Once Upon a Time: Wen I Rebuilt My Drill Press

darkzero

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I wasn’t going to post this here since it’s just a cheap drill press but ah what the heck, had pics anyway since I’ve been posting the progress on my IG. Picked up this drill press from CL last year. Not that I needed it but you know how that goes. I’ve had a small 8” Craftsman DP for like 20 yrs. I don’t use a drill press often so a small portable benchtop DP is all I ever needed. Plus I don’t have the room for a nice floor standing DP anyway & need to store it away when not in use. Gave the Craftsman to my youngest brother in Dec when he visited so it was time to get working on this one.

It’s an older generation yellow WEN 4214A (newest ones are orange with variations on parts, 4214B). Same base design as many others like the Jet & Powermatic, Reeves drive, 12”, MT2 spindle. Nothing special, made in China I’m sure, but it will be just fine for my needs.

Warning!: Lotsa lotsa lots of pics (you know me ;))

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This one is much taller than my 8” CM DP. I don’t need the height & was very comfortable with my 8” CM Wen moved onto my bench for use. So I did something that is uncommon. I’ve heard of people extending the height of DPs, well I shortened mine. But I made an adapter so I could revert back to stock height if ever needed.

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I wasn’t having the yellow. Not that I hate yellow, there was just too much of it. The paint stripper sold in stores now suck (no more methylene chloride content, maybe it’s a CA thing?)! The first one I bought did nothing except make a gooey mess. Second one I bought still didn’t work that well but at least it did, just had to apply it multiple times. I remember Wen one application would get pretty much everything off with barely any scrubbing. Didn’t get everything off after 3-4 applications but it was good enough.

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Table was in decent condition. There were some dings & witness marks, proof of Wen the PO used an end mill that he talked about. Cleaned up the center bore & the chamfer. Saved some of the chips, mixed with epoxy, & filled in the voids.

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I ported & polished the table but it made no difference in the ¼ mile. It did give me better 60 ft. times though. Ok, ok, these porting burrs were all I had on hand that could reach into the areas where I wanted to clean up the casting a bit before paint. First time using FrogTape Painter’s Tape, works pretty well but it’s a bit expensive.

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Base, column, & table rack assy cleaned up. Squared up the bottom of column mount (probably not even worth the effort). Replaced the locking handles. Starting to look like what I envisioned.

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On to the head. Funny how small it looks with it all disassembled.

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Continued.......
 
Again some casting clean up before paint. Just minor, no need to fix all the defects, plus I didn’t feel like it for what it is.

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Wasn’t originally planning on it but I decided to replace all the bearings since I had it all apart. I went with Nachi & KSM Japanese common C3 sealed bearings, should be good enough for a light duty DP (I hope). Made a new retaining spacer for the lower drive pulley cause I bent it out of shape & cracked it on first installation when tightening the set screw. Some cleanup on the quill & spindle.

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I didn’t like how the head just used roll pins to rest on the column tube since they make indentations on the tube. Not an issue really but I had a piece of scrap that was just about the right size & already bored out. Not sure what to call what I made, a shelf or resting plate?

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I know I know, get on with it already, Wen is this post going to end? Ok, if you’re still here, we’re almost done. Time for assembly. Replaced the quill/speed adjust handle knobs & LED lamp. Original lamp still worked but the lens was yellowing (here I am getting rid of all that yellow right, well most of it anyway). Put on a cogged v-belt & some clean up on various misc parts not worth mentioning.

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Even slapped a piece of left over tint film on the WEN label, it was too damn bright for me (looks brighter here than it actually is). Second pic is untinted. No sense in removing it completely, ain’t gonna change what it is. :D

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Continued....
 
Restored the 5/8” chuck. Not sure why I even bothered do this since I won’t be using it anyway, haha. In goes a Jacobs Hartford 14N chuck.

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Finally, the quill had about 5 thou play which bothered me. There was an unused threaded hole on the front of the casting. I made a brass tip set screw to fix this issue. I would have liked to use 2 of them inline but there wasn’t enough room. Quill still moves very freely with no more excessive play. Not sure how this hack fix will hold up over time but I think it should be ok since this DP won’t see a lot of use. The factory set screw on the side for the quill does not adjust play, it's basically acts as a key & only prevents rotation.

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Ok ok, finally for real. Wasn’t planning on doing anything to the table’s surface but I decided to resurface it. Smooth as a baby's butt! That looks much better.

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And that’s end of my “Wen I spent too much time on a WEN home grade drill press” story. So glad I decided to replace the bearings. It runs sooo much smoother now. It was actually a fun little quarantine project. Thanks for looking!

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Note: Sorry for the stupid Wen plugs. I was just poking fun at their various "Remember WEN" slogans. I have nothing against WEN products or Great Lakes Technologies, I’m also not some WEN endorser or anything like that. Their customer service & parts prices are actually very good. Up until a few years ago I had never even heard of WEN until all their orange colored products started popping up on Home Depot & Amazon. Apparently they've been around since the 50s & the brand was relaunched. In the end I’m happy with my little WEN drill press….. that is until something much better comes my way.
 
Nice job, Will! As always, appreciate your nice work and great pics.
 
Thank you very much Mike! It was a lot of work now that I look at all the pics but didn't seem like over time. Posting it here was a lot more work! :D
 
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