Yet Another Craftsman 150 Drill Press Revival

[mindofone]

I picked this up from a Craigslist seller. It’s a 1966 ‘Late Model’ Craftsman 150 Drill Press (113-24511) made by Emerson Electric. With the threat of public shaming for not starting a GJ thread since joining, I have attempted to outline my restoration of this wonderful drill press. I paid $150 for the drill press – including a partial delivery (half way to me) from the seller. Despite the fact that I live in a major metro area, there are surprisingly few ‘vintage’ tools that come on the market here. Either that, or I‘m just not looking in the right place which is either a blessing or a curse?

The drill press came equipped with a period-correct (whatever that means) Westinghouse 315P 164-A 1/3 HP, 1725 RPM electric motor and the associated Westinghouse Motor Snap Switch that was mounted on a simple piece of aluminum extrusion, bolted to the motor support bracket.

Although dusty, grimy, dirty and surface-rusty (also with an assortment of mud dauber nests for free), the drill press was in surprisingly good shape for being 50 years old. I’d like to think it lead a sheltered life. My goal was to give it a good cleanup, and run it as-is. Although I am quite envious of other people’s total restorations, I would almost be more afraid to actually use a drill press (or other garage tool) that was too nice looking. Invariably, I’m going to mess it up.

I also like to have everything on-hand before I begin a project, so after reading through pages and pages of other people’s threads (with copious thanks to FrankLee and David Doan), I ordered up some new bearings, new electrical wiring (the original was so poorly presented that I never thought of plugging the drill press in to see if it worked for fear of electrocution). A new belt was a necessary buy too, as the old one was WELL past its prime. The drill press had a drill bit already in the chuck, but no chuck key. How the drill bit survived unbroken in the chuck during the move after I acquired it is anyone’s guess! So, I ordered a used K3 Jacobs Chuck Key (two actually) off eBay and decided I would get some new stainless fasteners instead of reusing the old ones.

Items required for teardown:

PB Blaster
Miscellaneous sockets, wrenches and flat-head screwdrivers (including a general-purpose ‘junk’ screwdriver that surprisingly found many uses above and beyond just loosening screws )
2x4 chunk of wood
Broom Handle – cut down
BFH
Plastic Gloves
More PB Blaster

The first order of business was tearing down the head assembly. Although before I could dig into the head, I removed all electrical switch and wiring for the motor. That put aside, it was time to remove the electric motor and motor support bracket. I was met with an extensive amount of rust on the motor support bracket bolts. I figured it was time to use a little liquid persuasion, and so I began a thorough loosening procedure with PB Blaster. I’m pretty certain it would have been impossible to remove any number of parts from this drill press without something like PB Blaster.

After a few hours to let the PB Blaster do its stuff, I resumed disassembly of the head. I placed a small plank of wood on the drill press table to help support anything that might fall downward. That was my thinking, anyway.

Each of the quill lock screw holes on either side of the head had been filled in with some sort of chalky caulking material. As a result, those screws were not accessible to the previous owner. Weird. The holes got scraped out and after a quick tap of a hammer on the screw driver, both screws came out. I noted the suggestion that these screws be replaced with 8-32x3/4 socket cap screws.

I removed the locks, handles, bolts, and other necessary bits from the head assembly and using a set of curved needle nose pliers, I unhooked the feed return spring and prepared to remove the quill assembly by pulling it down and out of the head. However, it was stuck, and would go up, and down, but would not come all the way out. After a little persuasion with a 2x4 piece; a cut-down broom handle and a BFH, the quill assembly slid out of the spindle pulley and both were removed from the head assembly. A little further inspection revealed that the upper splined portion of the spindle was somewhat corroded, and was sticking inside the spindle pulley. Most certainly a candidate for cleaning and polishing. The good news is, somewhere along the line both bearing assemblies had been replaced with some nice sealed bearings which are in excellent condition. I guess I have some spare bearings to keep on the shelf.

I also took note of the warning to NOT loosen or remove the lock handle until the drill press head assembly was either on the ground or otherwise supported as (a) it’s pretty heavy, and (2) guaranteed to crash down and likely damage a number of things and hands. As it turns out, the head assembly was more or less stuck on the pole – it would move a few inches up, and a few inches down, but not come off the top of the pole. I resorted to lowering the head assembly (now empty) and sanding to pole at the top to try and remove any and all rust and corrosion that was keeping the head from sliding off. Success eventually prevailed, but was much harder to come by that I would have thought.

