Repaired my drill press!

[Douglas Robinson]

Awhile ago the rack on my drill press broke in two. I ordered a new one but never installed it as it usually takes 2 people to disassemble it.

Today I did myself! Laid it down and went to work. Figuring out that I had to take the lowering mechanism off, insert the rack and then slide the comibined unit back on was the trick. All cleaned up and back in place!:banana::banana::banana:

Now I have to reassemble my band saw and then adjust my planer. :dontknow:

Doug

 

[TracyP]

Cool. That's good that you were able to do it by yourself.

 

[MarkE]

Awhile ago the rack on my drill press broke in two. I ordered a new one but never installed it as it usually takes 2 people to disassemble it.

Today I did myself! Laid it down and went to work. Figuring out that I had to take the lowering mechanism off, insert the rack and then slide the comibined unit back on was the trick. All cleaned up and back in place!:banana::banana::banana:

Now I have to reassemble my band saw and then adjust my planer. :dontknow:

Doug

Now, you say you got the job done.... But, I don't see that you got the job done.

 

[Bill Clemmons]

Congrats Doug. Doesn't it feel good to actually finish a job. :icon_cheers

Bill

 

[b4man]

I am very impressed:icon_thum (on so many levels):rotflm::rotflm::rotflm:

 

[Douglas Robinson]

Now, you say you got the job done.... But, I don't see that you got the job done.

Here you go:

 

[Bas]

Congrats Doug! :tool: And for future repairs...you do know I'm only 8 min away, right?

 

[CaptnA]

Good stuff Doug!
Once you get proficient, I'll send you directions to my shop so you can stay
in practice! I've got lots of 'minor maintenance' issues to tend to...

 

[Alan in Little Washington]

Doug, your post may just have provided enough encouragement for me to fix my drill press!!

The rack and pinion on my 16" Delta DP feels like the pinion gear is made from deteriorating plastic or pot metal. You can actually hear and feel it grind when I try to crank the table up and down. The crank handle is plastic, so I'm just waiting for that to break too- what POS! On top of that, the rack is loose and moves around the pole- it is designed to do that- but that makes it impossible keep the bit aligned to a hole if you raise or lower the table. It is a really poor design, if you as me.

Sorry, Bas, I'm not going to add hydraulics, pneumatics, electronics or a motor :rotflm: , but I will tear it apart and re-engineer it. First, I will remove the crank, rack and pinion assembly. I'll install a trapezoid-shaped guide in place of the rack and a lever which will be used to lift the table and also lock a matching wedge against the guide- the will ensure it stays aligned and any height and locks firmly but quickly and easily. Finally, I'll add a counter weight system so the table is essentially weightless.

 

[MarkE]

Doug, your post may just have provided enough encouragement for me to fix my drill press!!

The rack and pinion on my 16" Delta DP feels like the pinion gear is made from deteriorating plastic or pot metal. You can actually hear and feel it grind when I try to crank the table up and down. The crank handle is plastic, so I'm just waiting for that to break too- what POS! On top of that, the rack is loose and moves around the pole- it is designed to do that- but that makes it impossible keep the bit aligned to a hole if you raise or lower the table. It is a really poor design, if you as me.

Sorry, Bas, I'm not going to add hydraulics, pneumatics, electronics or a motor :rotflm: , but I will tear it apart and re-engineer it. First, I will remove the crank, rack and pinion assembly. I'll install a trapezoid-shaped guide in place of the rack and a lever which will be used to lift the table and also lock a matching wedge against the guide- the will ensure it stays aligned and any height and locks firmly but quickly and easily. Finally, I'll add a counter weight system so the table is essentially weightless.

Where are you going to mount the gear motor that powers it all? And of course you have to build a Wixey into the mechanism. You may need to make the forstner bit hole .0015 inches deeper. :rotflm:

(I kid, but Allen will probably get all those things done)

 

[MarkE]

Here you go:

BTW, thanks for the pic. Now we know it really got done.

Hey, I have the same DP table. Small world.

