Drill press rack compatibility

[CN Spots]

Are drill press racks super proprietary to each make/model?

I just re-acquired my old Guardian Power floor drill press that my father bought me back in the mid '80s and it works fine but the height adjustment rack is missing. Not a lot of info on these presses other than there were numerous companies that stuck their name on the same machine and I think all are long gone or have certainly moved beyond that model.

I can find replacement racks for numerous modern machines and was wondering if they used a standard rack and pinion or are they all different? Pretty sure the answer is the latter but I'm no expert on these things and I figured a few of y'all were. I could make do without it I guess but it would be nice to have it whole again.

Model# FDM-58-16S

Thanks!

 

[OccupantRJ]

Measure number of teeth per inch, along with thickness, length, and width, and maybe someone can point you in the right direction. My bet is that it will be a standard gear pitch.

 

[6PTsocket]

I can see how it might have broken. The ends are in those collars. The lower one fills up with crud and when you swing the table the rack often has trouble following if everything is not clean and lubed. As was suggested, measure the pitch of the teeth. Actually there were a lot of Taiwan companies cranking out the parts for those very similar presses.

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[NC Rick]

I can see how it might have broken. The ends are in those collars. The lower one fills up with crud and when you swing the table the rack often has trouble following if everything is not clean and lubed. As was suggested, measure the pitch of the teeth. Actually there were a lot of Taiwan companies cranking out the parts for those very similar presses.

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I will be inspecting, cleaning and lubricating mine today! Thanks for posting your thoughts.

 

[CN Spots]

Yeah, I'm up to 7 different companies so far that put their name on that thing but they were all made at around the same time. The actual rack on mine is long gone so I don't have anything to measure. I could cut a strip of wood to fit the slot and use the pinion gear to mash indentations in it and measure those to at least get the tpi but the replacement racks that I've seen for sale don't list the tpi on the website. I guess I'll go measure some modern presses and see how close they are.

Thanks!

 

[OccupantRJ]

You want to look somewhere like MCMaster Carr for a generic piece of gear rack that seems to match the dimensions.

 

[454ragtop]

Might look on Grizzly industrial.

 

[pstemari]

The two variables I'm aware of for gears is the DP/modulus and the pressure angle. For inch-sized gears, there's only two pressure angles and a range of pitches.

DP is number of teeth divided by diameter at roughly the mid point of the teeth.

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[CN Spots]

Thanks for the info!

 

[6PTsocket]

My 14" floor standing Taiwan press measures exactly 4 TPI. The width of the rack was 1/64 under 7/8 (55/64). How about a few other owners of these presses check theirs to see how common the rack specs are? I would have thought they would be metric but I was surprised to find all the fasteners on mine were inch. Mine is from around 1970 so things may have changed.

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[CN Spots]

In case anyone else comes across this in the future, here is a list of brands that used these presses:

Enco
Cummins Mack
K&F
Guardian Power
Chicago Industrial
Orbit Machine Tools
Galaxy

I'll add more if I find any.

 

[6PTsocket]

In case anyone else comes across this in the future, here is a list of brands that used these presses:

Enco
Cummins Mack
K&F
Guardian Power
Chicago Industrial
Orbit Machine Tools
Galaxy

I'll add more if I find any.

Mine is a Continental, it was a small importer in CA.

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[6PTsocket]

There are two more specs besides the ones I mentioned, to get a match. The depth of my rack is 15/32" at the sides. The rack back is curved to match the post diameter. My post is 3 5/8". That elimiminates flat backed rack stock, off the shelf. I assume you can tell about how long it has to be. On the up side, when I googled "drill press rack" I got a lot of hits and they were generally not that expensive. You need to find a source that is willing to try and help you. I have found Grizzly to be pretty helpful.Post diameter is often given so you can start there, to match yours. Hopefully you can get an idea of tpi off the pinion gear and the width and depth from the opening in the table. Good luck. Keep us informed on how it goes.

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[nelstomlinson]

Wrap the post in wax paper, smear JB Weld on the back of a flat rack, and clamp it to the post. The wax paper will keep it from sticking, and the epoxy will mold to the shape of the post. Now you have a round back rack! Make sure it's vertical and square to the post.

 

[CN Spots]

Glad you mentioned the rounded back. I didn't even think of that!

 

[6PTsocket]

Wrap the post in wax paper, smear JB Weld on the back of a flat rack, and clamp it to the post. The wax paper will keep it from sticking, and the epoxy will mold to the shape of the post. Now you have a round back rack! Make sure it's vertical and square to the post.

It depends on how thick the flat back rack is to start with. I suspect the center of the curve on mine is pretty close to the bottom of the teeth. I suspect the drill press racks might have been machined from flat rack stock. Your method would work but you might have to mill the back down first and mill a curved step, top and bottom, to fit the collars. There are plenty of drill press racks online. I would do a lot of looking before taking on all those modifications.

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[samiam1955]

Mine is a Continental, it was a small importer in CA.

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I have a Champion Model F003. Does anyone know if it's compatible with any of the other brands mentioned?

 

[Milton Shaw]

Take the pinion out and try it on several different drill presses and see if it rolls easily without skipping or binding. Then buy the rack from that drill press. They would be to difficult to measure correctly when matching to rack would work so easily compared to using mikes, gear measurement calipers etc.

 

[seber]

PA is essential factor and difficult to measure. Matching to another drill press is about your only chance.

 

[samiam1955]

Yes, this is only my second post. I joined this forum for help getting a replacement drill press rack to replace a broken one. The machine is a Champion Model F003. I'm in the process of getting dimensions (I'm in MA, the drill press is at my son's shop in ME, and I'm helping him out.)

I have a specific question: Are the teeth typically angled? I'm not talking about the pressure angle, but a slight angle between a line along the centerline of the top face of the tooth and a line perpendicular to the long direction of the rack. The fact that our press has this angle means a generic rack wouldn't work.