Craftsman drill press bandwagon, +1

thehazmatguy · May 19, 2012

Yep, I got sucked into buying one of these too. I spent more than I should have on this but I really liked that it had the Craftsman motor on it (dated 10/56). I'm pretty sure it's all there and in decent shape.

I exchanged a couple of e-mails with the owner who was asking waaaayyyy too much for it... practically begging the guy to get realistic on the price. I was pretty bitter that I wasn't succesfull and moved on. Without letting me know, my girlfriend e-mailed the guy an offer (after listening to me b*tch about this drill press for several weeks). After another five days, he took my GF's offer. My GF then texts me, "How would you feel about paying *** for that drill press?" = I picked it up that night.

I don't think much of the above is really Garage Journal worthy. But, I thought maybe some of the folks with similar drill presses might like to see the motor and the off/on switch on this drill press. The motor looks like a bench grinder motor (can you see the spindle under the motor?) with the on/off switch on the base of the motor. A slider that is pushed and pulled via the bell crank turns the drill press off and on via the knob on the front of the drill press. Odds are that I will take that off but I thought it's pretty slick. It' seems quite nice for homegrown so maybe it was a kit?

I've started the clean up / restoration... wish me luck. For the guys that have already done a restoration on one of these - I'll probably be hitting you up for information on bearing sizes and sources.

I removed the motor and started cleaning it. I used CLR on a rag to get the rust off and then used some OO stainless steel wool to polish the metal band that goes around the motor. I'd like to get it a little smoother but I'm worried about loosing the stripes of polished metal and etched metal. Any suggestions?

bluebolt · May 19, 2012

Nice find! A lot of the earlier motors are dual shaft for versatility. I like that on off switch and I think I would keep it.

ckadams00 · May 20, 2012

Nice press, and it looks like it has all the knobs and pieces! What did you pay (it's ok you can tell us). Let us know ifyou have questions cleaning this baby up, a few of us on here have done several of these. :beer:

jtbinvalrico · May 20, 2012

Very interesting switch setup......Yeah, be careful on the motor band; too much abrasion will ruin the lined pattern. I'm subscribed and following with interest.
:beer:

gatewaysysop · May 20, 2012

Beautiful specimen, glad you managed to snag it after all. I paid too much for my floor model too, but sometimes you gotta splurge. Better than regretting it for a long time afterwards, right? :thumbup:

Very nice unit, looks to be in great shape. Mine also has the original motor and like yours, it was one of the reasons I paid so much. I agree with what someone else mentioned, the on/off assembly is clearly an add-on but pretty useful. I would keep it too unless it bugs you out or you're interested in having it 'all original'.

Those chucks can be cleaned up very nicely, even buffed up to an almost mirror shine, if you're interested in cleaning that up as well. If you need any new bearings for the motor or the spindle (or the pulley in the head casting) they are still readily available. Let me know if you need part #s or what not. Also, if you find yourself in need of any replacement parts, feel free to PM me. My father has restored about a dozen of these now and has a stockpile of spare parts and odds-n-ends that he's picked up along the way, would be happy to help ya out if you need something. :thumbup:

thehazmatguy · May 21, 2012

ckadams00 said:
Nice press, and it looks like it has all the knobs and pieces! What did you pay (it's ok you can tell us). Let us know ifyou have questions cleaning this baby up, a few of us on here have done several of these.

eh... I'm a little ashamed. $225. I thought that was about $50 off what it should have sold for. The guy had it listed on Craigslist under Antiques instead of tools - if it wasn't for that I think somebody might have scooped it up sooner even though the price was inflated.

thehazmatguy · May 21, 2012

jtbinvalrico said:
Very interesting switch setup......Yeah, be careful on the motor band; too much abrasion will ruin the lined pattern. I'm subscribed and following with interest.

Yeah, that lined pattern is so cool. Subscribed, huh? I guess I better keep on task with this then! I'll post an update when I get home today.

gatewaysysop said:
Beautiful specimen, glad you managed to snag it after all. I paid too much for my floor model too, but sometimes you gotta splurge. Better than regretting it for a long time afterwards, right?

That's exactly what was going to happen too - regretting letting it go. There was two weeks of checking to see if his post got pulled, "I hope this guy dies in a fire!" and that kind of stuff.

gatewaysysop said:
Very nice unit, looks to be in great shape. Mine also has the original motor and like yours, it was one of the reasons I paid so much. I agree with what someone else mentioned, the on/off assembly is clearly an add-on but pretty useful. I would keep it too unless it bugs you out or you're interested in having it 'all original'.

