Floor Mounted Drill Press Head Lifting Jack Project

[HoosierBuddy]

Hey guys,

About 6 months ago I scored a Powermatic 1150 Drill Press on Craigslist. The 1150 the "smaller" of the vintage Powermatic DPs, with a 15" swing and typical power was a 1/2" or 3/4" HP motor. I tore mine down to its component pieces, fixed everything broken, replaced everything missing, greased everything that moved and painted everything that...well...needed paint.

One change I made was to move the optional head or table elevator (which was seriously broken) from a position where it could be used to lift the head, to below the table so it was set up to lift the table (after fixing the shattered housing on the elevator). That left me with no easy way to move the head up and down on the column.

I looked around for anyone selling an original Powermatic 1150 elevator...and while I did find ONE...it must be made of unobtanium, based on the price....and unobtanium must be HEAVY based on the estimated shipping cost.

So, I decided to use a vintage Ashland car jack, a pair of clevis mounts, a short piece of 3" S80 Steel Pipe and some 3/8" steel plate to make my own lifting mechanism. I got it all fabed up and mounted earlier today and took a short video of it in action.

I really like how it all turned out and it was a fun project. While I used the old Ashland telescoping car jack as my "linear actuator" for this project, this could be replaced with anything from a trailer jack to a hydraulic cylinder if anyone else likes the general design. The car jack just LOOKED COOL to me, and I fell in love with the double action of the Acme threads, so that's why I went with it. The jack screw was already threaded for a 5/8"-18 thread, so I just bought a 3/8 clevis that would thread right into that. I trimmed down the base end of the jack and used 1/4" Grade 8 bolts to mount a clevis to it as well. The only other "tricky" part of the fabrication was using a metal lathe to cut the S80 3" pipe to slide over the Powermatic's 3" Column.

I still need to either buy or fabricate a matching crank handle to attach to the jack. For my trial run I just temporaried the stock Powermatic crank...but it's not a good fit and I still need it for the table elevator...so that's not a long term solution.

Anyway...fun project. Hope you enjoy the video.

Phil

 

[On-Wheel]

That's awesome!

 

[exmaxima1]

I've never seen a jack like that, but I suspect their value just soared on ebay as well. Great job.

 

[gerryw]

Sooo cool!

Gerry

 

[HoosierBuddy]

I've never seen a jack like that, but I suspect their value just soared on ebay as well. Great job.

Thanks.

This appears to be the same jack. $30 with free shipping. I paid a little less than that, but mine didn't include the handle like this one does. The pad on top unscrews and can be replaced with a 5/8=18 threaded clevis. I sawed off a good portion of the base just to get it out of the way. I think that's exactly the same jack.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/antique-ca...ash=item4b3a27aa4b:g:4woAAOSwPzhaPpOx&vxp=mtr

Phil

 

[crguy]

Why would you need to raise/lower the head when you can raise/lower the table?

 

[HoosierBuddy]

Why would you need to raise/lower the head when you can raise/lower the table?

It's a fair question, and we'll see how much I actually use it. I have had times in the past with tall setup-ups where the cranks on the table are not at a convenient height. So...the ideal setup for me is having the table at a comfortable height and then adjust the head for where it needs to be to drill the hole.

As I've had this installed for less than 24 hours, I admit that I have not had a case where it's helped me out yet.

Phil

 

[6PTsocket]

It's a fair question, and we'll see how much I actually use it. I have had times in the past with tall setup-ups where the cranks on the table are not at a convenient height. So...the ideal setup for me is having the table at a comfortable height and then adjust the head for where it needs to be to drill the hole.

As I've had this installed for less than 24 hours, I admit that I have not had a case where it's helped me out yet.

Phil

I had the same thought. With an adjustable table I could not conceive of any situation where I would want to adjust the head. After adjusting my table I tighten the column clamp, making the table rock solid. With the weight of the head so far forward of the column and no bearings, i am amazed the head moves so easily. What stabilizes the head from slight side to side movement on the column? Is it keyed to the column or is there a column clamp? Aside from that, that is a very cool jack. I'm sure cost is why there are not more of them around. I will be looking for one.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[HoosierBuddy]

I had the same thought. With an adjustable table I could not conceive of any situation where I would want to adjust the head. After adjusting my table I tighten the column clamp, making the table rock solid. With the weight of the head so far forward of the column and no bearings, i am amazed the head moves so easily. What stabilizes the head from slight side to side movement on the column? Is it keyed to the column or is there a column clamp? Aside from that, that is a very cool jack. I'm sure cost is why there are not more of them around. I will be looking for one.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

One reason to move the head might be when using a cross slide vise (like I normally have mounted) or a rotary table, or when using any other fixture that temporarily moves the work mounting point up. The other would be if you needed to put a hole in something really tall. My DP is fairly unique in that it is the ONLY Powermatic I've found with a 96-inch column. YES... It has an 8-foot tall column. So...without a jack of some sort I don't know how I'd get it that high. Why would I want it that high? I can't imagine...but if I want to swing my table out of the way and clamp something directly to the base (it has slots just for that purpose) I can drill a hole in a workpiece about 6-feet tall....not that I have any project like that lined up at the moment!

The 1150 drill press head has a screw down lock on the head. So, once it's in position, the thing to do would be to lock it down before you drill. If you're asking what keeps it from rotating while lifting...the answer is nothing. My bearing pushes up against a the factory locking collar (which I have the set screw backed out on) and the head is free to move up or down or pivot as it moves up. I didn't connect anything directly to the head (or modify the DP in any way) to attach my jack.

Phil