Homemade Drill Press.

[R W]

The November 1953 edition of Popular Mechanics features an article and
plans regarding the construction of a pedestal drill press utilizing an
auto differential, has anyone seen one of these.
An article originating from the Lincoln Magazine "Stabilizer"
features a similar set up. This was in the April 1950 edition of Power
Farming.
If properly made both should have resulted in a substantial
addition to most home/farm workshops especially in that era.

 

[Richard Cranium]

nope have never seen one, But if a member has one please post pictures and share with us.

 

[sometoyotaguy]

page 214

https://books.google.com/books?id=J...ce=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

[413dan]

very cool, ingenuity at it's finest.

 

[thehorse13]

Ya know, a guy was telling me that he found a drill press made from the rear differential of a Model A Ford and I thought he was a fifth deep in a bottle of whiskey.

This would be an awesome project though I am not sure about cutting up a Model A rear these days. I'm sure they were a dime a dozen back in the 1950s.

 

[Packard V8]

Love the concept of DIY, but can anyone estimate how many man-days of expert shop labor went into designing, sourcing the parts and scratch-building that old monster? And today we quibble at whether an old DP is worth $100. Even figuring minimum wage, now we can buy a used DP with better capabilities for a day's wages.

jack vines

 

[kansei]

Jack makes a good point, although the first thing that came to mind for me is that this setup would be inherently well-suited for light to medium duty milling applications, if a crossfeed table were added to the mix. The primary reason a typical drill press is not good for milling is twofold- the castings and shafts are nowhere near stout enough for routine duty, and the bearings and their related seats are designed for only downward thrust, not lateral loads. This is where the auto rear end and associated bearings is ideal, and depending on which auto assemblies you used, could theoretically be as stout (or moreso) than most 'affordable' vertical mills on the market today. Fabricating up fine downfeed and a knee would be a bit more of a challenge, but not insurmountable, and you would not have the ability to index nor tram the head...

 

[Packard V8]

The insurmountable problem for most kluge home milling machines is the hollow spindle and tool holder. How's he going to make and mount the tool holder and and how's he going to get a hole through the double length of transmission shaft welded together?

jack vines

 

[kansei]

...just some of the hurdles that would have to be sorted and somehow fabbed. The article references an MT#2, so while not ideal, it would be a sufficient start for light hobbyist milling.

 

[davidhansen]

Love the concept of DIY, but can anyone estimate how many man-days of expert shop labor went into designing, sourcing the parts and scratch-building that old monster? And today we quibble at whether an old DP is worth $100. Even figuring minimum wage, now we can buy a used DP with better capabilities for a day's wages.

jack vines

So true. Sometimes we have to wonder what's worth our time too. DIY has to make sense.

 

[Bobf]

Keep in mind Model A Fords were cheap (1st car a 1931 Victoria $140 1957) and many could be found abandoned not running and already scrounged for parts. We used to come across them in the woods while hunting in Minn.

 

[Zeke]

A rear end diff would make a hell of a stout DP capable of some serious work including milling. As mentioned, the tool holder has to be worked out but for small work a big drill bit chuck might do.

 

[DenisG]

Picture from the article:

 

[ecotec]

If anyone has any home made machine tools like this... Post them up, please. I grew up seeing stuff like this in popular mechanics and such... But I knew of no one that actually built any of it.

 

[Lssix]

It would be interesting to assemble something like this from modern equivelent sources.

Sc40 pipe is as common as ever but light weight rwd parts are becoming relatively scarce, you could certainly use a front differential from an awd/4wd truck, though those tend to be largely aluminum now.



Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

 

[R W]

Regarding the second HM drill press mentioned in my original post, it utilizers
a conventional diff and uses a straightened ring gear and starter pinion for the
feed.
It is not as refined as the one described in the PM magazine but would still work
OK.
The designer and builder says it has drilled up to 1,3/8" hole in steel no trouble.
It was powered by a 1/2 HP electric motor.
Sorry I can't post pictures.
Anyone who would like a copy of the article re this HMDP send me a personal
email.

 

[Know Wosad]

Regarding the second HM drill press mentioned in my original post, it utilizers
a conventional diff and uses a straightened ring gear and starter pinion for the
feed.
It is not as refined as the one described in the PM magazine but would still work
OK.
The designer and builder says it has drilled up to 1,3/8" hole in steel no trouble.
It was powered by a 1/2 HP electric motor.
Sorry I can't post pictures.
Anyone who would like a copy of the article re this HMDP send me a personal
email.

That would be the best purpose for something like that.You could gear it to turn at 80 or so rpm with a smallish 3450 motor and use it for huge bits, hole saws, sanding drums etc.Side load obviously is a non issue. Finding a nice Cincinnati table that had been scrapped and the rest is easy

 

[bubinga]

Those old Mags are so cool!
Do you remember PM's "Shop Notes"
Lots O cool things you could still do today.
I made a table saw, in High school shop class, out of plywood, and a buffing arbor, The table went up and down, (no tilt) The fence was made O wood, and used a hasp and a wing nut affair to lock to the front of the table.
We cast the miter gauge out of AL, in metal shop.
Powered by a washing machine motor.
It actually worked pretty good.

 

[555]

Ten years ago a I went to an auction near Little Rock, AR. The place was an old repair shop that had been shut down since the early 60s. There was a belt driven drill press similar to the PM article. It appeared to be made using old tractor parts and was very bulky. It didn't sell and one of the auctioneers told me it was picked up by a scrap dealer. I'm going to guess the chuck was made by the owner and it looked like it would take a 1" drill shaft.

 

[firworks]

https://woodgears.ca/mortise/hollow_chisel.html

Technically he built a hollow chisel mortiser but leave off the chisel and it's a homemade drill press.