Drill press advice

[Reitwagen]

At 82 my dad has decided to liquidate his machine shop, honestly it was just time. Of course I went shopping first and now I'm helping him get rid of the other stuff.

Here is the question. I presently have a set of 3 older Walker Turner drills on a production table. I like them and I'm attached to them. I have a lot of work into them. I still have some stuff left to do. They spin a bit fast for metal so I need to get a speed reduction set up and change out two of the motors. That's not going to be cheap. Other then that they are good to go.

He has a set of 4 Powermatic 1150's with step pulleys that are mounted on a production table. Work wise to get them as nice as my Walker Turners I'd be starting over. They are more then usable as is as long as I get a phase converter.
They are twice the drills that mine are or will ever be.

There is a lot to like about the Powermatics, they are my dads, the quality is outstanding and I did spend hundreds of hours sitting at them as a kid drilling holes and breaking drill bits.

Money of course is an issue. He needs it and I don't have a shoe box of it sitting around. I'm trying to figure out what the Powermatics are worth and to be honest I have no idea what my Walker Turners are worth. Any idea's? Should I try and sell mine and buy his? Should I just stay with what I have? What would you guys do?

 

[454ragtop]

Can't help you decide, but no matter which you end up with, consider adding a VFD to run the 3 phase motors. With a little thought, 1 VFD could be used for all 3 or 4 motors. Would need to add a switch, or wire the VFD to a three phase outlet, then put plugs on the cords from the motors and plug which ever motor you want to use into the VFD. A VFD will give you phase conversion, variable speed, braking, reverse and more.
Good luck, Jim

 

[zkling]

Production table gang drill presses have a very limited audience on the used market. I'd keep them as you won't get much for them. Sadly you will get the most $ out of them by parting out piece by piece. That is if they are in good condition. However it will be time consuming so factor that in.

 

[Packard V8]

You already know the answer; you are just wishing it were easier/less expensive.

jack vines

 

[catalytic]

Production table gang drill presses have a very limited audience on the used market. I'd keep them as you won't get much for them. Sadly you will get the most $ out of them by parting out piece by piece. That is if they are in good condition. However it will be time consuming so factor that in.

Concur. They're much harder to price than single head floor drill presses. Even harder if they're three phase.

What model walker turner heads do they have? 15" or 20"? Powerfeed? If they're 15," then there's not much quality difference between the powermatic and the WT. The WT may be a little harder to get bearings for. If they're 20," then they're a significantly more powerful machine, which would be helpful if you want to drill big holes, esp. with powerfeed.

 

[Reitwagen]

They arw 15 inch heads. Here is a picture mid resto as I was starting to reassemble them