My First Real Drill Press - 1940's Walker Turner 15" Bench DP

[wachuko]

I think it is a 1940's D950 model 15" Bench model drill press... I do not know the exact year, if anyone is familiar with the serial number and year relationship, let me know. I posted on Vintage Machinery asking the same...

Bought locally (well, an hour away from me) from the grandson of the original owner. Grandson is 60 now, and did not have use for it... Interesting he mentioned not working with wood as the reason for selling it. I thought these worked for both wood and metal. Found it while searching Craigslist for machine shop tools...

From the Craigslist ad:

And when I got it home:

Removed the wood panels on the table...

Missing the original switch... And the belt cover. Owner told me that he does not recall ever having a belt cover. Looking at the catalog from 1940, not clear if that was an option or not...

A few videos were they restore them to looking like new:

But based on feedback from the forum, I will leave it mostly alone. I cleaned it, took apart the spindle, cleaned that, applied fresh grease... I had already started to polish the feed lever handles... and I will finish polishing the column...

I use some mild degrease on the spring cover as well...

And cleaned the spindle cover... most of the pain was gone on this one...

I need to finish polishing the column to remove all traces of rust...

I will also keep the stand, I just need to add the missing 1x4...

The thread was going to be to document the restoration.... now it will be to see if I can find a few accessories and missing parts for it...

 

[cathead]

It looks to be good shape. Nice find!
The only Walker-Turner I have is a 14 inch band saw, love it.

 

[markba633csi]

I believe it is a 900 series- I have one too and mine is also missing the original switch

 

[brino]

I am glad to see even more pictures than in the other thread.
Thanks!

-brino

 

[mattthemuppet2]

I have the floor standing version and love it to bits!

 

[matthewsx]

Nice looking DP, think your approach is solid. Polish the shiny parts but leave the original patina on the rest, it's a tool by golly....

John

 

[wachuko]

I have the floor standing version and love it to bits!

Can you share a few photos?

 

[mattthemuppet2]

bit of a mess, but not much space

 

[wachuko]

@mattthemuppet2 Very nice!! Thank you for sharing. So many ideas just from those two photos!

You converted to variable speed. Nice. And I can see where you installed the pickup and magnet for the RPM display... Sweet.

Digital caliper on the quill. Cool.

And I see you have the additional pulley for speed reduction.

What are the pulleys in the column for? Lowering and raising the table?

I am finding that the accessories are difficult to find... and the ones I have found, are just ridiculous expensive... 100.00 for a switch housing, 300-450 for the belt cover... 300.00 for that additional pulley setup.

Love that gooseneck lamp... I have a lamp, not on a gooseneck, and it is also missing the lamp shade on mine... need to search for one.

 

[wachuko]

I received the start capacitor...

The new one is physically smaller (shorter) but that is fine. Specs are the same 124 MDF 110 Volts

Needed to remove the resistor to reuse in the new capacitor. This resistor is used to discharge the capacitor when you turn off the machine...

Rather than soldering everything back, decided to use wire connectors in case it needs to be changed again in the future. And since the capacitor was shorter, there was plenty of space to accommodate this approach.

The cover had some surface rust... so some sanding and new coat of paint... Done! Machine working perfectly now. Before, when I would switch the motor on, it would hum and not move until I got it started by turning the chuck manually... That is a dead giveaway that the start capacitor was bad.