School me on this Drill Press

[ClayW]

What is this thing, how old is it, and how much is it worth?

All the parts moved, though I didn't get to test the motor. Obviously, it needs quite a bit of TLC.

What do you think?

 

[evintho]

Where's the motor?

 

[A_Pmech]

That's not a drill press, it's a drill press shaped project.

 

[cnc-me]

Table looks good...

 

[930dreamer]

Looks like it ran from a belt and a steam engine.

 

[Frank The Plumber]

Most likely ran off of a tractor or small utility engine like a Sandwich. In the olden days a farm would have a drive unit in the form of a small engine or a tractor. You would pull the unit or tractor up to he machine and run some drive belts to it and away we go.

WE did not have electricity or inverters that could make or convert power. We used an engine to power multiple driven tools. In many cases the power unit would be steam, it could burn wood or coal.

A drill press is a rarified find. Restore it or find someone who has a love for it in it's proper form, do not butcher it. I have been to many small engine shows, I have never seem a drill press.

http://www.oldengine.org/members/sandwich/

Go check out the cool old stuff from pop pop's time.

 

[Outlawmws]

It's probably about a hundred years old or so. If cheap I'd buy it as an interesting project to restore, but I'm like that sometimes. As a "daily driver" you should probably walk.

The motor is on the floor hidden by the stepped flat belt pulley. So it has maybe 4 speeds.

 

[rsanter]

its cool but it better be really cheap or Id pass

bob

 

[blue dog]

It ran on leather belts from a central motor, look up camel back drill press or buffalo forge. They are very cool and desirable to the right people.

 

[ClayW]

What's considered cheap for something like this? The asking price was $225, but there was zero interest in it. I love industrial overkill, but this might be too much. That being said, I hate to pass on a piece if history.

 

[Outlawmws]

A collector might pay that much, but it does look like it is missing a few bits and pieces. Seems pretty high to me. I might go for maybe $100?

Hard to price some thing without putting hands on. if the quill/spindle area needs attention it's probably all Babbitt. so that would need re-done which also means making sure the spindle winds up perpendicular to the work table. Not a simple task.

How much wear on those exposed gears? Is the motor operational, and is its insulation in good shape inside? What does it run on - single phase or three? All open questions, and probably just the tip of the ice berg...

 

[WhoWhatNow]

A camel back drill press. Most likely from the turn of the century. I think there are one or two in the “show us your drill press” thread. It looks like there are a lot of bits missing from that one. Here are two for sale in my area. The one in NJ has been on CL for several months so I wouldn’t put too much stock in the prices.

http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/tls/2838909067.html

http://allentown.craigslist.org/tls/2848433616.html

I think they are cool looking but a bit impractical for anyone without a large shop.

 

[larry_g]

That press was originally driven by a line shaft. If you search on lineshaft shop you will come up with links like this, http://www.oldengine.org/members/levans/lineshaft/index.html

The prime mover of the lineshaft would be a waterwheel, steam engine, IC engine or electric in later years. All the machines in the shop or factory would have a belt to connect the lineshaft to the machine. As you look through the lineshaft pictures notice the shifter on the machine or the lineshaft to shift the belt from a drive/driven pulley to an idler pulley that would remove the power from the machine while the lineshaft continued to turn.

If you look on the floor behind the press you will see a couple of pulleys that look as it they could have been on the lineshaft.

lg
no neat sig line