My drill press restoration

Jeff Horton

Member
Messages
4,272
Location
The Heart of Dixie
Now it's going to look like I am copying Stu.:rolleyes: But I have been planing on restoring my two Craftsman Drill presses for a while now. Just so happens Stu was just a couple of weeks ahead of me.

Craftsman model 103.2314 Based on the other machines I got I am assuming this one dates to late 40's to early 50's. It's hard to date most craftsman machines. I do know it was made by King Sealy for Sears. I found what appears to be an identical machine in the '49 catalog.

BEFORE PHOTOS
100_7409.jpg100_7410.jpg100_7411.jpg


This is what it looked liked today when I started disassembly. If you notice in the third photo this drill press had a jack shaft in it. I found it listed as an accessory in the catalog. Claims to be able to slow the spindle down to 200 RPM' or as fast as 15,000! :eek: Don't think I will test that and see if it true. I hate replacing smoked bearings. ;)

I started taking it apart and that was rather simple. No real surprises. And Stu, your jack on the table trick came in handy! The column was loose and started out but would only go so far and stop. The jack was the ticket.

100_7420.JPG

Here is it all in pieces. I still have more disassembly to do but this is the major pieces. I know the jack shaft bearing is worn out. Makes a horrible noise! I also found it is broken and not sure if I can repair it of not. If not, I may just swap the motor out for a 3 phase and then I could have variable speed and stil have the low speeds for the big forstner bits.

100_7422.jpg

Here we can see the original color. Guess what? It was gray! :rofl: :thumb:

100_7424.jpg

The head is currently in the tank being electrocuted. I put extra laundry detergent in there hoping it will loosen up all the dirt that was in there too. Thats the dirtiest machine I have ever torn down. BTW that is old rust in the tank from some previous project. I just add more water since the chemicals stay in there.

I think that is it for the day. I woke up extremely early and now I am tired.
 
Don't know how you could be copying ME as you at the one who does all these wonderful restorations on old arn :thumb:

Boy that is a nice looking DP, back when Sears meant good tools eh?

Keep the pics coming, this will be fun to watch! :wave:
 
Work is keeping me out of the Lab, but when you self employed that is a good thing. OK, I would rather be in the shop but I need income.

I pulled the head out of the soup and got it primed and painted. Yea, I had to go with the original color, GRAY. It matches all the other machines. :p Actually it's just what I had and it is close to the original color. So it's simpler than trying to choice a color.

painting1.jpg

Dunked the base in the soup. I flipped it over to do the other half since it is a little bit bigger than the tank. I saw a bathtub on the side of the road today and I have to admit I was tempted. I was thinking what great tank it would make. :D But I would want to keep it out back and I think the LOML would have something to say about that, so I didn't stop.

tanked2.jpg

Jeff
 
Jeff,

Here's a pic when we stopped to catch some waves on the way home, still looks happy! :rofl:
 

Attachments

  • surfing.jpg
    surfing.jpg
    27.9 KB · Views: 20
Making some progress

OK here is the latest update. I decided it would simpler to put the head back together on the post. I could put it eye level and see what I was doing. Plus it would be stable. Before I could do that I need to clean the post, the table and base and have them painted and ready to be mounted. Here they are.

painting2.jpg painting3.jpg

Mean time I had to decide how to clean up the column. I wanted to spin it on the lathe but my lathe bed it short. I decided on a steady rest made form roller blade wheels. Being that this was a two time use. (I have another drill press to restore) I didn't want to put a lot of work into it.

I did a little measuring and found the center line and put a board and drew it all out. I made it so the column sat down in between the wheels so I (hopefully) wouldn't need a third wheel. I wanted the weight of tube to hold it in place. I could a piece of angle I had laying around the barn. Grabbed some c-clamps and here it is.

column.jpg column1.jpg column2.jpg column3.jpg

I had it come off the chuck twice, no bid deal. Just scares you. I changed the jaws and now it's good. I can't get this one shiny new looking. It has a rough finish on it and there is some black down in these spots that will not come out without actually grinding it down in size. But I like old machines to look old, just not rusty. So this is going to turn out good.

I hope to put all this stuff together tonight. Then I can start cleaning the internal parts and start putting it back together Saturday.
 
Last edited:
Got a little bit more done before my feet gave out. Concrete floors are rough on your feet for sure!

I got the post as clean as I could. All the stains from the rust would just not come out. I think I will try electrolysis on the next one and see if looks any better. Put the parts back together and started assembling the head.

This is the first one I have restored with chrome parts on it. I wasn't sure of the best way to clean them but I decided to try just polishing them. I was very happy with the results. Of course to be really good they need to be rechromed. But here are a couple of photos.

handle1.jpghandle2.jpg

I cleaned and installed most of the parts in the head. I ran into a problem with the upper pulley fitting back over the splined shaft so I have the spindle back out. It came apart no problem but now the splines want to stick and I am not sure why. My feet hurt so bad I just quit for the night. Will work on it Saturday.

assembly1.jpg

Jeff
Who needs more anti-fatigue mats in his shop
 
Jeff

Looking GREAT!

