Drill Press Improvemnts

Added these 3 improvements to the drill press.

1. Instead of a screw, a toggle latch for the top pulley covers. Much easy to access the pulleys instead of unscrewing and screwing the cover .

2. A collar with thumb screw for depth stop instead of a two nut system that most of the time gets very annoying (at least for me)

3. A ring light that greatly improves visibility- best addendum so far!

My best ones are fit a 3 phase motor and vfd..much less belt changing needed

and electrical table lift and fall

Hi Ian, that’s fantastic. I am also planning to change motor and add a VFD.

How did you do the electric table lift ?

Thanks

Andrew

thats just a 24v dc parvalux geared motor driving the shaft which lifts and drops the table and a switch mounted on a flying lead so that can mount on the table where i can get to it

ian

They’re good improvements!

My own one is to use a small bottle jack under the table so you can support the table when your doing stuff thats probably meant for a larger machine.

HI Andrew, I have the same machine which (like you from your photo I suspect) I use mainly for woodwork. I like your mod to the depth gauge - the two-nut arrangement is a pain.

I quite like the machine in that the spindle runs true enough and there is minimal slop in the quill, but mine 'shakes' quite a lot. I improved things significantly by skimming the drive pulley on the lathe - it was quite badly out of balance- but have yet to get round to doing the intermediate and spindle pulleys. Just wondering if you have any such problem and if so how you have addressed it.

Robin.

Neat ideas!

I have both rhomboidal-link (ex-car) and hydraulic jacks in the workshop. They have been used for all sorts or things, including moving the table on my Progress 2G bench-drill.

My smaller, Meddings, bench-drill, has an original depth-stop similar to your thumbscrew, and it does make life simpler than the knurled ring-nuts on the Progress. Especially as years of grubby fingers have worn the knurling nearly away!

The Meddings differs also in that the table is also the base, and the head is raised and lowered on the round column by rack-and pinion. It suffers though from excessive head-room under the chuck even on the lowest altitude, for using short drills on small work-pieces.

'

Ian, Andrew -

Electric-drives: Although the gearbox uses a worm-drive I'd be inclined still to use the normal table lock having set the height, to relieve the load on the mechanism. I think you'd need do that anyway to stop the table moving round the column.

I've long thought some way of maintaining centre would be useful on a bench-drill or pillar-drill while altering the height, as well; though I am not sure how to make that compatible with being able to swing the table or head around the column.

I do like that switch-box with its integral hooks.

'

VFD & 3ph motor? Depends how much you need change the speed, really.

On a milling-machine yes, though as on my Myford lathe, I use the 3ph conversion in conjunction with, not replacement for, the belts.

On bench drills, often it's low speed that is the awkward one; and motors and their electronics don't want running too slowly. Hence my "conjunction" comment.

I find the Meddings drill on its slowest speed (still a few hundred rpm) adequate for most operations, though a bit frantic for 12mm holes in steel. The Progress lives on one belt setting and two-speed gear, for larger drills and hole-sawing for which the Meddings would be much too fast.

I quiet like the idea of adjusting the table height with a geared motor. As Nigel points out, i think the table needs to be still locked. Another reason i can think of is the adjusting rod is connected to the motor with a belt , not the motor is directly mounted on the handle. The belt can slip under load. My thoughts. I may be wrong here. Ian can correct it.

Some day i may add that geared motor. Now the priority is to add a VFD and change to a 3 phase motor,

Andrew.

The table does hold as it would with a handle but when i want to lock the table i have a hydraulic cylinder and pump (hand op) that does the job.

it may seem overkill but this is a drill in a very tightly packed workshop so its not easy reaching round for a handle and the locking screw

That’s fantastic idea Ian. Thanks for sharing the pic.

Andrew

I like the depth stop modification - I shall steal the idea for my drill press.

Does the belt guard actually need a catch (or a screw)? Mine has functioned perfectly safely for decades without either.

George

Without some sort of catch, the belt guard on some machines can rattle annoyingly even if not strictly needing a positive hold-down. It does on my milling-machine even though a hefty aluminium casting if I forget to close the clips; and worse, if not clipped down it seems able to vibrate against the nearest pulley.

The belt guard on both my Elliot 'Progress 2G' and the Meddings drills is a central, sprung bayonet-fitting on a vertical stud, of similar convenience to the spring catch on the side.

My interest in this, apart from the 'Progress' having a very heavy table, is looking at various power-drives using low-voltage d.c. motors. Not for the drill-tables but for the long travel on the milling-machine.

I reconfigured the starter circuit on my NuTool 12 speed pillar drill by using a foot operated HD micro-switch. This is contained within a robust die cast box and I find this a much safer way to operate the machine without having to fumble for the stop switch in an emergency. Still going strong after about 35 years.

If there is no rattle, i think it’s ok not to have any sort of fixing. Mine came with a screw , so I decided to change to a latch although mine did not have the rattle problem.

A new 3 phase motor and a VFD fitted. Controlling speed is a breeze now. The whole project was very straight forward .