Wow, original paint and everything, thats a nice unit. It should last longer than anything imported, by a long shot!!

 

anything under $750 is a steal.

 

Well, this drill press earned my respect enough that I ended up buying it from my neighbor to just keep it for myself.

So anyway, now I'd like to make it useful. I celebrated right off by buying a new set of cobalt drill bits to go with it.

I have also picked up a couple "quick clamps" for it, vice grip clamps that I can secure through the slots. They seem like they will be pretty handy.

I'm thinking I need better lighting, so I can aim right on target for lining up those precision drilling jobs. I've seen some sort of light as an option on these drills, and I'd like to do something like that.

Wouldn't mind picking up some sort of vice, x-y, or rotary table for it.

I fussed over the belt guard cover mechanism to try and get it to close completely, it wasn't closing quite all the way. I got it to close almost all the way, just need to fuss with it some more it's almost there.

I'm thinking I want to make a table to hold drill bits and such. Maybe that would clamp to the column and be adjustable up and down and can swing around on the column. Prevent the temptation to set the drill bits somewhere in my cluttered shop where they can get bumped off and break when they hit the floor.

 

Like mentioned above by boatbuoy, $750.00 would be awesome. There's one by me on craig's list for $1500.00. I have powermatic 12'' disc and 6''x48'' belt sander and it is amazing. Wouldn't mine a drill press to match but they are big bucks and I have enough of them. Great find !

 

It has a problem drilling, with whatever bit being chucked having what seems like "wobble" (and its very noticeable for long bits.)

I put a magnetic base dial indicator up to the chuck body below the rotating ring, and it read real nice, low runout (like < .00025".) But then a chucked steel dowel measures just below the chuck jaws had runout of about .006" or so. And the runout gets worse the further away from the chuck... measured 3" below the just jaws, the runout on the steel dowl is about .015".

It would seem then that the chuck jaws aren't clamping the bit centered. It's a 1/2" capacity jacobs chuck, mounted on a JT2 arbor. Should I try taking it apart and cleaning it or just buy a new chuck?

One thing I don't like about the chuck is that it feels like it's grabbing the bit/dowl deep inside and very securely close down at the tip.

The chuck does have a threaded collar that keeps it mounted securely on the tapered arbor, that most replacement chucks don't have. But I need the chuck to be *useful* and hold the bit accurately.

Rebuild the chuck or buy a new one?

 

This will get you a PDF of the owners manual and maintenance guide for your drill press.
http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/detail.aspx?id=4490

I would probably remove the chuck and recheck the spindle taper using the dial indicator before I did anything else. It will probably be OK but it is a place to start.

Given that you have a straight spindle, I would disassemble the chuck and give it a good cleaning and lubrication.

This will get you a decent tutorial on how to rebuild a jacobs chuck and has some links to other sources as well. http://wiki.vintagemachinery.org/JacobsChuckRebuild.ashx

Rebuilding chucks is not difficult and can be a fascinating parlor trick to wow and amaze your friends and co-workers with. :cool2: Parts are available from Jacobs if needed.

 

Thanks for the tips and advise, Rog02! I actually had that chuck rebuild page opened in another tab on my web browser before I even read your link. (as well as a couple others...) But it's great to get some independent confirmation that I'm on the right track with my research, and I appreciate your tips..

I've been trying to remove the chuck "gently" (without damaging it, such as if I'm going to rebuild or reusre it) without much luck so far. I've gotten it off once before, but apparently I reinstalled it back on too good onto the taper this time, and it's not coming off too easily! I've got the threaded coller loose just having trouble rotating it hard enough to get it to press off the chuck.

I just got a great deal on a replacement chuck I found on ebay that is basically a "new old stock" jacobs superceeded replacement for the original chuck. It's part number 34-44C, replacing the original chuck which is the 633C. (The "C" stands for the threaded retaining collar which I think is a pretty sweet feature to have and one that I definitely wanted to keep.) I got the replacement chuck for about the same cost as I could have gotten just the replacement chuck jaw kit for (plus it comes with a replacment chuck key, which I could use because I just broke the little tip off of on the original one trying to remove the original chuck trying to use it instead of a spanner wrench ) so anyhow, should not too bad.

If worst comes to worst, I can just use a big pipe wrench to unscrew that threaded collar with more torque and drive the old chuck off of there now. I was thinking about buying or fabricating a spanner wrench to do it but, now that I have a new chuck coming, no need to "save" the original part anymore. Once I do get the original chuck off there, I'll be sure to verify the spindle taper does not have runout, just to confirm.

I figure the original chuck jaws are likely worn out, after reading it is not that uncommon of a problem (someone even considered chuck jaws a "consumable") and anyhow that sure does seem like what's going on with this drill press. I can see daylight between a straight machined rod clenched in the chuck and the very tips of two out of three chuck jaws. Also, the surfaces of the jaws are uneven widths and shapes between the three chuck jaws. Probably spun on something or maybe was just never manufactured right from the beginning.

Edit: also noticed in the post above, I said it's on a JT2 arbor, but it's actually a JT33. (Weldingweb has a short time period to allow post corrections, unfortunately, so this is the best I can do for correcting that info.)

PS - with as much runout as it has right now, I am getting better drilling performance for short holes out of my hand held drill! I am looking forward to seeing how it drills with the runout problem fixed.

Attached is a pic of the replacement chuck that is now on its way.

 

BTDT!

I had difficulty removing a chuck of similar design from my old Crapsman drill press. Since the end of the chuck key seems to be a bit weak I used a cut off drill bit (I save old broken drill bits for this type of thing) in the hole and then wrapped a strip of soft copper around the whole thing before clamping a pair of vise grips on.

The copper keeps the teeth of the tool from marring the surface being clamped and provides good traction on the collar. This trick works great on knurled knobs as well!

Good Luck! BTW you got a great drill press there.

 

There is a drift that is used to remove taper chucks from the spindles, like this:

http://www.jacobschuck.com/drill-chuck-install.asp

BTW, I have 3 of the true Powermatic variable speed 1150 drill press heads (not step pulley) on 3 foot columns with crank up and down head adjustment (from a production table gang drill setup) and 4 bolt cast base plates for sale. They make great bench top drill to mount on your supplied base plate (a piece of heavy steel 18x24 works well). 3 phase motors, run with a static phase box on single phase power. PM me for details if you're interested.

 

Well I put a pipe wrench on the retaining collar, but the threads in it just stripped!

So I took a cutoff wheel to that poor old chuck, and just started slicing and dicing it. I got it removed about 80% of the way and had to take a break, which is where I left it for now. :dizzy: