Progress No.1 Drill

Hi, I recently bought this Progress No.1 Bench Drill which I am currently rebuilding and restoring. At the moment I am going to fit new bearings for the replaced motor (Gryphon single phase 1HP) and new bearings for the spindle/pulleys. Then I will continue stripping the old paint and painting it with new paint. Will be fitting the MT1 with a ER26 Collet holder and fitting an old Mercer Dial Gauge to the feed gauge. I also need to fabricate some of the missing parts like: Tool Tray, Black Knobs (ebay), Feed Handles x3, top fixing nut/spring/stud, Feed gauge knurled nuts, grease nipples (local stores), new braided power cable (local stores).

It was in good working condition but I will be re-wiring the whole thing with a new configuration to hopefully have a reverse function as well.

Photos to follow.

These are nice solid drills Keith - but very heavy for their size (the cast iron belt cover doesn't help either).

I had a No. 1 for a while but mine had a Jacobs taper nose fitted - with (I think) a 3/8th Jacobs chuck. I gave it away to a friends' son when I acquired a used Warco MT2 drill (12 speed). I have several sizes of MT2 drill chucks I use with it, so that's useful. The table 'rise and fall' rack is also very good when I have heavier things mounted on the table (compounds for instance) and I can crank them up and down - but otherwise I'm pretty sure I could have lived quite happily with the Progress.

Nice machine - enjoy.

Regards,

IanT

Very nice machine. Enjoy the restoration, will you be keeping the 'extended' feed handles, useful for those watchmaker jobs.....

For ball handles you can use Golf Balls or Pool Balls!

Good morning from Malta

Thanks for all the comments, I really like old British tools and their robustness so being a heavy drill is a plus for me The extended feed handles have to go as they are very scruffy made and for the Ball handles I really like the idea of the pool balls but I decided to keep it original. I will go with the Black knobs which I still need to figure out sizes, but here is the link from eBay:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190837418777?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Yesterday the Mercer Dial gauge arrived, So it is time to start figuring out how to set it up with the feed ruler will update with some pictures later on.

Regards,

Keith

Restoration done. I have one question, Why would you need a reverse on a pillar drill?

Is Calleja a common surname in Malta? Or is Joseph the world famous tenor a member of your family?

Haha !! not that common as other surnames. And no, as far as I know, he is not a member of my family

Keith Re reversing a pillar drill how else would you drill left handed holes ?

Roy ps nice job

Hi Roy, thanks for your comment. So drilling left handed holes is required when you want to drill a damaged bolt that you need to extract ? (preventing further tightening of the broken bolt)

Is that correct ?? are there further operations that require a left handed hole ?

Thanks alot

The motor is presumably not designed solely for that drill - it is a standard item. Depending upon the device it is fitted to, either (or both) rotation direction might be required. The instructions for reversal are generic.

On my drill which is now powered via a VFD, I occasionally do power tapping in Jog mode - the ability to reverse is useful to wind the tap back out.

In conjunction with a VFD (which gives you reversing for free) its indispensible for tapping purposes. I use my Fobco for power tapping from M2 up to M14. With a bit of extra switchery backing out can be at high speed which helps when tapping multiple holes. I have just made two camera 'cheeseplates' with a matrix of about 90 1/4" and 3/8" threaded holes in 10mm aluminium.

Ian P

Keith Sorry it was a tongue in cheek remark But I have got a left handed drill bit

Roy

Hi All

Left hand drill bits were quite common at one time used on multi spindle drilling heads in this day of CNC are they still made?

Peter

Is that a royal oilfield single cylinder engine on the floor keith ? I have a progress drill too, it needs work after damage caused by people changing the gears without stopping the motor first. I'll get around to it when the weather warms up a smidge.

Yes Ronan that is a Royal Enfield Bullet 1993 Single 500cc engine fully reconditioned as part of my project.

Looks nice and light keith. I have a triple engine i am putting in a norton featherbed frame. It was going to be a cafe racer, but i think i am getting too old and full of aches and pains to be on a bike that has clip-on handlebars and rear set footrests.

I nearly bought a floor standing progress no.1 recently, they look like lovely machines. These old drills had some beautiful curves you just dont get today.