I didn’t have a short enough tool to punch out the spiral screw ‘things’ that hold the Craftsman aluminum band on the head, and so used a small Allen wrench and a hammer to push each out. Fancy.

Items required for the Cleaning:

Mineral Spirits (non-odor)
Acetone
Wirewheel Disc on a Benchtop Grinder
Heavy-Duty Scotch-Brite pads
Brass Wire Brush
Shop Rags/Blue Paper Towels
Medium-size plastic tub

The Quill assembly was coated on the upper portion with very old oil/grease baked-on residue gunk. That portion of the quill remains hidden inside the head, so at first I wasn’t going to do anything about it. However… after cleaning everything else metallic on the wire wheel, I let myself polish up the quill top. Then the middle. Then down near the chuck. Then the chuck. I was holding the quill assembly with both hands, and very shortly the chuck and spindle were rotating as fast as the wire wheel. In hindsight, probably not a smart thing to do, but the bearings were super quiet, and I felt no resistance. So, that part of the assembly is now well tested

 

[mindofone]

The wire wheel on a grinder is quite possibly one of the most entertaining tools that I own. Cleaning up otherwise dingy and unpleasing metal to a nice industrial shine was quite addicting. In fact, I found myself looking all over the garage for other things to clean up. I decided to have at a small Yamaha piston that I’ve wanted to have on my desk for a long time. After the wire wheel (and softening the knife edges on the bottom of the piston) it is transformed into quite the desk toy. Bonus!

My intent with all the hardware was to just clean it up and reuse. However, since I wanted to replace the quick lock screws with the suggested hex-head screws (in stainless), I thought it wise to also pick up a number of stainless bolts, nuts and washers for the rest of the drill press.

New Parts List:

Spindle Pulley Retainer Screws
8-32x34” hex socket cap screws [stainless] x2

Motor Support Bracket Bolts
5/16x1” Bolt [stainless] x4
5/16 Hex Nut [stainless] x4
5/16 Washer [stainless] x8

Motor Support Threaded Stud - Rubber Grommet
5/8” OD x 17/64” ID
5/16” Thickness
15/32” Groove Diameter
1/16” Groove Width

Motor Support Bracket Adjustment Cap Screw
5/16x3/4” Bolt [stainless] x2

Westinghouse Switch Box – Rubber Grommets
1-1/8” OD x 23/32 ID

V-Belt – Autozone Duralast #17455 (Cogged belt; 45.5” long)

Spindle & Quill washers/Gaskets
O-Ring - 5/8” ID x 1” OD x 3/16” CS
O-Ring - 1-5/8” ID x 2” OD x 3/16” CS


For the threaded stud that is used for the motor support plate bottom ‘stop’ I picked up a suitable rubber grommet to replace the hard rubber bump stop. My replacement is perhaps slightly too thick. Still works though.

The pole, still attached to the base, was quite rusty and since I had absolutely no ability to turn it on some sort of DIY lathe assembly (not to mention the pole was stuck in the base with little chance of removal), I opted to get out my hand-held sander and sand off the rust and grime. This worked very well. Soon the spirals seams of the steel used to make the pole became apparent. The pole was mostly clean, and rather than polishing to a mirror shine I decided to leave it a little black in places and only give attention to those areas that would be in the vertical movement area of the table (and head as well, although I have no need to move the head assembly). Time for a break.

At this point, I turned my attention to the motor, and the motor support bracket assembly. The outer casing of the motor is pretty grimy, and there was a least one large mud dauber nest inside the housing assembly. I contemplated getting a treadmill motor and controller for a conversion (it’s true what they say about treadmills being free for the asking on craigslist), but I’m not sure I want all that flexibility and increased complexity at this point. Not to mention that I cannot remove the motor pulley assembly just yet.

Someone had placed an odd metallic sticker on the starter capacity cover. I’m thinking it was repaired at some point, but took the cover off the start capacitor to check it. Seems to be an original from 1965, but shows no signs of trauma. I’ve got a capacitor ESR meter, but there may be bigger fish to fry, and the bottom bearing in the motor sounds very scratchy. Hmmm, time to crack open the motor and check it out.

The Westinghouse 315P motor, as it turns out, doesn’t have typical bearing assemblies, but two small metal ‘flaps’ that allow oil to be dropped into a fibrous material that lines part of what would be the inner bearing surface. From a more modern Westinghouse catalog: “The Westinghouse sleeve bearing design features the most advanced system available. Special wicking materials assure the bearing surfaces are constantly supplied with clean oil. Even distribution of the lubricant is provided by grooves in the bearing surface. Oil slingers at each end of the bearing return the oil to the reservoir. This Westinghouse system means less lubrication maintenance during the life of the motor.” I guess that will work!

