a week or so...coming around to "power bronze" color if only because it's the original and I've always thought classic cars should keep their original color. My grandmother had a couch that bronze/gold color which had plastic fabric protectors and God-help-me but I hated that thing.

chrispyny said:

I suggest heat on the base as well. The contracting and expanding between the column and base will allow further penatrant between the two, eventually allowing it to become loose enough for you to hammer it out. My restoration drill press was circa 1946 and was never apart. It took work but it came apart, made things much easier to restore, and i would not call the job difficult.

I strongly suggest you attempt to find a period motor and baseplate in the 1/2 hp range. My OTHER drill press i will restore this fall ( identical to yours except 1947 and grey not gold) has a 1/2 hp craftsman motor on it. Your 1/4 hp motor is highly anemic for a floor model full size drill press.

Definitely replace all bearings while you have the press apart. Japanese bearings are most expensive, ( which is what i used, retail at my local bearing supply was like $18 a bearing but worth it) cheap chinese bearings can be had for $3 a piece but would be sad for you to use them.

Also i suggest, if you keep the 1/4 hp motor on that press, take it apart and at least clean, and repack the existing motor bearings ( on each end of the motor).. my bearings were siezed, but only from 75+ year old grease that turned into solid. I used a parts washer, washed mine out, and repacked with synthetic mobil 1 axle grease. It ran like butter afterwards. I have since sold it.

Keep up the good work. To bad you don't have access to a sand blaster. Mine made my restoration go way faster and a lot easier. Regardless, excellent work so far.
PS, your thread will prolly be moved to the vintage tool discussion forum if the mods are paying attention, so heads up ..

Click to expand...

Sorry it's taken me a few days to follow up on the removal of the post, but I wanted to get the pics uploaded.

So after banging on the baseplate for 3 days, and soaking it overnight - I had given up, did the dunk tank with post attached (water level even with top of baseplate) and sanded and primed the baseplate. With the suggestion of using heat, and knowing the post would be very difficult to sand smooth attached to the baseplate I decided to give it another go. Also, short cutting that part would grate on me to no end every time I look at the finished press.

PB blaster on the top of the base, bottom of the base, and generously applied to the set-bolt hole. Blowtorch until smoking. Whack the h*ll out of a 6" 2x4 until it splinters. Repeat - total time about 4 hours.

Finally, 2 things happened that got things moving in a positive direction. For no particular reason, I inserted a punch into the set-bolt hole, and gave it a couple of small whacks (I also had been tapping around the base collar near post with a regular hammer periodically). I think that actually helped as you'll see in the pictures below. Second, I began CAREFULLY using the mini sledge to tap the base directly instead of hitting the 2x4. Note I only hit the base to the sides of the post near the collar at a point where it was reinforced underneath. Finally it began moving. 30 minutes later it was off.

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I didn't realize how large the piece of metal the set-bolt pushed against, but it was frozen in place - I think tapping on it with the long punch helped.
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You can see the rectangular outline - also the last 1" is pretty corroded too

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After a brief wire brush you can see the spots where it grabbed

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Victory shot with BFH

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So i'm sure in every project just about the time you think "wow everything is going great" ya hit the roadblock. Even though the post didn't seem that corroded to me - it took about 6 hours of time to remove the post over 5 days/nights of work. Other than a large quantity of PB blaster to clean off the floor, and several small drywall repairs from errant pieces of splintered 2x4 flying around, I'm ready to move to next step.

I appreciate the encouragement and advice.

Re: flash rusting after electrolysis - yep it does happen in a FLASH! I've tried a few techniques to get it dry quickly, but what works best for me is compressed air. It blows the water away much more quickly than a heat gun can evaporate it. If you're at an intermediate step - not the last dip before painting - a light spray of WD-40 will stave off the rust, and won't interfere with further electrolysis.

Good work getting the base off. An exercise in patience for sure!

FrankLee said:

I've had a couple bad ones, but not that bad.

Do you think the PB was seeping into the lower cavity? I had a thought about drilling a small hole into that lower cavity to directly apply the penetrant.

I also never had the wedge rusted to the column before. I could always hear it moving inside the base.

Anyway, congrats on getting that done. Do you think the column will clean-up ok?

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upper column is not too bad. Lower column (last 2') is questionable. Now that I can spin it on my new lathe...I think I can sand/polish it up and get it presentable. Either here or on another forum I saw a Lathe setup with the post...can't remember what fitting the guy fabricated to hold it but that's for later in the week.

Good thing about doing something for the first time is you don't realize what a PITA certain things are

I decided to have the head, table and base powdercoated...dropped them off today (no color decision yet though). Was concerned that even with the dunk tank, still some rust underneath in hard to reach areas that a sandblaster can take care of. If (when?) I rebuilt #2 for my son, I will have to get a sandblaster...I can see where it would be a ton easier.

Whirlwind said:

What's the secret for getting the spindle pulley out and off the shaft? I have one that I'm disassembling and have reached that stopping point.

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Ok me too. I swear I've seen it somewhere either here or on Vintage Machinery...but now can't find picture of the bearing puller someone made for removing the upper bearing off of the front pulley.

If anyone has any pics of a bearing puller that will work - or other info it would be appreciated. I really don't want to damage the pulley at this stage

I have an original drill press in near prestine condition (103.24821, Gold Paint). What could I expect to get $$$$ for this equipment, sold as is...? see attached picture....

djvic57 said:

I have an original drill press in near prestine condition (103.24821, Gold Paint). What could I expect to get $$$$ for this equipment, sold as is...? see attached picture....

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Part of the equation depends in what part of the country you live in - I would safely say $75 to $200.

Re: Drill Presses of Color

CalSRQ said:

Thanks - that's helpful...I'm going to stew on this for a week or so...coming around to "power bronze" color if only because it's the original and I've always thought classic cars should keep their original color. My grandmother had a couch that bronze/gold color which had plastic fabric protectors and God-help-me but I hated that thing.

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The first picture in this series of member paint jobs looks like the gold that is on my Sears jointer Manufactured by King Seeley. That was Sears' stationary power tool color for a few years. Does anybody have a good, off the shelf match for it? It was gold, gloss, but not metallic. Thanks

X-O Rust Bronze is a good paint matchm. See the link in my sig to the grinder resto.