Craftsman 100 and 150 drill press reassembly problem

[Pagan Wizard]

I have been very slowly restoring four drill presses, 2 model 150, and 2 model 100. I took great care to follow the videos from Jeff's Shop on YouTube, and am entering the reassembly stages, and the quills will not slide back into the drill press heads. I have a few drill press heads that I have no intention of reusing, and the quills slide perfectly into them, but again, I don't want to use them. With the heads that I do want to use, they slide onto their columns as expected, the spindle pulley assembly installed as expected, the quill locks installed as expected, as well as the hub spring assembly. The ONLY issue I am having is getting the quills to slide into all four of the heads. The "style" (spindle hub assembly with tension knob, and spindle lock) of the drill press heads I am using for my restorations, can be seen in this video

Can I try using a small honing tool to open up the holes for the quill to slide into position, or is there something else I can try???

 

[Shiftless]

In for the answer to this one.

 

[OccupantRJ]

Usually the basic methods for a home shop for fit to a bore are polishing the spindle to size required, honing the bore to size, or a combination of both. If you are talking very minor amounts, a long strip of emory type cloth from a roll used in a shoeshine fashion usually does well, and a three stone hone of proper size should work for a bore. Cut outs or interruptions in a bore can make or break that method. If interference is as much as a red hair, other methods are likely required.