Solid column

[Old carpenter]

Howdy all. Just signed up and here's my first post. I just bought an old Craftsman Monitor style bench top drill press. It's missing a few things but figured I'd use some parts and pieces on another one I have. I was surprised it had a middle pulley assembly, used to attain slower speeds. When I loaded the drill press in my truck I was surprised at how heavy it is. When I disassembled it I learned that the column is solid! Anyone ever seen that before? I have not. I look forward to hearing from anyone.

 

[Old Man Roger]

Wow! That’s got to be a home brew mod.

 

[Ohio Andy]

So you figured you'd come out the gate? Swinging and post a hard question

I'm hoping that we can get some pictures up here and I'm guessing you have to make a few more posts before you can post photos. I don't remember how that works.

My Google Foo was not good today. I'm not sure what you really have. I do have a specific model number?

I noticed that someone posted on the forum here or they were tearing down a full size. One is very old and has really sleek lines to it. Kind of cool.

I have one at home. But I'm not at home so I couldn't begin to tell you the model number.

Looking forward to some other people's responses.

Welcome to garage journal.

 

[Old carpenter]

It very well could be. The top of the column is drilled and tapped to accept the shaft for the middle pulley, and the hole is off set (for adjustment?). The whole column would have to rotate to adjust the middle pulley. Regardless, the added mass to the drill press is a nice touch, until one has to move it around the shop...!

 

[Old carpenter]

So you figured you'd come out the gate? Swinging and post a hard question

I'm hoping that we can get some pictures up here and I'm guessing you have to make a few more posts before you can post photos. I don't remember how that works.

My Google Foo was not good today. I'm not sure what you really have. I do have a specific model number?

I noticed that someone posted on the forum here or they were tearing down a full size. One is very old and has really sleek lines to it. Kind of cool.

I have one at home. But I'm not at home so I couldn't begin to tell you the model number.

Looking forward to some other people's responses.

Welcome to garage journal.

Thank you for the response. I'll try to post some pics soon. I also have some questions about an Atlas/Craftsman I'm working on as well. I'll post as soon as I can word the question clearly.

 

[Old carpenter]

Wow! That’s got to be a home brew mod.

It very well could be. The top of the column is drilled and tapped to accept the shaft for the middle pulley, and the hole is off set (for adjustment?). The whole column would have to rotate to adjust the middle pulley. Regardless, the added mass to the drill press is a nice touch, until one has to move it around the shop...!

 

[Ohio Andy]

Thank you for the response. I'll try to post some pics soon. I also have some questions about an Atlas/Craftsman I'm working on as well. I'll post as soon as I can word the question clearly.

Excellent, they have an entire forum just for vintage tools...

Some of the people here are just totally blowing me away. I look at something and I go hey what's this.... I'm like literally 3 minutes later someone's telling me who made it when it was made where it was made. What's good about it? What's bad about it..

Vintage Tool Discussion

The place to rap on and on about all things vintage - from wrenches to lathes...

www.garagejournal.com

 

[Old Man Roger]

I’ve had a couple different art deco era craftsman drill presses, none of them had a solid post or a third pulley. My guess is someone was maybe using it as a small mill? I know youre not supposed to, but I’ve milled aluminum using drill presses. Both of your mods would improve them as a quasi mill.

 

[Dave455]

Generally, the better quality the drill, the thicker the column.

Some manufacturers (the very best) did offer solid column’s as standard.

F. O‘Brian and Co. of Swadlincote in the U.K. generally did, and their “Fobco” drills are among the very best. Not just the column, but everything else was manufactured with “no expense spared”.

Most drills, even good ones, have columns that are hollow to a degree.

Of course, the cheapest drills have a very thin wall tube as a column. If you want a quick way to determine the quality of a drill just check the weight of the column!

 

[Old Man Roger]

Generally, the better quality the drill, the thicker the column.

Some manufacturers (the very best) did offer solid column’s as standard.

F. O‘Brian and Co. of Swadlincote in the U.K. generally did, and their “Fobco” drills are among the very best. Not just the column, but everything else was manufactured with “no expense spared”.

Most drills, even good ones, have columns that are hollow to a degree.

Of course, the cheapest drills have a very thin wall tube as a column. If you want a quick way to determine the quality of a drill just check the weight of the column!

I could be wrong, but I would be very surprised if a craftsman drill press from that era had a solid shaft. I think they were more of a home owner type drill press, not really a commercial duty.

 

[Dave455]

I could be wrong, but I would be very surprised if a craftsman drill press from that era had a solid shaft. I think they were more of a home owner type drill press, not really a commercial duty.

I would totally agree!

 

[FrankLee]

Anyone ever seen that before?

YES! I had two. Both were 2-3/4" in diameter by 48" and heavy a f. The columns alone each weighed 80 pounds. Neither were from the factory.

The first was an Atlas 1045.



The second was a Craftsman 100 that left the factory as a bench-top model. Most components were very tight on the column and were a ***** to get off.

 

[dutchgray]

Generally, the better quality the drill, the thicker the column.

Some manufacturers (the very best) did offer solid column’s as standard.

F. O‘Brian and Co. of Swadlincote in the U.K. generally did, and their “Fobco” drills are among the very best. Not just the column, but everything else was manufactured with “no expense spared”.

Most drills, even good ones, have columns that are hollow to a degree.

Of course, the cheapest drills have a very thin wall tube as a column. If you want a quick way to determine the quality of a drill just check the weight of the column!

Add Progress and Meddings to the list of makers who provided solid columns, I have had examples of both such equipped.

 

[Ohio Andy]

YES! I had two. Both were 2-3/4" in diameter by 48" and heavy a f. The columns alone each weighed 80 pounds. Neither were from the factory.

The first was an Atlas 1045.



The second was a Craftsman 100 that left the factory as a bench-top model. Most components were very tight on the column and were a ***** to get off.

You have one of those old cool looking ones that looks aerodynamic. Very nice!

 

[Old Man Roger]

I had that style in a bench top, definitely had a the hollow column.

 

[FrankLee]

I had that style in a bench top, definitely had a the hollow column.

Correct.

All the Atlas and Craftsman 2-3/4" columns were hollow from the factory. It was very obvious that a previous owner swapped them out on my machines. The components did not move easily on the columns and 48” is an awkward height for floor standing drill presses.

Many manufacturers used so-called 2-3/4” diameter columns, but Atlas and King-Seeley Craftsman columns were never 2.7500”.

In my experience, Craftsman columns were smaller than Atlas. I never could install a Craftsman table onto an Atlas column. It didn't fit

 

[FrankLee]

Yes, funny, but true.