As I couldn’t get the motor pulley assembly off the motor shaft, and I was loath to put too much pressure on the pulley and have it break, I left the top cover of the motor intact, and removed what I could via the bottom cover. I cleaned all the motor contacts (very dirty and tarnished), cleaned and reassembled the motor. As I still need to grab a few items in order to fully re-wire the switch and the motor, I simply hooked the motor up to a hot & neutral power cable and with my safety goggles on, waited to see what happened. Nothing. Unplugged, rechecked, and when I plugged it back in, I could hear that typical electric motor ‘hum’ but no movement. Giving the pulley assembly a nudge with my foot, the motor came to life and quietly rotated with a blissful exuberance. The motor housing and assembly still looks dreadful though. Although I could carefully clean, mask and repaint over the course of a day or two, I’d like to think that job could be done at a later time if necessary.

I decided to let the motor run (unloaded) for several minutes, then 15 minutes, and then about 30 minutes (all supervised mind you). Since this was a perfect opportunity, I concocted a brilliant(!) tool made out of a thin piece of wood and a Scotch-Brite pad in order to polish the aluminum pulley while the motor was running. Worked like a charm, and also reminded me that there was a nick on one of the outer pulley surfaces that would likely turn a belt into shreds after a few minutes. A quick filing, and all was good and I called it a night.

As luck would have it, the very next morning I happened upon a treadmill in my neighborhood that was left out for the trash. I circled back, and promptly liberated the motor and controller board. The motor with its flywheel/fan is likely 40 lbs! I may keep them for a later upgrade or other project.

Next!

 

[mindofone]

After cleaning up the table, it is apparent that the top area near the pole is far too rusted to leave. So, this will be one of two items that I will repaint (well three, but who’s counting). My drill press was originally delivered in Black or Dark Grey – I can’t really tell, but having seen one restored with Rust-Oleum Black Hammered paint, it appeared to be an almost exact mach. Nice! There were two lock-down washer/bolt assemblies on the table. Both very badly rusted, and although one could be freed, I had to cut off the other with my handy Dremel tool.

I sanded down and cleaned up the table as best as I could – the underside was almost new looking, so I didn’t touch it. Masked off the pole mounting area, the chuck key hole, and the mounting/adjusting hole(s) and placed the table on the floor sitting on a piece of 2x4 to allow full coverage of paint down the sides. Left it to dry overnight and it was looking really good.

The motor support bracket assembly was covered in rust. This was item #2 to tackle, but the steel pivoting rods that are inserted into the head assembly proved impossible to remove until a friendly bit of instruction from FrankLee indicated I simply needed to punch them out. Job done, I sanded, cleaned and painted with the Rust-Oleum Black Hammered paint. Painted right over the unevenness left by some corrosion, and whatever caked-on rust was left. Came out pretty nice considering. Tapped the pins back into the mounting rods, and that was it.

Now I had a problem of aesthetics, not one of mechanics. As noted, my original goal was to perform a ‘sympathetic’ restoration on this drill press – not to make it like new or better than new. Now I had a very distinct mismatch between the table, the motor support bracket, and everything else. The head still looks really good in its original paint, but that base…

I shot as much PB Blaster into any and all seams and crevices in the base, and after a couple of days, I inserted a large bolt into the existing threaded hole used to tighten the base to the pole. With a couple of quick whacks with a BFH, I leaned the pole/base assembly over and used said BFH to hit the pole edges where it exited from the base bottom. This seemed to free it up just enough, that when placed back on the ground, I was able to twist the pole out of the base. Success!

Despite the (then) 100% outside humidity and cold temperatures, I proceeded to sand, clean (with Acetone) and then paint the base. Same process as the table, except that I had to then bring the base inside the house overnight to dry. The wife loved it. I might need to rig up a portable pant booth for the garage though. That hammered black paint looks pretty sharp. I might need to paint some other tools.

Getting closer, so with the decision to retain the vintage Westinghouse switch box and aluminum extrusion mount, I clear-coated the Westinghouse box to keep its original grey and rust patina. I used some 18 gauge 3-wire electric cord from Home Depot to wire into the box (including a ground wire that was not present when I purchased the drill press), and added some rubber grommets to the top and bottom opening of the switch box. Should help with cord abrasion.

