Craftsman Drill Press

[gatewaysysop]

NUTS!!! After re-assembling everything except the motor, this 1/4-20 2" bolt is left over. I'm not seeing it in the manual. Ideas?

Kind of looks like there were two quill lock handles in one of the earlier pics of all the clean parts. This by chance the bolt that goes with the spare handle? I was wondering why there were two of those in the earlier photo.

 

[Smokeshow69]

That is an adjusting knob bolt...the ones the handles bolt to with the set screw...looks small so probably the feed stop/ feed set screw ?

NUTS!!! After re-assembling everything except the motor, this 1/4-20 2" bolt is left over. I'm not seeing it in the manual. Ideas?

 

[Hoorn]

It looks like your quill stop screw is in place so it may be the cap screw for the table.

 

[WilsonLR]

Blush blush blush. @gatewaysysop is correct now that I think about it. I bought a spare handle to put on the bare motor mount bolt. The eBay handle was from a Craftsman 103 lathe and had a bolt with it. It went into the "To Be Cleaned and Buffed" pile then came out looking new. DOH!

 

[Hoorn]

All good Wilson, I was looking for a reason to run out into my workshop in my boxers to take apart an old thrasher 100 and compare the quill stop lol

 

[bubinga]

Are you sure it didn't sneak its way in from somewhere else?
Sorry can't be of more help.
I don't have none of my tools here they're all crammed in storage I'm very upset about it.....

 

[bubinga]

Blush blush blush. @gatewaysysop is correct now that I think about it. I bought a spare handle to put on the bare motor mount bolt. The eBay handle was from a Craftsman 103 lathe and had a bolt with it. It went into the "To Be Cleaned and Buffed" pile then came out looking new. DOH!

Good job, glad you found it.
Looks like a good feature to have that handle.

 

[WilsonLR]

UPDATE on my resto:
Everything except motor is reassembled. The movement of the headstock and the table on the column is glorious. It looks so nice I decided to take a run at the stator band with citric acid. I didn't see a way to take it off in a way I could reassemble it. I'm trying a soaked cotton rag (cloth diapers actually) approach for 24 hours. The label is well protected. There's been action on the rust after 4 hours so ... we'll see.

Speaking of the motor, one thing I noticed is the internal motor wiring has some frayed insulation. Are you guys just using modern stranded THHN 12ga, 14ga or what?

 

[Indexmill]

Yes, use modern stranded 14 ga with solder and heat shrink tubing. Get as far down the original wire as you can and be careful!

 

[11b30b4]

For motor repairs, I splice and use a proper motor lead wiring. It is 16 AWG stranded tinned copper, silicone insulated high temp wires. I use heat shrink **** connectors to attach the wires.
You can get a 7 color 3' selection of the silicone 16 gauge wires from amazon for fairly cheap.

When working on a motor do your best to not damage the windings. These windings have a lacquer insulation applied to them and that must stay on the windings for them to operate and not short. Also be very careful to not break any of the windings. If you are looking to replace one of the lead wires, I recommend you first try to splice it at the height of the windings or 2" from the windings (whichever is the largest). This provides enough wire to resplice if somethings goes wrong. Once you get to the windings it becomes very very difficult to splice a lead wire unless you can back it through the stator (not recommended). Again, I have outlined this process and recoating the windings with electronic lacquer insulation and wrapping the windings with jute in previous builds. Just do a search for threads I started or click on the link in my signature. Good luck.

 

[WilsonLR]

Well it's not perfect but wet-rag soaking the stator band improved it as far as I'm concerned. Here is before and after 20 hour citric acid soak followed by wet scotchbrite and #0000 with rinse.

NEXT: finding 11b thread on disassembling motor.

 

[Smokeshow69]

Well it's not perfect but wet-rag soaking the stator band improved it as far as I'm concerned. Here is before and after 20 hour citric acid soak followed by wet scotchbrite and #0000 with rinse.

