New (to me) drill press

[Itinerant]

I’ve been without a drill press for about 10 years and hadn’t missed having one since work kind of took over my life for a while. Now that I’ve slowed down I’ve started to reacquire some of the tools that I’d sold off so I can get a piece of my former life back. I’ve been casually looking for a drill press and Friday I was browsing a local internet sales site and saw an ad for a vintage Craftsman DP, so I called and made arrangements to have a look. The DP is a Craftsman Companion model 101.03580, 12 ¾” bench model mounted on a rolling stand with a table fence and various attachments/accessories. The seller is recently retired and downsizing and he told me the DP belonged to his grandfather who purchased it new in the 1930’s. Everything is in great shape, the motor runs like a top and the spindle is true, overall it just needs a little cleaning. The only thing I can identify as out of place is the re-wired switch for the motor although the original switch housing is still mounted.

I didn’t buy it on the spot as I’d made arrangements to look at a Duro a friend of mine has later that day and after seeing it I was having trouble making up my mind. The Duro wasn’t nearly as nice but the prospect of a resto project was enticing. I had to work Saturday morning and thought that by the time I got home another buyer would have made my mind up for me as the Craftsman owner told me he had several calls and I couldn’t imagine someone else hadn’t snatched it up. Nevertheless, I contacted the seller and learned the DP was still available and we worked out a partial trade and I picked it up this morning.

Anyway, I hope everyone else has had as pleasant a weekend as I have. Please enjoy the pics.

 

[WallynSC]

Gorgeous, it was meant to be yours.

 

[jakemac]

Nice find.
The DP is a full Craftsman (Atlas). Only the motor is a Companion. Companion was Sears "bargain" label before they started using the Dunlap name. The DP's were offered without a motor and the motor was purchased separately, or you could provide your own. This allowed the new owner to chose his price range and HP. Even the bargain tools of that time are good quality (unlike today).

That DP doesn't have a speed reducer, so it won't be as easy to drill metal with it. It was best used for wood. Metal can be drilled with it, but you must go slow with shallow cuts or you will quickly burn the bit.

Here is a link to a 1952 revised manual for that DP at OWWM.
http://www.vintagemachinery.org/pubs/detail.aspx?id=1193

Have fun !

 

[Itinerant]

Gorgeous, it was meant to be yours.

Thank you! I sure think so.

Nice find.
The DP is a full Craftsman (Atlas). Only the motor is a Companion. Companion was Sears "bargain" label before they started using the Dunlap name. The DP's were offered without a motor and the motor was purchased separately, or you could provide your own. This allowed the new owner to chose his price range and HP. Even the bargain tools of that time are good quality (unlike today).

That DP doesn't have a speed reducer, so it won't be as easy to drill metal with it. It was best used for wood. Metal can be drilled with it, but you must go slow with shallow cuts or you will quickly burn the bit.

Here is a link to a 1952 revised manual for that DP at OWWM.
http://www.vintagemachinery.org/pubs/detail.aspx?id=1193

Have fun !

Thanks for the clarification on the branding and the link Jake. I plan to use it primarily for woodworking projects but it may find very limited use on sheet metal.

 

[nine4gmc]

Great find, it should fit your needs well!!

 

[Bill Ramsey]

Nice find! May you have many boring years together.

 

[Outlawmws]

Nice find! May you have many boring years together.

I lol'ed!

Great find; better get moving and go get it. For sheet metal you should generally be OK, but do use the slowest speeds. As mentioned, not the best choice if drilling larger holes in heavy steels.

 

[uart]

That DP doesn't have a speed reducer, so it won't be as easy to drill metal with it. It was best used for wood. Metal can be drilled with it, but you must go slow with shallow cuts or you will quickly burn the bit.

According to the manual it's minimum is about 580 RPM with the standard 1750 RPM motor. I've also got a cheap benchtop press with a similar lowest speed of about 600 RPM, so does anyone have a recommendation for the maximum diameter into (non sheet) steel?

I'm thinking with mild or low alloy steel at 600 (edit: whoops I meant 60) sfm, a drill like this could handle 3/8" pretty easily. One problem with a home workshop, where you're often drilling various "random" things, is that you don't always know what the hardness of the steel is.

