Drill press pinion excessive backlash

When drilling it drops thru the hole and often jams, I set the drive belt to slip. Have been talking to H&F for 6 years, they say it is for farm use and I bought cheap and nasty, but it is not of merchantable quality even for a farm, my 60 year old old drill was much better. How to fix this one?
 
Looks like the distance between the quill rack and the pinion is too large.
Of course, if the pinion is damaged and/or the rack is damaged then the distance might be OK. Then look into replacing the parts with damaged teeth.

Check the clearance between the pinion and rack. Put some modeling clay or something similar and feed it between the rack and pinion then carefully remove the clay from the rack to assess the gap. Maybe unload the quill spring first.

If there is no damage and the distance is too large, then I guess you can bore out the pinion holes enough to put bushings with an ID that is eccentric to the OD in the bore. Then Loctite the bushings in place when the bushings are both rotated such that the distance between the pinion and the quill rack is at an optimum.
 
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It looks like an inexpensive China machine. They can have issues with the quality of the fit in several places-
On mine the table tilts down when the lock lever is loosened, and the quill is a sloppy fit in the head- and this is a Taiwan machine
from the 70s which are supposed to be a bit better than mainland stuff
I'm not sure there is much you can do about your particular issue- you'll have to take the pinion shaft out and inspect
 
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Is the gib on the side to tight perhaps or maybe the oil on the spindle is very sticky ?

My drill press has some backlash on the geas but it tends to fall downwards , not need to be pushed.

Stu
 
In the video it Looks like some galling on that quill or is it just dirt?
Pull the pinion and measure, post dimensions.
I have a new quill and pinion shaft, not sure what they fit......
 
I'm thinking there's something wrong with the quill, it shouldn't hang like that. If you remove the pinion will the quill move smoothly up and down by hand?
 
My drill press and mill/drill both have return springs on the left side which lifts the quill when downward pressure is removed. The spring should ensure that backlash is removed. The spring is a constant force type and you may have a broken spring.

Edit: Disregard. I took a closer look and the spring has no effect on backlash.
 
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Try loosening the set screw with lock nut on the left side of the spindle.
That removes some of the slop in the quill to housing and might be to tight.
 
Thanks for all the inputs, all of which I understand, the quill rack and pinion are like brand new, the only issue is the pinion to quill rack backlash, even the bearings on the pinion shaft are sloppy. I know the head needs to be bored for eccentric bushings. My issues are how much offset to make and how to bore the drills head? I can make some bushes on my lathe. The head to quill body fit is quite good fit. My issue is with Hare and Forbes that just dismissed me saying it is for hobby, farm use? Why do engineer hobbiests and farmers need to accept such bad product? I guess I should have made a bigger fuss in the beginning, which I did but was patted down, Covid let it slide untill I am now able to do videos, which provides proof, still H&F did not engauge in a positive manner. thanks again
PS How would H&F fix it @ $132/hr, would they just replace bits on my faulty drill, would it be acceptable? IS my drill the only faulty one?
 
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