I'm thinking about adding a foot switch. I'm an environmental, safety and health guy at work ( a moderate one

) so I like the idea of a foot switch. These drill presses are so "pretty" that I hate to see that handle assembly hanging off the side too.

gatewaysysop said:
Those chucks can be cleaned up very nicely, even buffed up to an almost mirror shine, if you're interested in cleaning that up as well. If you need any new bearings for the motor or the spindle (or the pulley in the head casting) they are still readily available. Let me know if you need part #s or what not. Also, if you find yourself in need of any replacement parts, feel free to PM me. My father has restored about a dozen of these now and has a stockpile of spare parts and odds-n-ends that he's picked up along the way, would be happy to help ya out if you need something.

I started cleaning the chuck a bit last night. I was pleased to find out that the chuck key was the original Jacobs chuck key too.

I assume the bearings can not be repacked? I haven't got that far yet. The bearings for the drill press and motor seem to spin fine but sound very dry. I'me expecting to replace all the bearings just because I'm there. I figure that I've already got it appart so I should replace them while I'm there. Yes, please let me know what bearings to order and I'll order them asap.

balane · May 21, 2012

That's very nice, I like yours. I got one recently as well but yours is better, it has more features and also you have the built in power switch which mine did not. I had to wire in a switch which works fine but obviously isn't original. Mine was a real rusted mess when I got it and it took a lot of work to get it nice again. It works amazingly well and I plan on keeping it forever. I hope yours runs likewise. These are definitely my favorite drill presses.

Edit; I got lucky on the price though, just $30 so I figured I couldn't go wrong.

.

softailgarage · May 21, 2012

Ouch, $225.00 seems high, although I've seen them that high on CL before, I usually see them for around $150.00, but now that I'm looking for one, I cant find any at all.
I would try a 3M sanding SPONGE 320grit. I used these on my restro's with no problems.

thehazmatguy · May 21, 2012

softailgarage said:
Ouch, $225.00 seems high, although I've seen them that high on CL before, I usually see them for around $150.00, but now that I'm looking for one, I cant find any at all.
I would try a 3M sanding SPONGE 320grit. I used these on my restro's with no problems.

I totally agree, but as a previous poster said - it would be one of those things that irritated me for years 'cause I was too cheap to part with an extra $50. Also, in the same time period that I ended up with this one, someone here in Phoenix bought a floor model 150 DP that looked very clean. It sold in just hours for $175 on Craigslist. My guess is that the population in Phoenix are all transplants and old tools get sold before people move here.

gatewaysysop · May 21, 2012

thehazmatguy said:
I assume the bearings can not be repacked? I haven't got that far yet. The bearings for the drill press and motor seem to spin fine but sound very dry. I'me expecting to replace all the bearings just because I'm there. I figure that I've already got it appart so I should replace them while I'm there. Yes, please let me know what bearings to order and I'll order them asap.

It depends. On some of the presses, the bearings are sealed, some of them are exposed on one side and you might able to repack those. Best bet for replacement is to yank them, see what you have and see if a bearing shop has a good match. If you can't find anything that way, I can see if my dad has the exact brand and part #s he used on the last press (he just finished one a few weeks ago) and you can try those.

Let me know, PM me if you can't find a match and I'll try to get the numbers.

thehazmatguy · May 21, 2012

Here's my update for this weekend-

I disassembled the drill press and took it inside. Yep, inside the house. My garage can be brutal from now till about October in the early afternoon. It was 106 degrees outside today, so I'd guess my garage was at least 110 degrees.

I'm going to skip working on the motor until I figure out what I am going to do about a new, grounded electrical cord. I decided to work on the rusty column. It looked like it had more than just surface rust so I was prepaired for the worst. I don't have a lathe so I decided to try to do it by hand. I figured I'd get the heavy rust off and maybe take it to someone for a final polish. I worked on the column with scotchbrite pads for about 3 or 4 hours and I was really surprised how well it turned out. I was having an issue with getting the finish "even" looking though. I unded up cutting a scotchbrite pad so it would fit in my palm sander. I kept moving the palm sander left to right on the column while rolling the column back and forth like a rolling pin. It came out very decent looking. There's a gouge and some scratches I didn't get out but I'm very happy with the result and consider this part done.

I also worked on some of the handles. I've been lucky so far, there's some pitting but overall the handles are in good shape.

