Hello, first time poster here on the Garage Journal and have something that perhaps the huge pool of technical gents on the site could help me with or present an opinion. I have an 12 year old Ridgid drill press that apparently now is discontinued. Recently I learned after I needed some bearings that the Ridgid company had decided NOT to keep any parts in stock for this press for customers (like me) to purchase in the event of a failure. Also they could not help me with things like Specs on their catalog of Ridgid parts to make it easier for us to find them in the aftermarket. A BTW any troubleshooting or technical help that was there before went “out the window” with that discontinuence.
That being said my issue here lyes with the vibration I hear and feel at the drilling side of the my press when using larger (2”-3”) hole saws or bits. At first I thought the vibration was the result of bad bearings which was causing drill bits to“walk” from my center punch mark that I had made prior to drilling.
Although the bearing replacement I did on the spindle and pulley did correct the bits from walking the vibration and grinding sound is still present when you exert pressure on the handle, even when using cutting oil.
The spindle pulley is tight and actually did a quick hit with my impact gun. The motor pulley has hardly any wobble to it or weird sounds and I have the 3 pulleys perfectly aligned at their tops and plumb and fitted with new belts.
The only thing I’m not sure about is the following: The fact that when I hold the spindle belt pulley tight where it cant move and I rotate the chuck back and forth it moves like 1/4” making that “click clack” sound. As I see it this means the external male splines on the upper spindle shaft that mate into the interior female splines of the spindle pulley insert (the thing that belt pulley mounts to) has a lot of play in it. After manipulating the chuck quickly in that back and forth way I can understand how this a high speed could possibly be the source of this loud grinding/scraping sound coming from below the spindle pulley?
I’ve been on a lot of sites and the majority of suggestions as to the cause of drill press vibration seem to be targeted at motor bearings, pulleys and loose spindle pulley nuts, etc. However since all the above seem to check out for me, this may be the culprit in my particular situation.
I’d like to hear the opinions of others here on GJ and if they ever heard of this before. It could really help me and possibly others because this could be another cause of a DP vibration issue that could be added to the this list of things that I’ve read about over my search of the cause of mine. Oh BTW, the fact that there are no more parts for the DP (and I checked everywhere) the new spindle and insert that will correct this will have to be made by a tool and die shop. “Thanks Ridgid”!
That being said my issue here lyes with the vibration I hear and feel at the drilling side of the my press when using larger (2”-3”) hole saws or bits. At first I thought the vibration was the result of bad bearings which was causing drill bits to“walk” from my center punch mark that I had made prior to drilling.
Although the bearing replacement I did on the spindle and pulley did correct the bits from walking the vibration and grinding sound is still present when you exert pressure on the handle, even when using cutting oil.
The spindle pulley is tight and actually did a quick hit with my impact gun. The motor pulley has hardly any wobble to it or weird sounds and I have the 3 pulleys perfectly aligned at their tops and plumb and fitted with new belts.
The only thing I’m not sure about is the following: The fact that when I hold the spindle belt pulley tight where it cant move and I rotate the chuck back and forth it moves like 1/4” making that “click clack” sound. As I see it this means the external male splines on the upper spindle shaft that mate into the interior female splines of the spindle pulley insert (the thing that belt pulley mounts to) has a lot of play in it. After manipulating the chuck quickly in that back and forth way I can understand how this a high speed could possibly be the source of this loud grinding/scraping sound coming from below the spindle pulley?
I’ve been on a lot of sites and the majority of suggestions as to the cause of drill press vibration seem to be targeted at motor bearings, pulleys and loose spindle pulley nuts, etc. However since all the above seem to check out for me, this may be the culprit in my particular situation.
I’d like to hear the opinions of others here on GJ and if they ever heard of this before. It could really help me and possibly others because this could be another cause of a DP vibration issue that could be added to the this list of things that I’ve read about over my search of the cause of mine. Oh BTW, the fact that there are no more parts for the DP (and I checked everywhere) the new spindle and insert that will correct this will have to be made by a tool and die shop. “Thanks Ridgid”!