Another vintage craftsman Drill Press re-do!

[zacker01]

Yes, I know I will most likely get a "You ****" from you guys about this but... I recently acquired a 1950 Craftsman #80 Drill Press... free... A guy I work with brought it in to see if I wanted to use it in our shop, I took one look at this golden, beautiful piece of machinery that was made right and built to last and thought, Oh He** no, this is going home with me!! He didn't want it because A) it was missing the motor, B) the Motor Mount was broken, (the mount that comes on the motor, not the mount on the DP that the motor's mount mounts too....lol) and also, even if it did work, he is one of those young guys who would either have a brand new one or have someone else do the job and not get his hands dirty. So, the press was in great shape save for the motor which I found on Ebay for $35.00 and am awaiting its arrival. I sandblasted it to bare metal and so far the head is painted and done, the table and base are both primed and the pole is sanded and waxed with carnuba. the pole did have two big surface rust spots that came out but are still a tad darker than the rest of the pole. I put it in my wood lathe and spun it at 800 RPM and used a strip of emery cloth then 100, 150 and a final sand of 400 then a buffer with 1200 wet or dry. then wax. The handles are in great shape but dirty and a little oxidized but clean up well on a wire wheel, id love to get them all chrome plated but it may cost too much right now. Any how, here are some pics of it before the tear down. it was a pretty straight piece and the shaft is spinning straight and true.

I threw an old craftsman motor I had lying around on it to check the spindle... awaiting the arrival of a new one.

 

[zacker01]

well, shes done and working like a charm!

Painted with Rustoleum gold, Hammered look spray paint. the motor was rusty when I got it so while I had it apart to fix the wires and put new bearings in it, i painted the caseing black and painted the original two tone silver band with rustomeum silver paint, i repainted the base witht he black hammered look paint. Im looking for some of the accessories to go with it..

Also, im going to make a speed reducer for it, I found one on another site some one made, looked interesting!

 

[Laker]

Bravo!! You did an awesome job !!!

 

[jtbinvalrico]

Nice work......did it replace another DP?

 

[PETE14]

That's beautiful. The handle looks funny with only two arms/knobs - I'm so used to three.

Great job.

And since no one else has said it yet.................you ****!

Pete

 

[north]

That is one beautiful drill press. Good job.

 

[zacker01]

this is the link to the guy who made the speed reducer... http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/threads/45196-Slowed-Down-my-Vintage-Craftsman-Drill-Press

 

[zacker01]

Bravo!! You did an awesome job !!!

Thanks!!! Im amazed at how nice a tool this is! 1950's, I guess when folks talk about the "Good old days" they mean tool wise!! lol

Nice work......did it replace another DP?

Yeah, it replaced a brand new Craftsman DP I bought last summer, which replaced an older 8" Craftsman DP i was useing before, the wobble in that one was so badi felt drunk useing it, the newer one wasnt much better...lol

That's beautiful. The handle looks funny with only two arms/knobs - I'm so used to three.

Great job.

And since no one else has said it yet.................you ****!

Pete

Thanks... lol, yeah, that handle takes a bit of getting used to, I wish it wouldnt slid in and out... when one end points down the whole handle slides down so it sorta crashes into the side of the table.. and I cant think of a time there id need to exert so much down pressure on something where id extend the handle to its full length.

That is one beautiful drill press. Good job.

Thanks!! Now to find some of the parts to go with it... like that hold down / fence combo that other guy posted on his re build. Ebay is good but i suspect there are not alot of those parts around anymore.

 

[zacker01]

...just a thought on the handle problem..i have a few drum pats at home, maybe some memory locks for cymbal arms may work, set them on the handle where i want it st stop and walaa... (cause i cant spell it with a "v"...lol)

 

[softailgarage]

Very nice job! I've been looking for the same DP for a while now. I'm interested in the photography method you used, it has almost an animated look. What is it called and how is it done?

 

[zacker01]

I use photoshop and a program called Lucis Arts. you can give it a really hard ,contrasty look but I prefer a softer look... it really brings out the details in the photos.. I guess it was originally designed for police eveidence and crime scene photos, to make features and hard to see details stick out more... who knows, I love it though. Alot of times I will shoot a photo in HDR forst then use the Lucis program to enhance it more... about halfway down my old blog i sorta run through the process of what i call Hyper editing..(lol) http://zacarelli-brokenfencephotogr...d-max=2009-06-07T19:02:00-04:00&max-results=7

 

[DWise]

Are these some of the attachments you are looking for?

 

[zacker01]

yeah...

 

[zacker01]

have you ever used any of them? if so, how do they work?

 

[DWise]

Email me or call me. I have sent 2 or 3 PMs to you with no response. See my profile for email address.

 

[zacker01]

cool...

 

[nine4gmc]

great job on the resto!

 

[zacker01]

thanks!

 

[HeloMech]

How did you shine everything up so well? I'm working on one, not so old, not going original colors. Trying to clean up the chuck, post, and surface of the platform.

 

[zacker01]

How did you shine everything up so well? I'm working on one, not so old, not going original colors. Trying to clean up the chuck, post, and surface of the platform.

I took the column and put it in my wood lathe and used a strip of emery cloth and took the rust off, thien i used some sandpapre boing from 120 grit to 320 to 400 to 600 then while it was spinning i used some car wax to shine it up... but after a week in the humidity the rust was comming back so i just had to hit it with the 600 grit again and then rubbed it down with an oily rag with 30 weight lawnmower oil...lol the same for the shaft, i used the emery cloth on it and rubbed it with oil. all the handles i striped on a wire wheel and shot with rustoleum rust inhibitor. its almost like a clear oily paint that dries after a day or so and supposedly keeps rust from forming for a year or so... we'll see if that is true. the table surface were striped with a drill with a flapper disc in it then i used a sheet of 150 grit sand paper in my little vibrating sander, finaly finished it off with wet and dry sandpapre 1200 grit, sprayed it down with wd-40 first. all the painted surfaces were sand blasted first before primer and paint. oh, i also used 120 grit paper on the inside holes that everything slides into like the handle, the shaft the column... the tables...

 

[dandan111]

Well done.

 

[zacker01]

thanks!

 

[jtbinvalrico]

Regarding the handle sliding in and out on the hub.....consider sourcing some rubber grommets you could slip over the handle; they would need to be snug enough so that when you slid them both toward the hub from their opposite ends, the effect would be to keep the handle centered.

Nice work

 

[zacker01]

Regarding the handle sliding in and out on the hub.....consider sourcing some rubber grommets you could slip over the handle; they would need to be snug enough so that when you slid them both toward the hub from their opposite ends, the effect would be to keep the handle centered.

Nice work

good thought... maybe some o-rings would work as well. i was thinking about this today, there is a little spring that goes between the end cap and the handle...my guess is it is supposed to provide some pressure against the handle to keep it from sliding to easilly... maybe i can put a stiffer spring in it and see if that helps? we'll see. if not, the rubber grommet trick will be used.
thanks!