NEXT: finding 11b thread on disassembling motor.

Hey, that came out pretty nice. way to go!

 

[WilsonLR]

Read what I could find here and then watched this guy whack at the motor casings with mallet and screw driver and then it the video cuts to the stator band and casings magically apart on the bench ... ummmmm no thanks. I'll repair wiring with shrink tubing not replace. BTW, the cap nuts on the rods holding the casings together have a nice gold sheen after cleaning them up on the buffer.

 

[Indexmill]

For motor repairs, I splice and use a proper motor lead wiring. It is 16 AWG stranded tinned copper, silicone insulated high temp wires. I use heat shrink **** connectors to attach the wires.

You can get a 7 color 3' selection of the silicone 16 gauge wires from amazon for fairly cheap.

Wow, thank you very much for the tip about the wire on Amazon. Here is the link:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B018H1BDP4/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[smalltown]

Well two things the most important thing is that I saw Frank Lee posting not to long ago. You had me very worried Frank.
Second thing I thought I was the only one not getting new post messages. Wish they could fix that.

 

[WilsonLR]

I'm declaring the restoration of my circa 1946-55 Craftsman Model 80 103.23640 drill press DONE! [insert applause here].

I couldn't have done it without help from FrankLee, 11b and everyone else who shared their experience/photos in this thread and others. There's a wealth of information here on GJ for noobs like me to mine, thanks to the content contributors (in spite of the problems with the forum tool).

In the category of giving back, I embellished my unit with a couple things and strayed a little from the finish protection that seem to have worked out but time will tell.

• The thing that actually pushed me over the edge to do a complete tear down instead of cleanup was doing a small milling job on some plastic and the spindle locks not releasing. So when I reassembled my resto, I picked up some springs to place between all the clamps. This worked fine on the headstock and table column locks*. But ironically, for the spindle lock, there was not enough clearance between the spindle lock bolt and the quill for a spring**. It dragged on the quill and it prevented the spindle lock bolt from sitting straight in the opposing hole of the head stock. So that's a bust. FWIW, both springs were roughly .25 inches longer than the compressed clearance between clamps (see specs below).
• As many observed in my obligatory tear down photo, I had a second small handle when normally, the Model 80 has just one on the spindle lock. I never liked the bare bolt holding the sliding motor mount posts so I picked one up on eBay and used it on the left hand side. It made adjusting belt tension tool-less so I plan to add another on the RHS just so I'll have a complete set.
• Instead of the usual Johnson Paste Wax on surfaces, I used Meguiars Ultimate Liquid Wax on the column because it's what I had and I was at my limit for adding chemicals to my collection. LOL
• I used Super Lube on threads/bores and Boeshield T-9 on everything else because again, it's what I already had.

Going forward, I'm NOT going to let it go for 40 years (LOL). Actually, that'll be someone elses' job. But for the foreseable future, I'm going to protect my sweat equity investment and stay on top of it. Taking it apart was invaluable in knowing how to maintain it.

Speaking of "on top", if anyone has a nice design for a cover, please PM me. I'm looking to make one at some point to prevent the internal dust accumulation. I also want to motorize the head stock to make switching between using the table and base easier. But at the moment, grandfather's Littlestown 400 vise is my next project. Ugh, that GJ thread is twice the size of this one! TTFN

* MCMASTER-CARR 1986K237 - 302 Stainless Steel Corrosion-Resistant Compression Springs, 1" Long, 0.66" OD, 0.536" ID
** MCMASTER-CARR 9435K93 - 302 Stainless Steel Corrosion-Resistant Compression Springs, 0.875" Long, 0.42" OD, 0.326" ID

 

[11b30b4]

Wilson, outstanding job and I like the idea of adding springs between the column and head lock lugs. As soon as I began reading that I knew the clearance on the quill lock would not big enough but yes the other two locks would have enough space. Congratulations!