By the way, I don't know where I read it but someone who had foot trouble made himself a pair of "shop shoes" by cutting some anti-fatigue matting and gluing it to the soles of the shoes. So he was always walking on a fatigue mat (can't remember if he used one or two layers)

Might be worth a try

Jay
 
Jeff

Looking GREAT!

By the way, I don't know where I read it but someone who had foot trouble made himself a pair of "shop shoes" by cutting some anti-fatigue matting and gluing it to the soles of the shoes. So he was always walking on a fatigue mat (can't remember if he used one or two layers)

Might be worth a try

Jay

redwing boots have never given me tired feet;)
 
Tod,

I got a pair of Red Wings about 5 months ago, and about a month ago, I took them in to get maintenance, Red Wing will clean and waterproof them for you. These boots were pretty covered in coal dust/soot and dirt from the blacksmith shop I wear them at.

Unfortunately I dropped them off at night and the brainiacs in the morning thought the boots were in to get resoled, and they shipped them off to another store. Nobody knew where they were, and a week went by, which became a problem for me as the weekend I was in Tahoe and it was friggin' col without the boots.

During this time, they felt bad and the girl said she would give me a belt I was looking at, but they didn't have the one I liked in my size so she said she's order it. The belt did in fact come to my house, so I got a $35 belt for free.

Finally, they tracked down another pair for me, as I started getting upset after a week. BTW, I love the boots! These boots are AWESOME! They got a pair of boots from back east and had them FedEx'd out. Getting new boots was not without going through the breaking in period, but at least I had boots again (I can't go to the blacksmith without steel toed boots).

Here's the kicker.

The boots were discontinued and Red Wing had them on clearance for 70% off. I love the boots, lined with Gor-Tex, wide size that I need...the only thing is they were 8" rather than the 6" I was interested in. So, I get a pair of Red Wings that list for $185 for $55. Then they give me a free belt for $35. If the boots show up, I get the old ones also...(they're confident they'll show up) would be funny if they come back with new soles on them, that the brainiacs did actually re-sole them...and I told my wife, pretty soon they'll be paying me to wear their boots...

And I will be very honest...I would buy the boots for $185, they really are that nice of a boot. I'm afraid to take them in for maintenance, no matter how dirty they get...:doh:

+1 of the Red Wings, I have to give them the nod on customer service. And they're one of the last boots made in America, FWIW. America still knows how to make work boots. The plus is that they're super comfy and mine with the steel toes are safe.;)
 
I've got a pair of Redwings I've had for about 10 years, they are still going strong. I had them resoled once, by a shoe shop, they did a great job. They are the half length cowboy, kind of slip on work boots, round toe, low heel, they are some of the most comfortable boots I've ever owned.

They were a puke burgundy color, but as they were an extra large size (in Japan, about a 9 1/2) they were in a damaged box, in the markdown bin, I picked them up for about $25 :eek:

I took them home and got some shoe dye, and dyed them black, as I was using them on the motor bike and most of my gear was black.

I cannot say enough good things about them boots, if I lost them, I'd pay full price for another pair, but I'd sure miss them, they are like an old friend :D

Jay, that idea about the anti fatigue soles is a great one, I might do that to a pair of older sneaker and try them out in the Dungeon.

Oh yeah Jeff, get some more mats, you bod will thank you! :wave:
 
Your story about your Redwings reminds me of the old (not suitable for family viewing) story about the boy with the duck. :)

I love Redwings. I've always worked on my feet and mostly on concrete floors. I used to buy USPS approved Redwing's (postman shoes) - shop rated with steel toe caps. A new pair of Dr Scholl's insoles 2 or 3 times a year and my feet were happy campers.

Cute story about fatigue mats. My foreman at one time was a nice young Cumbrian (England, near Scottish border) with a very broad accent. I brought a fatigue mat to put in front of my bench. Jeff asked what it was. I told him it was a fatigue mat. He looked puzzled for a second or two then he burst out laughing - "What're you going to do? Take naps on it?" :D

Treat your feet well and you'll be better off for it.
 
Rounding third headed for home!

Closing in on this one. Got the motor painted and cleaned up today. It had the cool metal polished band around the center of the motor. Unfortunatly it was so rusty that there was no way I could clean it up. So I choose to paint it flat black. That hides the pitting.

motor.jpg

I have the motor mount in the soup pot. Once it come out and get painted I can finish this one up. I need to pick up a belt to replace one of the old ones and pick up a length of cable for the power. The one on it is 2 wire so there is no way to connect a ground and I just refuse to have a machine in my shop without a ground!

almost_done.jpg

And it's not really blue. My silly camera renders this gray blue looking with the flash.

Jeff
 
Top