Craftsman 150 Drill Press Project

AtlasRearden · Feb 24, 2021

Have had my eye on these drill presses for a while, and finally took the plunge and acquired a Craftsman 150 that came up for sale. The gentleman I bought it from said that his dad acquired it when he was about 5 years old in 1958 - 1960 or thereabouts. He inherited it from his dad, and it has sat in his shop every since. Here are some pics that he took before the sale to me.

I'm hoping to strip it down and give it a proper restoration. Excited about the new project.

PureLeaf · Feb 24, 2021

If you post this to the craftsman drill press thread, you'll get more comments.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=227480

AtlasRearden · Feb 24, 2021

Was able to get it mostly disassembled and back home to a corner of my garage. Seems to be complete. First job is going to be trying to figure out how to remove the base from the column, which seems to be pretty well seized up.

AtlasRearden · Feb 24, 2021

PureLeaf said:
If you post this to the craftsman drill press thread, you'll get more comments.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=227480

Yes, definitely. That's a fantastic thread and has already helped me out with some of the info there. Since I'm a new member, it had a bunch of limitations on how I could post. I tried to post to that thread earlier today and it wouldn't let me for some reason, so thought I'd start my own for my specific project.

AtlasRearden · Feb 24, 2021

Here's a pic of the motor badge. 1/2 HP, Model #: 113.19656

Looks like the chuck was replaced at some point with this "Supreme Chuck Model No. 9T3" 3/4 inch chuck. I had thought I might like to replace it with a Jacobs chuck, since I thought that would have been more "original" to the machine, but FrankLee's post here seems to indicate that some Supreme Chucks were possibly original: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=8629027

Seems like he's seen different models from the one on mine though. I'll probably just clean up the one I've got and see how it goes.

One thing that stood out to me was the power on/off switch in the side of the case. I haven't seen any other pictures of an on/off switch like that, so I'm thinking that might have been an owner modification at some point. But we'll see.

FrankLee · Feb 24, 2021

Welcome! to The Garage Journal and the Craftsman drill press club!

Your machine looks complete and is worthy of an overhaul.

That switch installed into the head casting is a very common custom modification.

With time, patience and some sweat equity, that column can be liberated from the base.

That 3/4" chuck is intriguing. It's definitely not oe and likely has some kind of adapter to fit onto the J33 spindle taper. The threaded collar above the chuck looks original, but I dunno.

I'm looking forward to watching your refurb progress!

AtlasRearden · Feb 27, 2021

FrankLee said:
Welcome! to The Garage Journal and the Craftsman drill press club!

Thanks, Frank. Your thread is incredibly helpful and much appreciated.

Column Removal

I was able to remove the base from the column using the method posted here: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=5147377#post5147377

I had to go out of town for a couple days, and sprayed the base with WD-40 before I left. When I got back, I had purchased some Liquid Wrench which came in the mail, so I started put that in the joint as well.

I made sure to get it in the set screw hole, and put quite a bit.

Until it started to drip out the other side:

I let it sit for a while while I did other stuff, and then came back with a 2x4 and mini-sledge

At first, I thought it wasn't budging at all. But I hit it harder, and after a few hits, it started to inch out slowly.

Once it started, it came off pretty easily

I also removed a piece of sheet metal that had been placed over the holes in the base; presumably placed there many years ago to keep items from falling into the base. Based on this, and a few other clues, I'm guess this was painted at some point?

AtlasRearden · Feb 27, 2021

Table - Degreasing & Rust Removal

I also got started on cleaning up the table. Here it is before any cleaning:

I removed the handle from the table, and it has paint on the side and the end of the bolt, which also makes me think it was painted at some point.

I got some of the Grez-Off product recommended here: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=7900276
I also got some Drill Brushes, which were pretty handy for scrubbing.

Then I went to town on spraying and brushing the table

The rounded Drill Brush was good for getting into all the little nooks

Here's what it looked like after being degreased and cleaned:

Then I mixed up some citric acid and put the whole table in an acid bath in a Coleman cooler. I used about a tablespoon of citric acid per gallon and it's been in there for a couple hours. We'll see how it turns out. I'm not sure how long it should take, but I looked in there after an hour and it didn't seem to have done much.

AtlasRearden · Feb 27, 2021

Cleaning & Degreasing

When I removed a lot of the hardware during transport, I put the pieces in an empty tacklebox I had.