 

[pikapp]

Great Job Wilson. It looks great considering where you started. So many of them are in a similar, or worse, condition. Like Frank Lee says "another diamond in the rough". I was out looking at a Craftsman table saw on OfferUp that the owner couldn't tell me too much about, said it was surrounded by too much clutter. I've been looking for one of the King-Seeley tilting table types. What I do is mostly small jobs anyway and never need the capacity to cut a 4x8 sheet of plywood. Well, he wasn't kidding about the clutter, and I could tell from the design it was a later model Emerson. Oh well, you don't ask you don't get, right? Then he said "hey I have another OLDER smaller table but, its in rougher shape". Ears going up, smaller you say? In another room, yep, it was the tilting table! with motor! Woohoo! Band is stamped 1950, blade guard, fence, guide everything but the original box and owners manual. So, that is how I get this post back on thread. John, who was a woodworker for fifty years has all these tools and equipment Clausing, Bridgeport, CNC machines all over his shop, it was an awesome, says "since your interested in older Craftsman stuff, you might want to look at an old DRILL PRESS I've had for years and never used. Yep, floor model 80- 1948 (this blue seems to be popular) minding its own business a corner, where John said its been for the last fifteen years. It has trouble starting, but spin the pulley by hand and it runs! Both units were disassembled and in the SUV in forty minutes. Moral of the story, if you don't see what you want, just ask.

 

[67carl]

I've got a King Seeley 150 bench top that I'm going to tear down and refurbish, but I have many other projects ahead if it so it will be a while. I would like to use it until then, however when I put a bit in it the tip wobbles enough that it's useless.

I'm hoping it's the quill or spindle bearings and that I can replace those and be good For now. I've poured over many threads and bearing part numbers/sources are few and far between, but I did find a post with the ones in the pic below. There was also mention the bearing is special, something about tapered 5/8... The bearings listed are for my model number but give no specs. Can anyone confirm these are correct?

Appreciate any reply's and thanks to all who posted and shared advice!

 

[11b30b4]

67 Carl, congrats on the drill press. You actually have a 100 series not a 150 series. If you want to know more about the differences check out my thread here:

11b30b4's Vintage Classic Craftsman Drill Press Information Thread

I went back and forth over what I would do with this post. Should I make it an additional post to FrankLee’s Craftsman Drill Press thread, or should I start a new thread? I know there are enough of us experienced guys to carry on Frank’s thread but none of us have access to the thread to index...

www.garagejournal.com

The metal panel around the top of the head stock is one of the easy ways to tell the difference. Other differences are that you have a tilting table, the 150 discontinued this option and the motor mounts are different but otherwise the two drill presses are very similar.

As to your wobble. I would first inspect the inside of your chuck and the face of the jaws in the chuck. If all that is good, then you can try to reseat the chuck. The classic craftsman drill press has a Jacobs #33 chuck, and this chuck has a safety collar that sits just above the chuck. The original chuck key has a dog point on it that was designed to unlock and lock the safety collar, but I do not recommend you use it for this purpose.

Here is what the chuck looks like once removed, notice the safety collar.

The best tool I have found to unlock and lock the safety collar is this spanner wrench made by Gearwrench Apex Tools.

You can find the tool on Amazon for about $29.00. Look for, GEARWRENCH 3/4" to 2" Adjustable Pin Black Oxide Spanner Wrench 3/16" Pin - 81861, Multi.

Almost always, and wobble in a bit is a chuck issue. If you need to replace the chuck you can get the exact same chuck from Jacobs. You need Jacobs Chuck 14451 Heavy Duty Plain Bearing Taper Mounted Chuck, 0.5" Maximum Capacity, 2" Sleeve Diameter, 3-45/64" Close Length. They cost about $130.00.

So, if you verify the chuck is not the problem then the bearings can be the issue. You are correct that the quill bearings require a 5/8 bore. So that we are clear, there are 4 bearings in your drill press and most likely two inside the motor.

