Odd mill/drill heirloom

[jwmay]

80 rpm

 

[Batmanacw]

The old girl is set on blocks with feet I made of 1/2" all thread.

The intermediate shaft came out really well. Every sheave is properly keyed. Everything fits! Lol!

I trammed the spindle to the table. Came out beautifully even though the line doesn't line up with zero on the angle....I'll fix that tomorrow. Lol.

I drilled a 3/4" hole through the table, which doesn't move like a regular drill press. Anything I center under the spindle and clamp will have clearance under the part. It had a partial hole already. I just finished it. I'll drill it to 1" when I can use annular cutters because the hole bisects another hole.

My lowest speed is 150 rpm. I'm really okay with that. It is limiting but with the design of the drill press itself I'll be happy going up to 1" on regular drill bits. I'm going to order a mt3 annular cutter holder just for that drill press.

Low range
150
360
720
high range
240
650
1200

The motor has end play from running on end. It's only a half hp. I have a 3/4 hp but I'd like to go 1 hp 220v single phase. I don't think I'm going to bother with 3 phase right now. The belts are pretty easy to change.

So far it's been a fun project. It's running and useable.....

 

[Jake M]

I intend to use this machine as a fairly heavy drill press. How slow is slow enough to run big drill bits in steel. Let's say up to 1.5" or 2"?

I think the 144 RPM you've threatened to make would get you into the speed range you need for the 2 inch drill, in a production environment, with enough HORSEPOWER to keep a good chip coming out, AND a way to effectively deliver it. That's where I think your stumbling point is going to be. The gear reductions (via belt) will not change the horsepower (that is, it will not change how much energy you're putting into the part), rather that is the actual rotational force available. These drills you speak of require boatload of that. Can you get it out of the existing motor? Sure. It's just reduction. Can you get it out of the proposed motor? Sure. It's just reduction. But I think you're going to come out shy of "effectively" drilling at that size, not because of the available power, but because of the belt drive. The torques you're talking about are going to take a LOT of belt to deliver. I suspect that, and not the motor, is going to be your limiting factor because the speed at the spindle is already defined.

My vote is this. You've got a cool old machine, not much retail value, an awesome history that nobody else is going to appreciate, and it's gonna be useful no matter what you do. Put the upgraded motor on it (Or put a small block Chevy engine on it, it looks like it'd take it.). Try it out, see what it does happily, find where it complains, and back off from there to set a "limit". I'll bet it serves you well.

 

[Batmanacw]

I tried it out this afternoon.

I had some 1/2" 1215 flat bar laying around. I spot drilled and pre-drilled to 1/4". Then I went straight to 1" and it slowly breezed right through at 150 rpm. Nice and smooth and the hole ended up visually round and 1.0045" diameter at 90⁰ measurements.

I'm stupid happy with that. My current biggest drill is only 1.125". All my bigger cutters are annular cutters up to 2". As well as it did I'm going to leave the ancient pump motor on until it dies and then go to 1hp. Maybe I'll find a crazy good deal on one. I'll have to make the new 2 step pulley anyway.

I'm going to look into hold down options. Kant twist clamps are nice for the table design, but I could use a couple 6" long reach if they make them.

I may enlarge a few existing holes for use with vise grip type toggle clamps I already have.

 

[Batmanacw]

By the way, I have a 3 hp knee mill and a 2 HP mill/drill not 15 ft from this drill press. I was considering my options but I'm glad a got 150 on the low end. It did a fantastic job today.

 

[Batmanacw]

This is a pretty simple modification that I really like on a drill press.



The head on this drill press will rotate to angles like a Bridgeport but the table it doesn't pivot around a round column.

After I'm done tomorrow I'll have a few more sets of holes for my flat bar so it can be moved much closer to the spindle. I drilled the two starting holes with my magnetic drill after carefully laying them out. I'll transfer punch the next couple sets.

The straight edge is really nice when you are punching several holes equally spaced from one side of a part.

It also does not allow rotation at all so you can hold a part tight to the bar and drill a hole, being careful on break-through to avoid lifting the part with the drill bit. User assumes all risks there.

The table structure makes standard clamps tricky. If I can rest one side of a drill press vice against the straight edge then I can often get by with one clamp.

I may eventually add a couple tapped holes to accept a vice-grip style toggle clamp to the flat bar as well.

Nice that it comes off and adjusts easily.

 

[Batmanacw]

Done. It comes all the way up to the hole beneath the spindle.



I like it!

 

[Batmanacw]

Here is an example of using the flat bar with a pointer. If the part had several punch marks, it just becomes a matter of lateral movement.

 

[Batmanacw]

I opened up a couple of holes that already existed in the table for this style of clamp.