I mixed up some more citric acid, and began soaking the parts:

I started cleaning the base with the Grez-Off I used on the table:

There's still a lot of rust on the bottom of the base, after cleaning with the Grez-Off. I don't have a container that's large enough for the base to soak in citric acid, so I'll have to figure out a way to address that rust...

Here's the top of the base after degreasing. I'm wondering if that dark charcoal paint that was under the sheet metal that I removed is likely the original paint? Based on the likely year, I had thought the original paint might be the bronze color, but I don't see any evidence of that anywhere.

AtlasRearden · Feb 28, 2021

Original Paint Investigation

Removed the trim ring to do some investigation on the original paint, but it appears painted the same color underneath:

But after the table came out of the acid bath, the light gray paint started coming off, revealing what looks like dark charcoal paint beneath:

I'm still trying to figure out how to continue treating the table, remove the last of the light great paint, and probably prep it to re-paint it. I'd really like to restore it to as close as possible to original.

The base seems to have dark charcoal paint beneath the sheet metal cover that I removed. I'm thinking of using a grinder with a wire wheel to prep the base. I had previously bought some wire wheels with this in mind, and a suggestion from Frank in his Craftsman Drill Press thread confirmed this.

AtlasRearden · Feb 28, 2021

Column Acid Bath

Today, I grabbed a section of ABS pipe to create a citric acid bath for the column. I might still sand the outside, but I like the idea of treating the whole column, including the interior with the acid.

I grabbed a couple of quick rubber caps for 3" ABS pipe. The outside diameter of my column is 2.75" and fits well in the 3" ABS.

This time, I took the suggestion to use more citric acid, and mixed 3 tablespoons per gallon. I mixed it in a pitcher with hot water, and then carefully poured it into the top of the ABS pipe. The whole thing took just under 2 gallons to cover the top of the column within the pipe.

Now it's just time to wait. I was thinking of letting it sit for about 24 hours, and empty it after work tomorrow night.

AtlasRearden · Feb 28, 2021

Base - Rust Removal

I was looking for something to address the rust on the bottom of the base, and came across this stuff at the store (Rustoleum Rust Dissolver Gel):

I decided to give it a go and sprayed it liberally all over the bottom of the base. It's pretty thick, goopy stuff. Here's a pic right after spraying it:

I left it on there for a few hours (despite the instructions saying it works in only 30 minutes). I went back with a stiff nylon brush and moved around the gel every so often and made sure it was wet all over. Went it came time to rinse it off, it was so thick that it didn't really rinse off very easily. I had to scrub it off with the hose rinsing at the same time. But the result were pretty good, with most rust removed:

Since it might be a little bit before I can paint, I decided to spray a rust inhibitor on the base for the time being.

AtlasRearden · Feb 28, 2021

Just found Frank's post on how to determine date codes from the motor plates here: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=227480&page=215

My Mfg. No. is "G6297" so perhaps this press is from July 1962. That would kind of match up with what the gentleman I bought it from said. I realize that the motor was sold separately, and might not match up with the press itself, but based on the story I heard, it at least seems like a possibility.

AtlasRearden · Mar 2, 2021

Column Acid Bath - Removal

I got the column out of the acid bath more than 24 hours after putting it in. I rinsed it really well with the hose and then wiped it down with some shop towels:

After that, I sprayed the inside of the column liberally with the rust inhibitor, got a microfiber rag and tied it to the end of a paint roller extension stick. I moved the rag through the column from both sides several times to try and get a coat of the inhibitor up and down the interior of the column.

It certainly looks like it got most of the surface rust off, but there's still some crud on there, and I will probably end up doing the sanding method anyway.

I'm not sure this this is actually remaining rust, as it seems like there might just be some old grease or something.

AtlasRearden · Mar 5, 2021

Testing Runout

My first attempt at testing the runout.

Set a pretty cheap dial indicator ($15) on a magnetic base and situated it against the top of the chuck, then zero'd out the dial indicator:

Then spun the chuck by hand to observe the maximum reading:

Looks like it maxed out at 0.007" which seems pretty good.

Then I put the measurement on the bottom of the chuck, and got only 0.005":

But then I got the suggestion to take a measurement using a drill bit in the Craftsman Drill Press Thread, and tried it that way. I zero'd out the dial indicator at the lowest reading using the micro adjust on the magnetic base and then took the reading:

Ended up at 0.0075" using the drill bit reading. I still think that's probably decent. And I'm not sure that I'm setting up the base and dial indicator in the most precise way for such a small measurement. When I take it apart, I'll probably check the spindle again.