The two spindle pulley assembly bearings are the largest. They are both 6205 bearings. They measure 25mm bore x 52mm OD x 15mm tall. The two quill bearings are 6202 5/8 bore. A normal 6202 bearing has a 15mm bore so you need a special bore bearing. The 6202 5/8 bore measures 5/8” bore x 35mm OD x 11mm tall. I order my bearings from Accurate bearing, but you can get them anywhere as long as they are the correct measurements. I have used Freemont before, and my only complaint is that they do not put the measurements on their web site.

I will advise you to stay away from Chinese bearings. Japan makes great bearings and bearings made in the US are also quality. Quality bearings usually run about double the price of Chinese bearings.

If you are going to order from Fremont, do not search by the drill press model, search by the part number. Here is a link to the owner’s manual for your drill press.

http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/222/3128.pdf

The Spindle pulley assembly bearing is part # 18212

Sears Craftsman STD315255 Spindle bearing

Sears Craftsman STD315255 18212 Spindle bearing

www.fremontindustrialsupply.com

The quill bearing is part # 18211 (the parts diagram only shows one, but you need two)

Sears Craftsman 18211 103.23141 Quill Bearing Replaces XF121PP

Sears Craftsman 18211 103.23141 Quill Bearing XF-121-PP

www.fremontindustrialsupply.com

Or you can just search the internet for 6205 bearing and get a Japanese bearing such as Nachi. Also search for 6202 5/8 bore and there will be lost of options. You do not need shielded (metal shields) and you should find a ton of sealed (plastic seals) options but both shielded or sealed will work.

Anyway, I hope this helps and good luck.

 

[Bro-Dozer]

@67carl Dig it! Love that old color...what ever it is.

 

[WilsonLR]

I've got a King Seeley bench top that I'm going to tear down and refurbish,...

I refurbished the same model and summed it up in post #4,976

Lacking the proper equipment to de-rust the post, I covered it in plastic and a healthy dose of evaporust. Citric acid is now my go to de-ruster. YMMV

 

[67carl]

67 Carl, congrats on the drill press. You actually have a 100 series not a 150 series. If you want to know more about the differences check out my thread here:

11b30b4's Vintage Classic Craftsman Drill Press Information Thread

I went back and forth over what I would do with this post. Should I make it an additional post to FrankLee’s Craftsman Drill Press thread, or should I start a new thread? I know there are enough of us experienced guys to carry on Frank’s thread but none of us have access to the thread to index...

www.garagejournal.com

The metal panel around the top of the head stock is one of the easy ways to tell the difference. Other differences are that you have a tilting table, the 150 discontinued this option and the motor mounts are different but otherwise the two drill presses are very similar.

As to your wobble. I would first inspect the inside of your chuck and the face of the jaws in the chuck. If all that is good, then you can try to reseat the chuck. The classic craftsman drill press has a Jacobs #33 chuck, and this chuck has a safety collar that sits just above the chuck. The original chuck key has a dog point on it that was designed to unlock and lock the safety collar, but I do not recommend you use it for this purpose.

Here is what the chuck looks like once removed, notice the safety collar.

The best tool I have found to unlock and lock the safety collar is this spanner wrench made by Gearwrench Apex Tools.

You can find the tool on Amazon for about $29.00. Look for, GEARWRENCH 3/4" to 2" Adjustable Pin Black Oxide Spanner Wrench 3/16" Pin - 81861, Multi.

Almost always, and wobble in a bit is a chuck issue. If you need to replace the chuck you can get the exact same chuck from Jacobs. You need Jacobs Chuck 14451 Heavy Duty Plain Bearing Taper Mounted Chuck, 0.5" Maximum Capacity, 2" Sleeve Diameter, 3-45/64" Close Length. They cost about $130.00.