I then returned to the Spindle Assembly. I realize the splined top of the Spindle Assembly should have an almost interference fit with the Spindle Pulley Assembly. However, both parts should move in and out of each other with little resistance. My parts were having none of that, so it was time to break out the Dremel rotary tool. With a small wire brush, I was able to remove almost all of the corrosion that was down in the spindle channels, as well as any potential abrasion in the pulley female splines. Not perfect, but with a little lubrication, I think it will work.

Although I purchased a new O-ring to use as a replacement for the upper spindle washer, I could not get the Spindle Collar off the shaft. The good news is, the washer itself seems to be in fine condition (possibly replaced at some point in its life), so I left it as-is. The O-ring replacement for the Quill gasket was slid down the quill body and rests on top of the snap ring.

At this point, with all the metal parts cleaned and polished, the table and the base painted, the motor cleaned and tested, I had no other excuses and decided it was time for reassembly.

The pole, having been sitting in the garage for a few weeks at this point had some flash rust on it – not to mention some corrosion near where it entered the base assembly (the area that would otherwise be inside the base was spotless and very shiny silver steel – I guess I can assume it is air-tight in there). Another hit with the hand sander and some finish work by hand and the pole was looking pretty good.

Starting with the freshly paint base, I reinstalled the pole with a liberal amount of Molybdenum grease coating all surfaces in the base. I think I have had the same container of Molybdenum grease for 30+ years – good stuff! Once in place, it was time for a liberal amount of Johnson’s Paste Wax to both protect and lubricate. Next, the table with the nicely cleaned/polished locking assembly.

Rather than use grease for the reassembly, I took the advice of others and grabbed some Anti-Seize lubricant. I likely used far too much on all rotating parts, but if the need ever arises to disassemble this drill press in 50 years, I can almost guarantee that little or no PB Blaster will be necessary :^0

I required some assistance getting the lock in place for the table, while I was supporting the table. I decided to ask for the same assistance when reinstalling the head assembly. Very much necessary, as that head is really heavy after 30 seconds of holding it in place! A note for anyone else curious about the paint match – the Rust-Oleum Black Hammered paint is a close match – but not exact to the original Craftsman (1966 Emerson) Black color. The Rust-Oleum is a tad bit lighter.

Although I invariably miss a key detail in the photos I take during teardown, I had suitable photos of the motor support bracket to give me a good idea where I needed to mount the motor on the plate in order to get the two pulleys aligned. Using my new stainless (and standardized ½” bolt/nut assemblies), I got the motor mounted to the support bracket.

I whipped out the Anti-Seize lubricant and made sure to place it in all machined crevices in the head assembly – including the motor support shaft holes. Placed the motor assembly on the head and noted that my pulley alignment was almost spot-on. I installed the new V-Belt and proceeded to fine-tune the motor (and thus motor pulley) placement to be in the same plane as the Spindle drive pulley.

Remounted the Westinghouse electrical switch (now with my standardized ½” stainless bolts and nuts) and finished wiring the switch to the motor.

The Quill Assembly and the hub & pinion took a couple of trial fits for me to remember how it all came out. I pulled and placed the pinion spring back over the tab inside the head and interfaced the Quill and pinion while simultaneously installing the Quill Pulley assembly. With plenty of anti-Seize lubricant on all sliding surfaces, the Quill moved up and down nicely, and rotated with ease.

Turned it on, and after a short time, the motor sprang to life and instant drill press! Although I have not yet measured it, it appears to have very little runout, which is a relief. Now to find some things that need drilling.

Also a suggestion from a certain GJ member is to polish the chuck assembly as the drill press is operating. Since I now had a functional drill press, I whipped-out my handy thin piece of wood and Scotch-Brite pad and made quick work of the rotating chuck. I have the head assembly a once over with a nice coating of Johnson’s paste wax, and with a quick tap of the hammer to reattach the Craftsman band on the head assembly, I was done. Dare I say it took me three months to complete?

 

[mindofone]

Some Things Remaining to Be Done.

The motor’s start capacitor is likely not keeping any sort of charge, and will not start the motor on every flick of the power switch. I should probably replace it in the near-term.