SweetD · Mar 5, 2021

You're doing a nice job, keep it up!

AtlasRearden · Mar 13, 2021

SweetD said:
You're doing a nice job, keep it up!

Thanks!

Column Prep

I started out thinking I might just use 220 grit sandpaper on the column, but

While it probably would have worked fine with some patience, my lazier side opted to try a wire wheel on the angle grinder.

This seemed to work pretty well and cleaned the column nicely.

Here you can clearly see before/after using the wire wheel.

I also had some polishing compound I thought I would try using a wool flap disc on the grinder. My grinder is variable speed, and the lowest setting is 2,800 RPMs. Luckily, the polish is designed to use at 3,000 rpms or less, so this worked out well. Incidentally, I used the same setting for the wire wheel.

My polishing compound came in a kit with several grades.

The instructions indicated that steel could ideally be polished starting with "Black Emery" and step up to "Green Stainless," so that's what I decided to do.

If I was doing it right, I would have needed to wet/dry sand up to 1500 grit before starting to polish. But since this isn't a piece of jewelry, I figured it would just give in a little bit of pop and smooth it up--I wasn't concerned with getting every little mark out of it.

AtlasRearden · Mar 13, 2021

Column Polish

I started by turning on the grinder and applying "Black Emery" polish to the flap disc.

It went pretty quick, applying some pressure and running over the whole column.

I found a spot where there were some nicks in the column. I didn't overthink it, but just ran over that spot with the 220 grit sandpaper to make sure the nicks were good and deburred.

It started to look pretty good, just with the Black Emery polish.

I didn't use a whole lot of the polish, but probable still used more than I needed to. You can see the difference between the black stick and the fresh, new green stick.

Before switching to the finer grit, I wiped down the residue using shop towels and Simple Green.

It was a subtle difference, but I still think it added something.

AtlasRearden · Mar 13, 2021

Column Finish

To finish top it all off, I put a coat of paste wax on the column.

I think it turned out pretty good, and despite there being some visible imperfections, it's very smooth to the touch, so I think it will be nice and functional.

AtlasRearden · Mar 14, 2021

Base Prep

I started to prep the base for primer, and first removed the serial number plate. Knocked the friction rivets out with a punch from the bottom.

Set the plate aside, and will have to work on trying to remove the layer of paint and see if I can preserve the original beneath.

Started using the wire wheel on the angle grinder on the bottom of the base first.

Used a wire cup in some parts that were hard to get to with the wheel.

Then finished up by using a small wire brush in the smallest nooks and crannies.

AtlasRearden · Mar 14, 2021

Paint Stripping and Table Prep

When I started on the top of the base, I used the same wire wheel. This was going really slow, as you can see in this pic. So I switched to a strip disc--this made short work of the top layer paint and the original paint underneath.

I also used a really small wire brush drill bit to get in the small nooks of the table bottom. You can also see the base in the background, stripped down to bare metal.

After everything was thoroughly stripped down, I wiped both the base and the table down with mineral spirits. Seemed like I was removing grease and junk forever and went through many shop towels.

But eventually got it nice and clean and ready to be primed.

FrankLee · Mar 14, 2021

Very nice detail and photos in your updates!

I think you could still double the citric acid formula. To reduce the amount of CA solution required (or any de-rusting solution), insert a #13 rubber stopper into the bottom of the column before inserting the column into the pvc.

AtlasRearden · Mar 15, 2021

FrankLee said:
Very nice detail and photos in your updates

Thanks! That's high praise coming from the Godfather of Drill Press Restoration!

FrankLee said:
I think you could still double the citric acid formula. To reduce the amount of CA solution required (or any de-rusting solution), insert a #13 rubber stopper into the bottom of the column before inserting the column into the pvc.

Yep, I think you're right. I was originally worried about doing something weird to the metal (I'm not familiar with using citric acid in that way), but I'm sure I could have been way more generous with the concentration.

Table Surface

I decided to go ahead and finish the machined surface of the table prior to starting with the paint. I started by sanding it with an orbital sander with 220 grit sandpaper. I sprayed on a little WD-40 for lubrication.

I maybe only did that for a minute or so. I cleaned the grime off with Simple Green.

Then I repeated the whole process again using 320 grit sandpaper. It seemed to get noticeably shinier with the 320 grit. I also used the 320 grit to sand off the top of the ring around the column hole and chuck wrench hole (I debated that decision, but decided I liked the look of the bare metal in those spots)

Then I got out the angle grinder with the wool flap disc polishing wheel, and applied some Black Emery polishing compound.

