Atlas 53 drill press restoration

[Swiftlegend]

First a shout out to the others before me on this great forum doing restorations of all kinds and keeping USA products going.

I am new here but should have been here along time ago and hope to soon have a garage build of my own!(hopefully this summer)

I am a CNC machinist/programmer as well as auto mechanic and performance enthusiast. I am open and always willing to offer advice and assistance anyway I can.

SO now on to the pics and hope you enjoy..

After dealing with a "special" ebay deal that fell through i found a steal of a deal and a really good seller who helped me out a ton. I paid him extra if he was willing to ship in separate boxes so i wouldn't have to do freight. Saved me $300++

As it arrived:

Cracked mounting plate:

A little patina...kinda beautiful.:

mint condition badging:

original motor has seen better days:

 

[Swiftlegend]

partially torn apart:

torn apart:

Alright now a word of warning to people since I know this has happened to others doing restoration on these. Basically without a manual you would think that the knob was pretensioned and a pressed pin(cotter pin) pressed through the body of the know...it isn't. I was fooled also because as i hit the top pin it pressed the entire knob down and made the bottom push out...making me think it fact it was indeed a full pin.

This happens...but it still worked:

 

[Swiftlegend]

Now I went through and polished, sand blasted all the parts. I Color matched the paint at menards because i like to to things authentic as possible. I also went expensive and replaced all the bearings with SKF...which it had originally and was a big deal back then. I even painted around the logo for that because I had no idea how to properly authentic how it was put on..via paint, sticker, iron on..lol, or what???

The main spindle was hard to get out and had to use a hydraulic press to finish pressing it out. The main chuck collar had its pins broke as well and i replaced those as well. It had a
Jacobs chuck so i wire wheeled that and the nut to keep from polishing it and then lubed the chuck with WD 40.

I sand papered and emery clothed the main upright of the drill press in a lathe as well.

Oribtal sanded lightly the table and stand to give it mimic machining/finishing marks.

DIDN'T have time to CNC a new motor mount plate so repaired it instead.

I DID NOT re-chrome or plate any parts.

THE SKF bearing numbers are as follows:
QTY: (2)- 466041 2LSJEM

QTY(1)- 6205 2RSJEM

This isn't for the average hobbyist as it takes alot of "tricks" you pick up being in the fields I am in to get it apart with out breaking anything or damaging parts. Plus you may need a hydraulic press etc.

 

[Swiftlegend]

So now for the finishing of it:

Primer:

Sorry no pics of painting...I have a CANON REBEL T3i and didn't want to get paint on it.

Finishing up assembly and prelim wire routing.(replaced all wiring)

FINISHED and installed at my dads garage in time for his birthday!!!

I hope you like and any questions ask. If you have a 50's -60's drill press or find one I am looking for one to restore for myself.

 

[zkling]

Very nice job, I bet your dad will really appreciate it.

Didn't anyone ever tell you that drill chuck keys make a lousy drill bit?

 

[Outlawmws]

That came out beautiful!

Very nice job, I bet your dad will really appreciate it.

Didn't anyone ever tell you that drill chuck keys make a lousy drill bit?

Better that than stuck on one of the three side holes and left.. I chuck them like that all the time if they don't have a tether...

 

[PT Doc]

What the runout like on something of this vintage?

 

[Outlawmws]

I forgot to ask; what was the repair on the motor plate?

 

[nine4gmc]

Real nice work, can't wait to see your next project!

 

[5mall5nail5]

Very cool

 

[darkk]

Nice finished drill press...

 

[alan camby]

Looks great.

I really like your pictures too. They are really bold and crisp.

 

[Swiftlegend]

hey guys,

i was on a real tight deadline so i forgot to check runout , but visually didn't seem like any really. But I will check the next time i visit.

The motor mount plate was fixed just be putting two pieces of 3/8 thick plate in the casting cavities and then tapped. Worked out alright I guess.

Another tip is to get the two motor mount slide rods off is that you need to use a none impact or thin wall socket...on the impact. The casting may be very close so you may need to take a dremel to it also.

 

[MPOWERD]

Mind sharing your paint info? Like what paint you used? And what was it's your paint code? I really like the color you chose. Looks awesome!

 

[Swiftlegend]

I don't have the paint can with me. What I didn't like is that it was kinda like the typical paint that peels easy unless dried for 5yrs it seemed. The primer worked great and you can see that in one pic. Basically I just had them put a piece of the paint that was best condition up to their magical machine to color match. It came real close. It actually matched the part i had them test perfectly...so maybe that part was faded or something. Didn't cost to much either.

It was brush on fyi.