The Quill Assembly does not spring back upwards – I’m thinking it should. Must investigate the pinion feed return spring and see if it needs to be loaded before installing it in the head assembly? (or better yet – I should RTFM as it is explained in the operating instructions. "If the automatic feed return fails to return the chuck to the top of the stroke or if the return action becomes sluggish, the tension may be adjusted as follows: Lock the chuck at the top of its stroke using the quill lock handle. Hold the feed return adjusting knob firmly and release the feed return adjusting knob lock screw, Fig. 1. Turn the adjusting knob counter-clockwise and re-tighten the lock screw. Release the quill lock handle and run the chuck down. If spring tension is still not sufficient repeat the above adjustment until it is."

The table work area is still painted, and I was expecting to sand it to bare metal. But I also plan on having some sort of sacrificial (wood most likely) cover on the table, so I won’t even see the nice bare metal. Something to think about.

A moveable stand. I think I need a moveable stand for two reasons – to make the drill press moveable (surprise!) and to raise the overall height of it. I’m 6’2”, and despite the fact that I always wear safety goggles, while standing at the drill press, I am looking right at the belt whipping around the pulleys, and too many rotating things near my head is a bit distracting.

A Light. I considered added a light within the head assembly as I have seen others install. I thought about adding an electrical tap off the switch box so that the light could be switched on and off separately from the drill press itself. However, I think I will just purchase a small clamp on or magnetic light (likely LED) and have it powered and switched separately. Just keeps things simple, and I can use a single power outlet for both items.

A table-mounted fence. Likely nothing more complicated than about 12” of angle iron with mount holes so it can be bolted down to the table. Something I will look at making – now that I have a drill press.

Pulley Speed Chart. I will clean up and print out the Pulley Speed chart and laminate it for a general reference item for the garage.

V-Belt. In the limited time I’ve used the drill press, I believe the V-Belt is stretching a little bit from general use and break-in. I might need to investigate a slightly shorter belt, as I may be near the end of my adjustment length.

 

[nine4gmc]

Great job, the return spring should be able to wind up, read through the manual and see how it works or visit Frank Lee's Craftsman Drill Press Thread..

 

[FrankLee]

Very nicely done and excellent write-up! It's interesting to see your approach on issues I've never seen. Thanks for sharing your work.

 

[Davefr]

Some Things Remaining to Be Done.

A moveable stand. I think I need a moveable stand for two reasons – to make the drill press moveable (surprise!) and to raise the overall height of it. I’m 6’2”, and despite the fact that I always wear safety goggles, while standing at the drill press, I am looking right at the belt whipping around the pulleys, and too many rotating things near my head is a bit distracting.

Great thread!!

Be very careful if you plan to make a mobile stand that adds height. That could be an accident just waiting to happen on a top heavy item like a floor model DP.

I'd use a stool instead of raising the already top heavy DP.

I've seen stands that use outrigger style casters and only raise up the DP while it's being moved however I wouldn't do it.

 

[GarageDog]

I've been casually shopping for a 150 for a year or two. This thread inspired me to take a look at my local CL offerings, its been a few months.
Long story short, one had just been posted a few hours before my search - located about 20 minutes away!
Not quite as good a deal as yours, but a complete, solid, unmolested, working specimen!
Now, just need to figure out how to get it out of the back of my car.
Now my vintage Wilton has a garagemate

Thanks for posting!

 

[M6erfan]

I love these resto threads. Excellent Job! Thanks for sharing!

 

[smalltown]

Nice write up and photos. Thanks

 

[mindofone]

Thanks. Glad I could inspire someone else!

And while obvious to most everyone but me, yes, once I pulled the Pinon hub out and 'wound' it counter-clockwise, I was able to get the Quill Assembly to retract back into the head as it should.

 

[bubinga]

Nice Job, Yeah, it was pretty rough before,
Cleaned up nice.

 

[bike4two]

Could you confirm exactly what color of blue you used for the main body parts.

My brother just recently gave me our dad's old Craftsman 150 model 103.24501 bench DP, he really wasn't using.

Don't know how much I'll restore it. I wan't to at least clean it all up and paint the main body parts the original blue as it appears you did.

 

[mindofone]

Could you confirm exactly what color of blue you used for the main body parts.

My brother just recently gave me our dad's old Craftsman 150 model 103.24501 bench DP, he really wasn't using.

Don't know how much I'll restore it. I wan't to at least clean it all up and paint the main body parts the original blue as it appears you did.

Huh, I guess it could look a little 'blue' in the photos, but all parts on the DP when I received it were grey. I repainted the base, table & motor mount using Rust-Oleum Black Hammered. The head assembly was just cleaned up and I did not paint it.