Two of the three feed levers are bent but not so bent that they aren't usable (although one is fairly bad). I haven't decided if I will attempt to straighten them. The bend is at the threads and not in the handle itself. I'd really be pissed if I broke one trying to straighten it so I'll probably just leave 'em bent.

jtbinvalrico · May 21, 2012

Nice work so far.....it is rewarding cleaning up old iron :beer:

Maybe someone with some background in metal can chime in on this, but I'd think that it wouldn't too hard to heat up the end of that feed lever to get it bent back without breaking it.

FrostBite · May 21, 2012

If the handle knobs will unscrew you can buy new threaded rod sections from either McMaster or Grainger.

jamesemery728 · May 22, 2012

Very nice, good luck with the rest of the restoration. Don't worry about what you paid for the drill press. You could spend years and years looking for something like that and they would be years you have wasted that you could be enjoying the one that you have. Sometimes you get lucky and find something that you have been looking for really cheap and sometimes you don't. Don't concern yourself with what you paid for it and just enjoy it for what it is.

spongerich · May 22, 2012

That's a nice DP.

$225 isn't a "You ****" price, but it's still cheaper than a Chinese Harbor Freight POS.

Think of it this way.. if you keep it for 10 years, that's $.06/day.

thehazmatguy · May 25, 2012

Thank you for the kind words guys... I've all but forgotten the price tag now.

I've worked on the drill press base and table. I'm not 100% happy with the color of gold I ended up with. I compared the old parts to the new color and the original color seemed to have more silver in it. No biggie, it's a tool to be used and not a ******** restoration.

I pulled the motor apart tonight and got the bearings out of it.

Is that a hornets nest at the top of the picture?

I'm a little worried that the motor is going to work. I spun various parts of the drill press before I took it apart - all the bearings sounded dry so I didn't want to turn it on. In retrospect, I really should have tried it out first.

Mr.N · May 25, 2012

thehazmatguy said:
In retrospect, I really should have tried it out first.

Yeah, it would've been good to know if it worked or not.
Good Luck

jtbinvalrico · May 25, 2012

I think you'll be fine. I see you are doing a good job of keeping the wiring together. Not a whole lot to go wrong.....burnt windings or a bad condenser being the most common. Do the windings look or smell torched? Bad condenser can be replaced.....

That looks like one of those mud wasp nests......I once pulled apart a motor that was vibrating oddly for no apparent reason. I found a similar nest that had been built on one end of the armature, causing it to be unbalanced. Worked perfectly after removal of the offending nest.

Looks really good so far.

:beer:

thehazmatguy · May 25, 2012

jtbinvalrico said:
I think you'll be fine. I see you are doing a good job of keeping the wiring together. Not a whole lot to go wrong.....burnt windings or a bad condenser being the most common. Do the windings look or smell torched? Bad condenser can be replaced.....

That looks like one of those mud wasp nests......I once pulled apart a motor that was vibrating oddly for no apparent reason. I found a similar nest that had been built on one end of the armature, causing it to be unbalanced. Worked perfectly after removal of the offending nest.

Looks really good so far.

I'm doing my best not to move the wiring around that much. I had expected to need to replace wiring or maybe heat shrink tube over the existing wires but I don't think I'll have to do that. Everything seems to be in good shape. Although, I think the on/off switch may have been replaced at one time. It's a Leviton switch marked 3A-250v, 6A-125v. I'm worried that this isn't adequate because the motor is marked 8.2A-115v.

I haven't noticed any windings that looked bad or smelled a burned smell.

jtbinvalrico · May 25, 2012

I'd upgrade that switch with the new bearings.....you'll have a new motor.

ckadams00 · May 25, 2012

I've cleaned up about five of these motors now and I always replace the switch - because I don't like the switch on the motor in case I need to turn it off in a hurry. What I've done on all my CMan machines is run a new power cord out of the motor to a light switch box mounted on the motor mounting plate (facing forward) and then from the switch out to a second cord with the wall plug.

thehazmatguy · May 26, 2012

Quick update before I head out tonight:

I wasn't really happy with the gold paint I picked - it was too blingy. So, I painted some satin clear over the gold to tone it down a bit. I think it looks way better.

I got a new 10 foot power cord with a ground and put it on the motor. I also changed the power switch to one rated for 15 amps.

I replaced both bearings in the motor, plugged it in and crossed my fingers. It works really well!

I replaced one of the two bearings in the pulley. I also got everything striped and painted. It's getting close, just a few more things and I'll be bolting it back together.

jtbinvalrico · May 26, 2012

Man.....that's a thing of beauty. I just love old stuff brought back to life.
:beer:

andrewsnmorgan · May 26, 2012

Pretty........ Is an understatement.

