nissan_crawler
Well-known member
As some of you have seen in the last threads, my HF drill press had bushings going out in the motor.
I was getting a Wilton press from Redmond Machinery, but they screwed up during moving the business, and sold the scratch and dent I was going to get for $489 instead of the regular $1100 something.
So, they manned up and sold me a comparable Jet one for $400!! that had no damage. Happy Customer.
Assembly is very straight forward (more so than the HF press even), however, it was everything I possibly had in me to get the damn head on top of the column. I would bet it weighs around 150 lbs easy, the entire press weighs 300 lbs. The table wasn't very easy either, to hold on the track and slide the track and table on the column at the same time. No design problem, just damn heavy. This really should be a 2 person job, or one person/cherry picker, but my cherry picker is loaned out to a friend pulling their motor. I WILL need the cherry picker to set it in it's spot, no way in hell I can move it now very easily.
Here's the press:
I didn't like the color at all, so I decided to paint it, no biggie, I knew I probably would before I ever saw it.
Sanded and primed it:
Shot some Rustoluem Hammered Dark Bronze on it (many other things in my shop this color or close):
Reassembled it, and wired it for 240V operation (still need a new plug):
Other side:
Front:
Pulleys and belt setup:
I have yet to wire the garage for 240v and put the plug on the press (will do that this weekend), but my preliminary observations are:
1. This thing is STURDY. The head weighs as much as the entire HF drill press. The table must weight 60-80 pounds on it's own, also.
2. It's setup for coolant, which I'm going to run on it. I'm also going to run a mill/drill table and a mill vise for accuracy.
3. The spindle has NO play in it that I can feel, big difference from the HF press (also quite a bit larger in diameter).
4. The motor although chinese, is ball bearing, cast construction, looks to be quite good. When you tension the belt, the motor doesn't deflect at an angle like it does on the HF press, it stays very true. Much more precise machine on the slides.
5. I was impressed with the fact that they send every tool needed to put it together (sure, I have all them anyway, but it's nice to see the thought). They also even leave an extra wire nut in the cover on the motor for converting to 240v operation, I was surprised to see that. Again, a $.10 item, but happy to see they thought of it.
I can't wait to run it and see the difference between 3/4 and 1.5 hp.
I'll post up once I get a chance to sink a holesaw in some 3/4" steel with it.
Here are the specs for it:
http://www.redmondmachinery.com/browse.cfm/4,869.html
I was getting a Wilton press from Redmond Machinery, but they screwed up during moving the business, and sold the scratch and dent I was going to get for $489 instead of the regular $1100 something.
So, they manned up and sold me a comparable Jet one for $400!! that had no damage. Happy Customer.
Assembly is very straight forward (more so than the HF press even), however, it was everything I possibly had in me to get the damn head on top of the column. I would bet it weighs around 150 lbs easy, the entire press weighs 300 lbs. The table wasn't very easy either, to hold on the track and slide the track and table on the column at the same time. No design problem, just damn heavy. This really should be a 2 person job, or one person/cherry picker, but my cherry picker is loaned out to a friend pulling their motor. I WILL need the cherry picker to set it in it's spot, no way in hell I can move it now very easily.
Here's the press:
I didn't like the color at all, so I decided to paint it, no biggie, I knew I probably would before I ever saw it.
Sanded and primed it:
Shot some Rustoluem Hammered Dark Bronze on it (many other things in my shop this color or close):
Reassembled it, and wired it for 240V operation (still need a new plug):
Other side:
Front:
Pulleys and belt setup:
I have yet to wire the garage for 240v and put the plug on the press (will do that this weekend), but my preliminary observations are:
1. This thing is STURDY. The head weighs as much as the entire HF drill press. The table must weight 60-80 pounds on it's own, also.
2. It's setup for coolant, which I'm going to run on it. I'm also going to run a mill/drill table and a mill vise for accuracy.
3. The spindle has NO play in it that I can feel, big difference from the HF press (also quite a bit larger in diameter).
4. The motor although chinese, is ball bearing, cast construction, looks to be quite good. When you tension the belt, the motor doesn't deflect at an angle like it does on the HF press, it stays very true. Much more precise machine on the slides.
5. I was impressed with the fact that they send every tool needed to put it together (sure, I have all them anyway, but it's nice to see the thought). They also even leave an extra wire nut in the cover on the motor for converting to 240v operation, I was surprised to see that. Again, a $.10 item, but happy to see they thought of it.
I can't wait to run it and see the difference between 3/4 and 1.5 hp.
I'll post up once I get a chance to sink a holesaw in some 3/4" steel with it.
Here are the specs for it:
http://www.redmondmachinery.com/browse.cfm/4,869.html
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That's a far cry from the .0005 on the arbor.