 

[Douglas Robinson]

Doug, your post may just have provided enough encouragement for me to fix my drill press!!

The rack and pinion on my 16" Delta DP feels like the pinion gear is made from deteriorating plastic or pot metal. You can actually hear and feel it grind when I try to crank the table up and down. The crank handle is plastic, so I'm just waiting for that to break too- what POS! On top of that, the rack is loose and moves around the pole- it is designed to do that- but that makes it impossible keep the bit aligned to a hole if you raise or lower the table. It is a really poor design, if you as me.

Sorry, Bas, I'm not going to add hydraulics, pneumatics, electronics or a motor :rotflm: , but I will tear it apart and re-engineer it. First, I will remove the crank, rack and pinion assembly. I'll install a trapezoid-shaped guide in place of the rack and a lever which will be used to lift the table and also lock a matching wedge against the guide- the will ensure it stays aligned and any height and locks firmly but quickly and easily. Finally, I'll add a counter weight system so the table is essentially weightless.

If anyone can do it you can Alan. Funny thing, my plastic crank handle is cracked and I need to replace it now. :roll:

 

[MarkE]

The crank handle on my Craftsman DP broke as well. Guess it is an industry wide problem.

 

[Gotcha6]

Doug, your post may just have provided enough encouragement for me to fix my drill press!!

The rack and pinion on my 16" Delta DP feels like the pinion gear is made from deteriorating plastic or pot metal. You can actually hear and feel it grind when I try to crank the table up and down. The crank handle is plastic, so I'm just waiting for that to break too- what POS! On top of that, the rack is loose and moves around the pole- it is designed to do that- but that makes it impossible keep the bit aligned to a hole if you raise or lower the table. It is a really poor design, if you as me.

Sorry, Bas, I'm not going to add hydraulics, pneumatics, electronics or a motor :rotflm: , but I will tear it apart and re-engineer it. First, I will remove the crank, rack and pinion assembly. I'll install a trapezoid-shaped guide in place of the rack and a lever which will be used to lift the table and also lock a matching wedge against the guide- the will ensure it stays aligned and any height and locks firmly but quickly and easily. Finally, I'll add a counter weight system so the table is essentially weightless.

Just get 2 radiator hose clamps..................................:icon_thum

 

[ehpoole]

I had not realized how fortunate I was in my choice of DP. My 17" Steel City DP has a metal crank and worm gear for raising/lowering the table. I wish I could say that it would shock me that some would switch to plastic, but these days shock is getting harder to come by.

I also suspect that my DP has a heavier column rack as well -- I have not managed to bow mine out the way so many display models seem suffer from. Still, I have considered tapping and countersinking a few machine bolts to fix it more tightly to the column so that it can never bow out -- I would just have to remove the bolts -- or swivel the head -- on those rare occassions when you need to swing the table out of alignment with the head for those extra tall jobs.

My only complaint with respect to my Steel City DP is their choice of 3/4HP asian motor. It has more vibration than I would prefer (perfectly usable, but I don't care for the unnecessary vibration). I have a spare motor (had them ship a replacement, but the replacement is just the same) so I will probably drop that off with a motor repair shop to have properly balanced one of these days. Other than that issue, I have been very pleased with the drill press (about 3-4 years old now).

For my tip: If your drill press has an accessory gooseneck lamp (typically 40-60W), invest in a 3-6W LED flood of suitable size -- at 5.5W the illumination is nearly comparable to a 40W incandescent bulb WITHOUT the heat. I got tired of burning myself whenever I'd need to reposition the lamp! Now if I could just find some suitably small LED floods with E17 bases for my bandsaw and scrollsaw lamps (no joy so far)!

Congratulations on your repair, BTW!

PS - Are you certain you don't want to just go ahead and incorporate some linear servos into your drill press? I'm sure we could lick that lateral play and crappy rack and pinion problem. Add another servo to lower the chuck and a robotic arm assembly to automatically pick and place parts and you would have a well automatic drill press.