Delta 17-959l upgrades

Dave Black

Member
Messages
638
Location
Central PA
I've had this drill press for a few years and have done some upgrades over the years. I thought I would show what I have done to it. The first thing I did was correct the quill slop that developed a year or so ago. I converted the regular head casting to a split casting by cutting through the front of the head behind the plastic switch cover. This worked well to correct the wiggle I was getting. I installed 2 bolts, the top one is tapped in the head and is for setting tension to take up the play, the second is used with the lever on the side as a quill lock which I like much better than the stock lock. IMG_0905.jpgIMG_0916.jpgIMG_0907.jpg
 
Just after Christmas I changed the stock chuck to a keyless, it was only $35 or so plus the jt33 to mt2 arbor. I really like it, it tightens down on the bit easily, holds tight and is very high quality. , I added dust collection way back that I am still using and works well. Its really simple and relatively cheap. 2" PVC with 3 unions that work as pivot points. I can move the arm up, down, in, out, left, right. It stays right where I put it, the unions can be tightened or loosened to adjust the stiffness, I have a set screw in each union nut that I use to hold the nut where I want it for the right stiffness.
 

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The main upgrade I did was to make this electronic variable speed. I replaced the stock 3/4hp 1 phase motor with a 3/4 3 phase from a booster pump. I wanted something bigger, I was looking for a 1.5hp motor but couldn't find one that was in decent shape. With the torque boost mode on the VFD there is plenty of power with the 3/4hp motor. It is a 3450rpm motor and I have the belts set for a reduction, I believe its set for about a 2:1 reduction right now and I can turn the speed down to 1hz and grab the chuck and the belt will slip before the motor stalls. I am using external controls for the VFD which are all mounted in the switch box of the drill press, the stock start stop switch is wired to start/ stop the VFD, there is a speed potentiometer mounted above that and a small forward/reverse switch on the side( not sure when I need reverse, but all the cool kids have it). I also added 2 switches, one turns on the tach and gooseneck light and the other turns on the dust collector( which is actually my house central vac. I have an auto blast gate on it and a small cyclone ahead of the central vac). I also added a digital tachometer, I bought it off eBay for about $12 and it works great. It uses a hall effect sensor that senses a magnet attached to the spindle v pulley. I made a small box for the display to mount in and it is fit to the front of the belt cover.IMG_1388.jpgIMG_1389.jpgIMG_1379.jpgIMG_1381.jpgIMG_1380.jpg
 
Well done Dave you very good engineer. The house shop vac i presume is only used for drilling machine now?? Really clever move on the tacho next we will see Delta doing that. ;)


Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk
 
Well done Dave you very good engineer. The house shop vac i presume is only used for drilling machine now?? Really clever move on the tacho next we will see Delta doing that. ;)Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk
The central vac is also used for the house vacuum. I also have another auto blast gate above the work bench that I use for with the router and random orbit sander. That blast gate is triggered from the tool turning on by using a smart power strip similar to an isocket
 
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Looks like some nice upgrades. So do I understand that the quill stop is for locking the quill to a specific position?
Yes the quill lock will lock it in a specific position, I find it useful for positioning the fence. Just move the bit down till it almost touches the wood and lock the quill, then position the fence or clamp the piece down.
 
The last upgrade I did was add a fence, its nothing fancy, just 3"x2" angle iron. I drilled both the 3" and 2" sides for bolts that slide in the T slots. I can have 3 different height fences just by changing the orientation of the fence. I really should change the piece of steel, this one is not quite square, I got out of square when the oxide coating was ground off. If I could get a piece of cold rolled steel or stainless that would be perfect. I was also toying with the idea of an aluminum extrusion with t slots.
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I have the Delta 17-959 drill press and I really like the factory quill lock. With the slightest touch using one finger it locks quickly, easily and firmly. I wonder if I was ultra lucky or if you got a lemon in that part of your DP?

Enjoy your upgrades. You did an excellent job.
JimB
 
The central vac is also used for the house vacuum. I also have another auto blast gate above the work bench that I use for with the router and random orbit sander. That blast gate is triggered from the tool turning on by using a smart power strip similar to an isocket
I was thinking of hot metal shavings ending up in houshold dust starting a smoldering fire??
 
I have the Delta 17-959 drill press and I really like the factory quill lock. With the slightest touch using one finger it locks quickly, easily and firmly. I wonder if I was ultra lucky or if you got a lemon in that part of your DP?

Enjoy your upgrades. You did an excellent job.
JimB
My factory quill lock worked fine but I found that the machining inside the head where the quill slides was kinda rough. I imagine that through use the high spots wore down some leaving a little play. By splitting the front of the head a small amount of tension can be added with the adjustment bolt taking up any play. I added the new quill lock handle for the heck of it, which works by squeezing the quill in the head. I did think that the stock quill lock may not be good to use after splitting the head since it would want to force head apart because of the way it screws though the head and against the quill. I don't really think it would have been a problem though and I just like the larger handle on the new one.
 
I was getting a decent amount of vibration from the v belts so I went to harbor freight and bought some link v belt which I have used on some other machines and liked the results. The linked belt got rid of the vibration but slipped a lot easier than standard v belt at slower speeds, so I ended up getting new standard v belts which are much higher quality than the stock belts that came on the machine and they seem to fix both the vibration and the slipping.
 
Nice job on this. How would you rate the difficulty of adding the VFD? I have an old 3/4 HP, 3 Phase Powermatic Lathe that I would love to switch to a VFD. I've been kind of putting it off, some for the expense, but also I don't want to get too far out of my comfort zone with electronics. Is the RPM display totally independant of the VFD? Thanks.
 
The vfd was easy. I bought a teco drive from wolf automation. They are cheaper then eBay and have tech support. I got a drive for up to 2hp for under $200. Up to 1 hp is about $140. The external controls for speed and on/off were the hardest part and it was really quite simple. There is plenty of info on YouTube about those. The tachometer is completely separate from the vfd. I got that from eBay for 12$ or so. Search something like 4digit led tachometer. It's a Hall effect type that uses a magnet on the spindle to sense speed. I just ca glued it to the spindle pulley.
 
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