So, if you verify the chuck is not the problem then the bearings can be the issue. You are correct that the quill bearings require a 5/8 bore. So that we are clear, there are 4 bearings in your drill press and most likely two inside the motor.

The two spindle pulley assembly bearings are the largest. They are both 6205 bearings. They measure 25mm bore x 52mm OD x 15mm tall. The two quill bearings are 6202 5/8 bore. A normal 6202 bearing has a 15mm bore so you need a special bore bearing. The 6202 5/8 bore measures 5/8” bore x 35mm OD x 11mm tall. I order my bearings from Accurate bearing, but you can get them anywhere as long as they are the correct measurements. I have used Freemont before, and my only complaint is that they do not put the measurements on their web site.

I will advise you to stay away from Chinese bearings. Japan makes great bearings and bearings made in the US are also quality. Quality bearings usually run about double the price of Chinese bearings.

If you are going to order from Fremont, do not search by the drill press model, search by the part number. Here is a link to the owner’s manual for your drill press.

http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/222/3128.pdf

The Spindle pulley assembly bearing is part # 18212

Sears Craftsman STD315255 Spindle bearing

Sears Craftsman STD315255 18212 Spindle bearing

www.fremontindustrialsupply.com

The quill bearing is part # 18211 (the parts diagram only shows one, but you need two)

Sears Craftsman 18211 103.23141 Quill Bearing Replaces XF121PP

Sears Craftsman 18211 103.23141 Quill Bearing XF-121-PP

www.fremontindustrialsupply.com

Or you can just search the internet for 6205 bearing and get a Japanese bearing such as Nachi. Also search for 6202 5/8 bore and there will be lost of options. You do not need shielded (metal shields) and you should find a ton of sealed (plastic seals) options but both shielded or sealed will work.

Anyway, I hope this helps and good luck.

Wow, thanks for that! I saw Accurate bearing mentioned elsewhere but when I went to their site I couldn't figure out what bearings I needed. I'll go back and will look using the specs you provided, but will pull the chuck first and check it.

 

[67carl]

I refurbished the same model and summed it up in post #4,976

Lacking the proper equipment to de-rust the post, I covered it in plastic and a healthy dose of evaporust. Citric acid is now my go to de-ruster. YMMV

I read through your posts earlier today - part of what inspired me to get mine at least operable. Nice work!

 

[WilsonLR]

The best tool I have found to unlock and lock the safety collar is this spanner wrench made by Gearwrench Apex Tools.

You can find the tool on Amazon for about $29.00. Look for, GEARWRENCH 3/4" to 2" Adjustable Pin Black Oxide Spanner Wrench 3/16" Pin - 81861, Multi.

FWIW, I went to Amazon to buy this wrench and they don't carry this exact model. The only 3/4"-2" model they have is a hook not a pin. However the 81861 is available elsewhere for $30.

 

[11b30b4]

67carl, for accurate bearing, I always call them to place order. The web site is not user friendly IMO. Also McMaster Carr has a good bearing selection and the web site is great. However, they do not carry the 5/8 bore specific bearing.

WilsonLR, you defiantly want the pin version and not the hook.

 

[gatewaysysop]

The best tool I have found to unlock and lock the safety collar is this spanner wrench made by Gearwrench Apex Tools.

You can find the tool on Amazon for about $29.00. Look for, GEARWRENCH 3/4" to 2" Adjustable Pin Black Oxide Spanner Wrench 3/16" Pin - 81861, Multi.

FWIW, I went to Amazon to buy this wrench and they don't carry this exact model. The only 3/4"-2" model they have is a hook not a pin. However the 81861 is available elsewhere for $30.

If you want an alternative, look at Martin, part # 0472, this one fits the collars very well.

