Craftsman 20” drill press

[Ringo]

Good morning. I just bought a 20” craftsman drill press yesterday that need a lot of cleaning up. I am trying to figure out what year it was made. The serial number is 9701000031

I’ve been looking for a couple hours now and can’t find anything about it, but I figure there has to be some kind of documentation of the years made.

I haven’t figured out how to upload pictures yet, but I’ll try to describe it. It’s made in china so it’s not “good iron”. But it is very heavily built. I’m guessing it’s around 1980-2000

Thank you in advance for any help.

 

[Ringo]

 

[Ringo]

Apparently I CAN post images now. lol

 

[WillyBoy]

The number you reference is likely to be the model, not the serial number. A number of manufacturers, Delta, Powermatic and some others used a specific serial number for each machine they produced. The suppliers for Sears used a three digit source product code to identify each supplier. For example King Seeley - 103; Parks - 112; Emerson Electric - 113; . The rest of the number was the model number, which may have changed every time the manufacturer made a modification in the machine.
My list is fairly old and does not include 970. The closest on my list is 973 for Ryobi.

If it works well for you, nice find.

 

[BearsFan315]

The number you reference is likely to be the model, not the serial number. A number of manufacturers, Delta, Powermatic and some others used a specific serial number for each machine they produced. The suppliers for Sears used a three digit source product code to identify each supplier. For example King Seeley - 103; Parks - 112; Emerson Electric - 113; . The rest of the number was the model number, which may have changed every time the manufacturer made a modification in the machine.
My list is fairly old and does not include 970. The closest on my list is 973 for Ryobi.

If it works well for you, nice find.

found this link (http://vintagemachinery.org/Craftsman/manufacturers.aspx?sort=1) on another GJ post (https://www.garagejournal.com/forum...-drill-press-information-thread.484456/)about link to manufacturers for Craftsman Products (they were restoring a Craftsman Drill Press), and it jives with your info listed

it show 970 manufacturer as Frigidaire

 

[gsmith22]

looks to be from the mid 1990s. I have a 1985-1986 catalog and it isn't in there but my 1994-1995 catalog has it on pg 136. gives a model number of 21321N - says it has 12 speeds, motor develops max 2HP (yea right!) has 3/4" chuck and weights 335lbs. that is one big drill press. I sereiously doubt the 2HP figure as later on in the paragraph description it says it uses a 120V, 15amp time delay fuse.

 

[nadogail]

May you enjoy Good Health and your Drill Press for many years.

 

[Bill Bowman]

I have the same style drill press. The number that the OP furnished, appears to be the serial number. Model beginning with prefix 113 is made by Emerson.

 

[Ringo]

looks to be from the mid 1990s. I have a 1985-1986 catalog and it isn't in there but my 1994-1995 catalog has it on pg 136. gives a model number of 21321N - says it has 12 speeds, motor develops max 2HP (yea right!) has 3/4" chuck and weights 335lbs. that is one big drill press. I sereiously doubt the 2HP figure as later on in the paragraph description it says it uses a 120V, 15amp time delay fuse.

Thank you so much for the information! That was very helpful!

I just told my boss this morning that, if that motor is 2hp, I will eat it for lunch! there’s no way.

I have a Baldor 3 phase 1.5 hp motor with a VFD on my other drill press that I will be transferring into it… I believe Baldor when they say 1.5 hp

Again, I appreciate the information.

 

[Ringo]

May you enjoy Good Health and your Drill Press for many years.

Thank you very much!

 

[Ringo]

I have the same style drill press. The number that the OP furnished, appears to be the serial number. Model beginning with prefix 113 is made by Emerson.

Yep that looks the same. Thank you for posting this Never heard of Emerson, but I have something to now to start my search

 

[Ringo]

Yep that looks the same. Thank you for posting this Never heard of Emerson, but I have something to now to start my search

Btw, this drill press is so dirty, I had to scrub this with simple green and a brush just to read the tag.

But it’s going to be fun to redo.

 

[Ringo]

The number you reference is likely to be the model, not the serial number. A number of manufacturers, Delta, Powermatic and some others used a specific serial number for each machine they produced. The suppliers for Sears used a three digit source product code to identify each supplier. For example King Seeley - 103; Parks - 112; Emerson Electric - 113; . The rest of the number was the model number, which may have changed every time the manufacturer made a modification in the machine.
My list is fairly old and does not include 970. The closest on my list is 973 for Ryobi.

If it works well for you, nice find.

It’s a fairly big press for sure. I only paid $50 for it so it doesn’t need to perform miracles to make it worth it.

 

[gsmith22]

Thank you so much for the information! That was very helpful!

I just told my boss this morning that, if that motor is 2hp, I will eat it for lunch! there’s no way.

I have a Baldor 3 phase 1.5 hp motor with a VFD on my other drill press that I will be transferring into it… I believe Baldor when they say 1.5 hp

Again, I appreciate the information.

page 136 on the pdf in this link: http://www.vintagemachinery.org/pubs/detail.aspx?id=17238

 

[u2slow]

Looks identical to my 20" Delta press.

 

[Ringo]

I have the same style drill press. The number that the OP furnished, appears to be the serial number. Model beginning with prefix 113 is made by Emerson.

As I was tearing this press apart, I noticed the table is pinned with a threaded stud and a nut on the underside to keep it from moving. I am confused at this feature, why would it be pinned, and yet has an incremented “ruler” riveted to the pivot of the table, presumably to “adjust” it?

 

[Bill Bowman]

I thought it was to lock in whatever angle adjustment the table was in. I have never tilted my table, so that's all I have.

 

[Ringo]

I thought it was to lock in whatever angle adjustment the table was in. I have never tilted my table, so that's all I have.

If I can get a couple decent pictures of it, I will post them. I have it all torn apart right now, but yeah, if I loosen the big bolt on the underside of the table to tilt it one way or another, I can’t because of a second bolt keeping it from doing so. I am confused at this. lol.

 

[Bill Bowman]

I think you're going to discover that second bolt under the table is actually a "T" bolt, which is in a machines groove, that "locks" the table from moving off a setting.

 

[metalmagpie]

I think you did very well. It appears to be all there with straight sheet metal.

Does it have a 3 Morse taper in the spindle? If you measure from the center of the spindle axis to just touching the column, what is that dimension?

Rule of thumb back in the day was the biggest motor you could run on 120 volt 15 amp circuit was 1.5 horsepower. So that's what I'd estimate for your motor. I would not be in a hurry to pitch that motor. It all depends on if it runs smoothly and quietly without the belts installed.

Here is a project blog of one of my drill press restores:

http://nwnative.us/Grant/shop articles/drillPress20

metalmagpie

 

[Ringo]

I thought it was to lock in whatever angle adjustment the table was in. I have never tilted my table, so that's all I have.

This is the pin I was referring to.

 

[Ringo]

I think you did very well. It appears to be all there with straight sheet metal.

Does it have a 3 Morse taper in the spindle? If you measure from the center of the spindle axis to just touching the column, what is that dimension?

Rule of thumb back in the day was the biggest motor you could run on 120 volt 15 amp circuit was 1.5 horsepower. So that's what I'd estimate for your motor. I would not be in a hurry to pitch that motor. It all depends on if it runs smoothly and quietly without the belts installed.

Here is a project blog of one of my drill press restores:

http://nwnative.us/Grant/shop articles/drillPress20

metalmagpie

I have a 1.5 hp 3 phase Baldor motor to put on it with a VFD.