Does anyone else using a similar speed press have any tips for metal drilling and drilling sizes?

 

[exmaxima1]

Everything is in great shape, the motor runs like a top and the spindle is true, overall it just needs a little cleaning.

I had the Atlas version of that drill press a few years ago, and it was a very likeable machine. Put a linked belt on it and you will be surprised at how quietly it will run.

Can we ask how much it cost you (with the trade)?

 

[Itinerant]

Nice find! May you have many boring years together.

I see what you did there.

Thanks for all the positive responses.

Maxima, the seller was asking $150, my out of pocket was $25.

 

[uart]

the seller was asking $150, my out of pocket was $25.

Nice. You must have traded something that he really wanted.

 

[DenisG]

According to the manual it's minimum is about 580 RPM with the standard 1750 RPM motor. I've also got a cheap benchtop press with a similar lowest speed of about 600 RPM, so does anyone have a recommendation for the maximum diameter into (non sheet) steel?

I'm thinking with mild or low alloy steel at 600 sfm, a drill like this could handle 3/8" pretty easily. One problem with a home workshop, where you're often drilling various "random" things, is that you don't always know what the hardness of the steel is.

Does anyone else using a similar speed press have any tips for metal drilling and drilling sizes?

Here's a chart I found:
https://www.fnal.gov/pub/takefive/pdfs/Drill_Press_Speed_Chart.pdf

 

[Outlawmws]

Here's a chart I found:
https://www.fnal.gov/pub/takefive/pdfs/Drill_Press_Speed_Chart.pdf

Sorry, that is not a particularly well thought out chart for drilling speeds...


Try this one:

"

 

[uart]

Thanks Dennis and Outlaw.

Here's another site that has some useful sfm info: http://store.curiousinventor.com/guides/drill_speed/

A couple of links from that site have some more very useful info
- http://its.fvtc.edu/MachShop1/drillpress/cutspeeds.htm
- http://www.misgroupinc.com/partfiles/m_2221VS.pdf

 

[Kenwc]

I'm restoring it's identical twin as we speak.

 

[DenisG]

Sorry, that is not a particularly well thought out chart for drilling speeds...


Try this one:

"

Depends what you're looking for I guess. I thought that it was a good "general purpose" chart for a variety of materials. Yours is definitely better for metalworking. There's one here with an online calculator ( http://vikingdrill.com/Feed_Speed_Face.html ), but I suppose that you can grab Machinist's Handbook and make your own Excel spreadsheet. I'm happy to be in the ballpark with feeds and speeds. Production people need to work their drills for time, efficiency, and thousands of holes.

 

[GirlnAgarage]

Itinerant, congrats on the new old DP.

BTW I love this logo photo. Something about the color pallet and form is awesome. My eyes are attracted to it.

 

[uart]

Production people need to work their drills for time, efficiency, and thousands of holes.

Very true. And that's why there's not really one sfm that suits all applications. Outlawmws's table is based on about 50 spf for low carbon steel whereas yours (and many others I've seen) seem to be based on about 70 to 100+ sfm for the same material.

I suspect that outlawmws's table is on the conservative side - more suited to home workshop or prototyping - while the tables giving the higher 100+ figures are probably more geared towards production scenarios.

The other issue for the home workshop situation as I mentioned previously, was about not always being 100% sure of exactly what hardness steel (or even what alloy) we're drilling. This for me is the main reason to want to favor the more conservative sfm figures.

I think however that if you're pretty confident that you really have plain low carbon steel,then you can probably abandon the very conservative figures and drill up to 1/2" diameter on a 580 - 600 RPM drill press. This is based on the majority of sfm recommendations above that recommend around 70 to 100+ sfm for mild steel. (Note that 1/2" at 580 to 600 RPM is about 75 sfm).

 

[Itinerant]

I'm restoring it's identical twin as we speak.

Do you have a thread chronicling your progress? I'd love to see some pictures.

Itinerant, congrats on the new old DP.

BTW I love this logo photo. Something about the color pallet and form is awesome. My eyes are attracted to it.

Thank you, I have a couple of other old CMan items but this badge and color combo is far and away my favorite.