'46 Delta DP600 Restoration

[75' forty]

Hello!

I had been searching on and off the last few years for an old drill press to restore (Craftsman, Delta, Atlas, etc). Normally, anything decent is 500+ miles or way too expensive so I hadn't found an excuse to pick up another project. An old Delta popped up on Facebook for a decent deal a couple weeks back and an hour away so decided to snag it as another project to tinker around on as I'm waiting on parts for a bike I'm in the process of rebuilding for my father.

Looking up the SN (44-4866), it appears to have been made in 1946


Overall nothing special, appears to be what would have been a "base" model back when it was new from what I can find online. Everything seemed to function fairly well on the drill press that's 75+ years old with no major damage/issues other than needing a refresh. Goal for the project is to have this back in new condition when the project is done.

Started the tear down this past weekend, other than not catching the handle to raise/lower the table being partially broken, pretty pleased with the overall condition. I was able to get the base blasted and painted in Rustoleum Smoke Gray and now plan to start working my way back up to the top.


Plan is to work to get the post cleaned up over the Thanksgiving holidays while I'm off work, and hopefully a few more parts blasted and painted. I'm someone who likes the nuances of unique options, so now I'm on the hunt for the missing parts to make the head raise/lower and the foot pedal if anyone has these that they're willing to part with.

Still trying to decide the final plan for a motor. Ideal scenario is to go back with a period correct motor, however trying to determine if this would be compatible with a VFD if I decide to go this route. Thankfully, the motor can be the last thing to get sorted, so have time to try and research, but appreciate any feedback from those more well versed than myself on this subject.

Past (TY175) & On-Going (Fantic 240) Projects for those into bikes.

 

[Davefr]

Hello!

I had been searching on and off the last few years for an old drill press to restore (Craftsman, Delta, Atlas, etc). Normally, anything decent is 500+ miles or way too expensive so I hadn't found an excuse to pick up another project. An old Delta popped up on Facebook for a decent deal a couple weeks back and an hour away so decided to snag it as another project to tinker around on as I'm waiting on parts for a bike I'm in the process of rebuilding for my father.

Looking up the SN (44-4866), it appears to have been made in 1946


Overall nothing special, appears to be what would have been a "base" model back when it was new from what I can find online. Everything seemed to function fairly well on the drill press that's 75+ years old with no major damage/issues other than needing a refresh. Goal for the project is to have this back in new condition when the project is done.

Started the tear down this past weekend, other than not catching the handle to raise/lower the table being partially broken, pretty pleased with the overall condition. I was able to get the base blasted and painted in Rustoleum Smoke Gray and now plan to start working my way back up to the top.


Plan is to work to get the post cleaned up over the Thanksgiving holidays while I'm off work, and hopefully a few more parts blasted and painted. I'm someone who likes the nuances of unique options, so now I'm on the hunt for the missing parts to make the head raise/lower and the foot pedal if anyone has these that they're willing to part with.

Still trying to decide the final plan for a motor. Ideal scenario is to go back with a period correct motor, however trying to determine if this would be compatible with a VFD if I decide to go this route. Thankfully, the motor can be the last thing to get sorted, so have time to try and research, but appreciate any feedback from those more well versed than myself on this subject.

Past (TY175) & On-Going (Fantic 240) Projects for those into bikes.

I'm restoring DP600 #6. They are great machines. My advice is to VFD it. Just get a Delta 86-920 3 phase 1 HP motor and a Teco L510-101 VFD. The Delta motor bolts right up to the motor mount without any modifications. Here's one I just restored. (I had Bayphoto.com make a reproduction metal nameplate for it.) A DP + VFD is a marriage made in heaven!

This model Delta motor is pretty scarce but there's an Ebay seller that has a few right now and he lets them go for a $50 offer + shipping.

Delta 86-920 Electric Motor 3 Phase 1hp 1725/1425rpm | eBay

<p>Tested works 3/4inch shaft.lower 48 only</p>

www.ebay.com

 

[75' forty]

Been making some progress over the last couple weeks. Everything minus the chuck has been fully disassembled at this point.

Decided to buy the cheapo HF sandblaster instead of taking the parts somewhere with the goal to have everything re-assembled except the head over Thanksgiving. That was a mistake, and after finally somewhat getting it working well enough, it fell over and broke the inlet pipe into the take clean off at the threads. I'm about as far as I can go without continuing blasting, so dropping the remaining bits off tomorrow to get blasted by a local shop.

While it was still working, I was able to get a few parts done, in conjunction with the redneck lathe others have put together on here to polish the pole.


Really impressed with how well many of these bolts/parts are cleaning up on the polishing wheel. There are a few pieces that are pitted beyond what I will use, but majority have taken a minute or so on the polisher and look brand new. I know nothing about cleaning things up on a polishing/buffing wheel, but ran across a Youtube video recommending this guy and have to say, overall I'm really impressed.