Cleaned off the compound with Simple Green, then repeated that process with the Green Stainless polishing compound.

It came out looking really nice, and since I can still see the machining marks, I don't think the sandpaper was overly aggressive.

Finished it off with some paste wax to protect the surface, before taping it off for paint.

AtlasRearden · Mar 15, 2021

Table & Base Priming

Finally, ready to prime the base and table. Started by taping the table surface, and covering all the holes with table so no overspray sneaks through.

Taped the inside ring of the holes and then shoved some bunched up shop towels in to keep the spray out of there. I used Rust-Oleum "Professional" - I figured it would be better than the "Amateur" Primer...

Put a couple light coats on the bottom.

Then did the same on the top.

Good to get that part done!

11b30b4 · Mar 15, 2021

AtlasRearden, you are doing an amazing job on you refurbish.

AtlasRearden · Mar 15, 2021

11b30b4 said:
AtlasRearden, you are doing an amazing job on you refurbish.

Thanks! I see you have a bandsaw as well--my father-in-law offered me a similar one that he has, so if this goes well, maybe I'll give that a shot.

Small Parts Cleaning

I borrowed a friend's bench grinder with wire wheel to clean up all the small parts.

The difference is night and day, and was great to see these parts cleaned up.

The press handle arms had some pitting in them, and initially, I thought it wasn't working as well. But it just turns out the rust was down in the pits, and needed a little more pressure applied and patience. The middle one in this pic has been cleaned.

I was kind of worried about whether the wire would be too rough on these little handles that appear to have chrome plating or something. But it didn't seem to hurt it at all, and knocked the corrosion/rust right off. This pic shows half of the handle cleaned, and the other half as it was before cleaning.

I also cleaned up the motor mount bolts. Love these old square head bolts.

Stuck the nuts onto the bolts to give them a clean too.

I also attached a buffing wheel and applied some "White Diamond" polishing compound. I gave all the parts a quick go with the buffing wheel, but I don't think this step was really worthwhile. Maybe it added some shine to the little handle with the chrome.

AtlasRearden · Mar 16, 2021

Small Parts Wax

And decided to apply a coat of paste wax to all my small parts because... why not? A good evening job to go along with a beverage of choice.

Hopefully will keep everything nice and protected while I wait for paint to dry on my base and table.

AtlasRearden · Apr 22, 2021

Paint - Base & Table

Decided to go with the Rustoleum "Flat Soft Iron." Originally, I was thinking I wanted to match the original paint as closely as possible, but that proved to be a little easier said than done. And at the end of the day, I like the additional "pop" the metallic paint provided, while still staying spiritually close enough to original for my taste. Started with the bottoms of the table and base:

This paint goes on very slowly in a fine mist that barely covers on the first pass. I just tried to put on a lot of thin coats, but used almost a whole can on the bottom of the base:

Eventually got good coverage:

Flipped over to do the top, and you can see where the overspray came through from spraying the bottom (good thing I taped and sealed the holes on the table):

Got the tops fully covered with paint:

If you look closely in the light, you can see some high spots where either some debris or paint spatter landed:

I decided to sand down the high spots and give it another light coat on top:

AtlasRearden · Apr 22, 2021

Clearcoat - Base & Table

In anticipation of the base being completed, I picked up a mobile base from Bora and put it together:

Decided to clear coat the finished paint with this "Dead Flat" Clear product, hoping to give it a little more finish durability:

Started on the bottoms:

Gave a bit more depth to the color:

Same on the top:

Eventually it was fully dry:

Tape lines held up well, even thought this was done over many days, since the humidity was high and dry times were slow. Pretty happy with the results overall:

AtlasRearden · Apr 22, 2021

Base & Table Assembly

Sprayed some long term rust inhibitor on a shop towel wiped on a light coat inside the hole of the base and on the caste iron "shoe" that hold the column. Hopefully I won't have a reason to take that apart for a very long time:

Wiped the inside of the table hole with the same rust inhibitor and gathered the parts:

And presto! I have something that resembles some progress instead of a pile of parts all over the floor:

On a side note, the Bora base was a bit fiddly to get to work and took me some time. It's kind of designed for something with a square base, which the Craftsman 150 obviously does not have. But using some plywood, carriage bolts, nylon lock nuts, washers, T-Nuts, and black spray paint, I was able to cobble something together that seems like it will work well.

This was a cool milestone leading up to the head unit.

Craftsman 150 Drill Press Project

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