Of course if you really want to get fancy, you could also find a Williams 472 that has a larger pin that fits in the chuck body (note: it will not fit the collar like the Martin), so that you can hold it stationary while you use the other wrench to loosen the collar:

 

[67carl]

I got the chuck out and there was some junk in there that I got out. Put it back, drilled a few different size holes with it, then used the same bits in my cordless driver and drilled same holes with that. Measured each hole and they all are the same and match the drill bit size. So success! No need for bearing changes just yet. It'll be nice to have a working DP finally, and down the road I'll disassemble it for cleaning/restoration.

 

[11b30b4]

67carl, outstanding. Glad you got it sorted out. If you have a dial indicator you can measure your run out. Good run out on a drill press will be below .005. I try for .002 but some of my DPs are .005.

 

[ViceRoy2030]

New to me!!! Garage sale find today. (blue tape was his "asking" price) Run's and looks in perfect condition with what I believe to be the original motor). Time for a good cleaning and someday, restoration.

 

[pikapp]

New to me!!! Garage sale find today. (blue tape was his "asking" price) Run's and looks in perfect condition with what I believe to be the original motor). Time for a good cleaning and someday, restoration.

 

[pikapp]

Vice,
I was so flustered I pushed post before I should have! You deserve a hardy GarageJounral “You ****!” for that asking price alone (god knows what you actually paid)!

 

[Smokeshow69]

The price is $250 on the tag, not $2.50… not a you **** for most folks…

 

[ViceRoy2030]

Vice,
I was so flustered I pushed post before I should have! You deserve a hardy GarageJounral “You ****!” for that asking price alone (god knows what you actually paid)!

I was only able to get him to $200, but he's a consistent vise source I didn't want to push too hard

 

[ViceRoy2030]

The price is $250 on the tag, not $2.50… not a you **** for most folks…

Ya, it's not a great price but I've wanted one of these and they look amazing restored. This one will be 70 years old in February

 

[Smokeshow69]

Vice,
I was so flustered I pushed post before I should have! You deserve a hardy GarageJounral “You ****!” for that asking price alone (god knows what you actually paid)!

Ya, it's not a great price but I've wanted one of these and they look amazing restored. This one will be 70 years old in February

Totally understand! I have paid up on some items over the years just because I wanted them!

 

[67carl]

Hello all! I'm looking at an original craftsman motor for my King Seeley tabletop DP but don't know if this one will work. I found specs on Vintage Machinery and those numbers don't quite match the motor I'm looking at. That motor is a different model number than the one listed in Vintage Machinery. Do you think this one will work?

Specs from VM


Motor for sale

 

[Smokeshow69]

Hello all! I'm looking at an original craftsman motor for my King Seeley tabletop DP but don't know if this one will work. I found specs on Vintage Machinery and those numbers don't quite march the motor I'm looking at. That motor seems is a different model number than the one listed in Vintage Machinery. Do you think this one will work?

Specs from VM


Motor for sale

That is a table saw motor (do not buy it)... you want the lower 1175 rpm one. Keep an eye out and one wil pop up.

 

[67carl]

That is a table saw motor (do not buy it)... you want the lower 1175 rpm one. Keep an eye out and one wil pop up.

Appreciate the quick reply! I'll keep looking.

 

[11b30b4]

67carl, Smokeshow69 is correct. You need a 1725 or 1750 rpm motor. Something less than 1800 rpm. Most of us use 1/2 HP but as little as 1/3 HP will do most of what you most likely want to do. I prefer the 115.6962 motor for its looks, ease of finding one, and replaceable ball bearings. There are several later split phase ½ HP motors that came on later models 150 machines and these have end frame bearings. Its not what I like but they are also fairly common.

I have a Craftsman motor thread that you can check out to see some of the motor differences.

The Vintage Craftsman GP Motor Thread

I was requested to outline some of my comparison information about Vintage Craftsman General Purpose Motors by a fellow GJ member. Most of this information was available on the forum prior to the 2021 forum update but has been lost or difficult to locate ever since. I am not an electrician and...

www.garagejournal.com

I hope this helps.