Red Leader · May 29, 2012

Looking very, very good! :thumbup:

thehazmatguy · May 30, 2012

Almost there-

Except I have to take it apart again because I forgot to put in that little rubber spacer sitting on the table. And clean up the pulleys a bit. And take care of some of the pitting on the handles. And...

ckadams00 · Jun 1, 2012

How did you shine up the band on the motor? I am always afraid of doing too much to that -yours has me wanting to take mine apart and keep polishing.

Journaler · Jun 1, 2012

Good work. There's a local guy selling his for $350. I think you did pretty well with your purchase.

1Garageman · Jun 1, 2012

Great job! I love seeing people getting classic tools alive!!!!!

kald · Jun 1, 2012

Be careful with that vise(LARIN?) in your first post. I have one in my shop and those will swivel vertically at the worst possible time.

thehazmatguy · Jun 2, 2012

ckadams00 said:
How did you shine up the band on the motor? I am always afraid of doing too much to that -yours has me wanting to take mine apart and keep polishing.

I've been thinking about a way to make a new band because mine isn't bright enough! (actually, I want more contrast between the polished and etched lines)

I cleaned and polished the band on my motor before I took the motor apart for painting. First, I used paper towels soaked in CLR to wipe the band down. I easily spent half an hour or more using wetted paper towels to continually wipe down the band. I also let a wetted paper towel just sit on a bad spot or two while I did other stuff. After that, I tried stainless steel wool but that wasn't aggresive enough. So, I used a Scotchbright pad. That was too aggresive because it scratched the polished part of the bands a bit - but did an excellent job removing the "big" rust. I used the Scotchbright bads very selectively. After the Scotchbright pads I went back to the 00 stainless steel pads. I used the 00 pads mostly but did use some 0000 for a bit at the end. As a finishing step I used Mothers polish on the entire band.

If you don't know, you can get stainless steel wool in various grades.

From:
http://www.briwaxwoodcare.com/stelwool.htm

thehazmatguy · Jun 2, 2012

kald said:
Be careful with that vise(LARIN?) in your first post. I have one in my shop and those will swivel vertically at the worst possible time.

Yep, that's a Larin vise. I got it at a local swap meet for $40. What a piece of ****! I stripped the original paint so I could paint it to match my welding table... They actually used body filler to fill in gaps in the casting when it was made! It's a light duty vise but it is great as an extra set of hands when I'm welding.

thehazmatguy · Jun 5, 2012

I took the press apart to put this rubber pad back in it's place.

Leaving the rubber pad out turned into a "happy mistake" as Bob Ross used to say. When I took it apart, I saw that the grease hadn't been pushed out of a couple of the teeth on the quill.

After I thought about it a bit I came to the conclusion that the quill was installed upside down. I don't think that I did it. Or, more accurately, I'm pretty sure that I reassembled it the same way it came apart. I know someone has been inside the drill press before because there were marks on the spindle from an incorrectly installed set screw. Since the previous owner isn't here to defend himself then he's definately getting the blame.

Here it is, correctly assembled with the quill right side up and the rubber bump stop back in it's home.

B17E1943 · Jun 5, 2012

Looks great - stellar job! :rocker:

thehazmatguy · Jun 25, 2012

I'm not sure why I polished the pulleys... I guess I polished them because I could.

The drill press runs pretty smoothly even though it's got a ratty old belt on it. I've done the "nickel test" a couple of times and it passes but a new belt is definately needed. I might give one of those link belts a try.

The chuck cleaned up really nicely.

I think I'm done. My big problem now is that I don't want it to get dirty.

jtbinvalrico · Jun 25, 2012

You polished the pulleys and restored that press to new because you appreciate craftsmanship. We don't do this to keep them pristine, we do it take possession of a "new" 60 year old tool to use for another 60 years. A thorough restore simply resets the clock. I'm busy dinging up my 1942 with regular use.....and I put a lot of work into that resto just for that reason.

You done good.
:beer:

gatewaysysop · Jun 25, 2012

The orientation of the motor is interesting. All the ones I've seen had the reset button on the bottom/downward facing side, but it appears yours was the other way around when you got it, so I dunno how that happened.

Very nice restoration and good catch on the quill as well.

kngkong · Jun 25, 2012

Very nice job. I've never seen so many polished bits on a drill press before. Really looks like a work of art now.

taumac · Jun 25, 2012

Beautiful.... That came out so nice I would be afraid to use it and get it dirty.

Craftsman drill press bandwagon, +1

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