 

[75' forty]

Was able to get the table put back on today. Tried a couple weeks ago, and the gears for the raise/lower mechanism I guess had a slight bind in it and snapped off 2 teeth. The worm gear had a slight damage from the previous owner, so not sure if that contributed to it or not, but was able to find a full replacement set from Ebay. Thankfully bought the set as the worm gear hole looks like they were likely drilled with the shaft and would not have worked without modification on my existing shaft.



I've been waiting for the 2 bearings that going into the quill for over a month and starting to lose a little bit of patience. Everything is blasted and painted at this point. I still need to sand down and correct a minor spot on the upper pulley cover from a paint run, but other than that, pretty pleased with how simple and ease these things are to work on.

I have not yet tried to separate the chuck from the quill, will be on my to do sometime this week or this upcoming weekend once i can find a good "how to" to follow. Found a good re-assembly video on Youtube which is helpful when trying to remember what i forgot since tearing it down.

 

[Davefr]

Was able to get the table put back on today. Tried a couple weeks ago, and the gears for the raise/lower mechanism I guess had a slight bind in it and snapped off 2 teeth. The worm gear had a slight damage from the previous owner, so not sure if that contributed to it or not, but was able to find a full replacement set from Ebay. Thankfully bought the set as the worm gear hole looks like they were likely drilled with the shaft and would not have worked without modification on my existing shaft.



I have not yet tried to separate the chuck from the quill, will be on my to do sometime this week or this upcoming weekend once i can find a good "how to" to follow. Found a good re-assembly video on Youtube which is helpful when trying to remember what i forgot since tearing it down.

Post a close up image of the chuck/spindle. It looks to be a JT33 mount into the spindle. If so use wedges. Some of them had a threaded collar. If so use a spanner to turn the collar to where it pushes off the chuck. Others mounted to a MT2 arbor but I'm pretty sure yours is not that style.

 

[75' forty]

Post a close up image of the chuck/spindle. It looks to be a JT33 mount into the spindle. If so use wedges. Some of them had a threaded collar. If so use a spanner to turn the collar to where it pushes off the chuck. Others mounted to a MT2 arbor but I'm pretty sure yours is not that style.

I was able to get it off a couple nights ago, took a little creativity but more or less used the wedge approach. Taking apart the quill and swapping those 2 bearings out went pretty smoothly.

Couldn't sleep this morning so went out and got the head installed and cleaned up most of the remaining parts i need to finish, last part is sorting out the front pulley. It's covered in grease and grime, after 20 minutes of trying to clean it with a wire brush, going to need to find a better way. I think i've decided against trying to polish it, but want it to look at least clean which it definitely does not.



A few things i'm looking into still if anyone has any feedback/suggestions;
- Replacing the chuck with a keyless chuck, looks like the current one is a Jacobs 6a with a 33 taper. Looking at the Jacobs medium duty chuck with the 33JT taper, but haven't made up my mind yet from the little research i had done last night.

Motor; Still also on the look out for a motor (and then i need an upper pulley but those seem plentiful on Ebay). Focusing on trying to find the 86-920 pre-rockwell era so badging matches. Plan will be to likely to a VFD, seems the Teco recommended seems pretty popular so that's the likely route i'll go but will hold off until i track down a motor.

 

[75' forty]

Minus the motor, about buttoned up with the restoration. Last 2 pieces remaining are a decision on the chuck and I'm trying to track down the shafts/lever + knobs that goes to the hub to raise/lower the quill. Can't seem to find anything that doesn't reek of made in china. if anyone has a source/recommendation on these, please share.



After I get those 2 things sorted, I'll probably stop working on this for a bit while I decide on the motor and VFD. Not in a huge rush as I have no immediate need for the drill press and it's been more of a fun side project.

A couple weeks back i picked up a '83 Warn 8274 that I'll be restoring/upgrading for my 1st gen 4runner that'll be taking priority over the next couple months.

 

[Davefr]

Minus the motor, about buttoned up with the restoration. Last 2 pieces remaining are a decision on the chuck and I'm trying to track down the shafts/lever + knobs that goes to the hub to raise/lower the quill. Can't seem to find anything that doesn't reek of made in china. if anyone has a source/recommendation on these, please share.

Have you tried Ebay. There's usually someone selling an original set. If not, go to the BOYD forum at owwm.org and post a wanted ad. They're usually pretty helpful over there.

 

[Whitworth]

Www.hammerscale.com has levers.

 

[75' forty]

Anyone have a spare DP-645 slow speed pulley for the motor side without any damage/missing chunks they'd be willing to part with?

Last thing I'm needing to wrap up the drill press and been struggling to find one the last couple months.

 

[Rick_Br]

Anyone have a spare DP-645 slow speed pulley for the motor side without any damage/missing chunks they'd be willing to part with?

Last thing I'm needing to wrap up the drill press and been struggling to find one the last couple months.

I've got one - sent you a PM