Restoring an Elliot Progress Drill

So, couple of people have asked me if I would put this all into one thread - Here Goes!

Some months ago I realised that my ageing - bought by myself new twenty odd years ago - Nu-Tool drill press needed replacing. One of my main complaints was the rather useless circular table. I have no idea who designed a drill press with a circular table but believe me they are a nightmare to clamp anything to. I determined that the replacement would have a "good" table. There were other issues but I will concentrate on the new drill.

I had a good look around and they ranged in price from a few pounds to new car prices. I had determined that what I wanted was either a Meddings a Fobco or an Elliot - there are exotics but I thought it best to stick with something mainstream and more importantly something that spares wouldn't cost the earth.

As is always on the "online auction sites" collection only ensures the price is realistic or even Bargain Basement - at 135 odd kilos you just can't post one. So I looked around within a fifty mile radius and this Elliot made an appearance.

I had to put it in the car in bits because there was no way I could get the thing out in one piece!

Next thing was to have a real close look at what I had:

The castings are in excellent condition with no wear, this drill had been in a "farmers workshop" for a long time so it hadn't really seen much use for a good many years. There must be thousands of useful pieces of machinery like this lying around the countryside all replaced by "Modern" equipment.

There are six bearings in the drill and they are all pretty standard stuff, easily obtained - especially if you know what you are looking for
I sent all of the castings off to Roy who "does shotblasting" with the exception of the main head casting. This was full of vintage grease - caked on. The only way to get rid of this really is to submerse the thing in Cellulose thinners, or the cheap stuff, Gunwash, that the paint lads use to clean up with. This is not for everybody but I use a good deal of it, we are old friends, and I cut the top off a five gallon container, put the head in it and filled it with Gunwash. I let it soak for a couple of days and put it on the bench. An hour with a rotary wire brush on the Angle Grinder and we had this:

The table had a bit of decorative drilling applied so the holes were filled with a bit of weld, nothing special just a bit of Mig wire. On reflection I am wondering about this as if there are any marks in future there can only have been one culprit! Seen here after the paint was applied:

I picked up the castings, masked them all off and gave them all a coat of high build primer:

Meanwhile, all of the fittings had been sent off to be restored, my friend does a really good Chrome and Blueing job, mainly because he does excellent preparation:

The column was chucked in the lathe and polished, then I scored a good deep line down it. This will give me a reference mark. How many times have you wondered whether or not the drill bit would clear the hole?

I brush painted all the bits, three coats of Tekaloid Enamel, and the finish is, as always with quality paint, excellent! I didn't flat down between coats, I applied the paint quite heavily and let it flow and didn't let the previous coat quite cure.

There was a bit of confusion over the taper pin that holds the hub to the pinion shaft, I couldn't find it as it was covered in plenty of paint. I did find it thought and it was easy to drift out and get the pinion out. Half an hour on the rotary wire brush and everything was looking spick and span:

One major point here about this Drill Press. It has a MT1 spindle and the end of the spindle is Jacobs Taper 6. This makes it quite versatile and the lack of a bigger taper is not really an issue for me.

So, time to put it back together. Pretty straightforward really - I packed all the bearings with Lithium grease, rightly or wrongly, and the drill will outlast me without doubt. Bit of a wrinkle here with the return spring, before you build the whole head up put the spring hub onto the head, secure it with the grubscrew and wind it up with the spider holding the spring with the other - gloved - hand and wind it up. It was much simpler than I imagined, it gave up without a fight:

And here it is Gentlemen, in all it's glory. Sans motor. I have, thanks to Eric and the efforts of Les Jones, a 1Hp Inverter and a 3/4 horse four pole motor is on order. I am going to be wiring it all together at the end of the week but first I need to build a stand

So, that is not the end of the story. Remember the MT1 spindle "not being a problem". Well gentlemen, let me introduce you to my next Drill Press project. A Belt Drive Camelback which became mine week before last, but that's another story. Power feed on the quill and 3MT - no, it doesn't come with the bike or the jeans - but I already have a 2HP motor for it thanks to Bob Rodgerson. This is not a Drill press - This is a statement of intent!

graham.

This is the drill press that I saw which decided me that I really need one of these Camel Back drills:

This is a fabulous restoration of a drill press in my opinion and something that I hope I can come close to with my efforts.

graham.

The Elliot is very impressive Graham. Well done.

hi Graham,

The Elliot looks good enough to eat.

But hasn't that 'Camelback' got a suspiciously round table?

Neil

It does Neil, you are quite right. However, the redeeming feature, if you would call it that, is that the table actually has parallel slots machined into it. In the previous table the slots were all radial and it was an arse of a job to get anything bolted down securely as the distance apart - of the fasteners - changed at every movement of the workpiece. Truly a Rubiks Cube type puzzle for clamping.

graham.

So - an update. It now lives, has a heartbeat and everything!

I made a small modification, I made a steel ring approx 10mm x 10mm section that is a snug fit on the column and as you see, welded a block to it which I drilled and tapped. How many times have you slackened the table off to turn it a little and it drops an inch or two? (I exclude those of you with a rack and pinion mechanism for raising and lowering the table!)

And here it is, motor and control fitted - i even drilled a hole with it today. Also, but not very apparent is the LED light now fitted under the head an it comes on with the main controls. This is essentially a 3/4 horse motor on there and my initial testing indicates that it isn't going to be easy to stop it.

graham.

Edited By Oompa Lumpa on 29/08/2014 20:57:26

I have an identical drill oompa loompa. Mine came out of a scrap skip, wrestled out by a friend of mine in his lunch hour. They are a proper professional grade tool and light years ahead of the taiwanese and chinese junk. All i did with mine was replace the three phase motor with a 1 hp single phase unit and gave it a quick lick of paint to stop it rusting.

I might rebuild it over the winter as its starting to jump out of high gear under load (caused by idiots not stopping the machine before changing gears) . There is an excellent thread on an elliot drill rebuild over on the mig welding forum (its not you is it ?).

He must have been a fit lad this friend of yours as they are no lightweight.

It isn't me on the Mig Welding forum thugh I have seen that thread and there are some useful tips in it.. I love the thing now it is all working. It is rock solid and as smooth as silk. It replaced my twenty year old Tiwanese made drill which served me well and was a terrific machine for the money. The chap who has it is putting it to good use.

With the Inverter and the three phase motor I have an incredible range of speeds if I incorporate the pulleys and everything else.

graham.

My machine is identical to Graham's apart from being the floor standing version which weighs even more. Neither Graham's nor mine have the gearbox, only the 5 speed belt drive.

Used to have a 3-phase motor and VFD on mine until I swapped it for a Christmas cracker quality Chinese 1-phase motor so I could liberate the VFD for my milling machine. It's less useful in this state but its reduced usage is more down to the fact that the milling machine is more versatile for drilling anyway and more accessible. Nice machine though.

The conical recess under the head almost cries out to house a lamp and seems to be designed for it although it doesn't seem to be used for that purpose. I wonder if that was the original intention.

Murray

Here is a quick pic of the light that I have fitted. It is a 3.8 watt LED bulb from Ikea, the bulb holder - I have plenty of but can be found on that auction site for ablout 25p - is fitted to a bit of Vero Board fastened to the Head and connected to a Transformer concealed inside the unit. Now when you turn the Drill Press on from the rotary switch it turns on the light and powers up the Inverter.

Yes murry i believe the recess was intended for a worklamp of some type. I was going to use a vfd with the original 3/4 hp hoover motor on my drill, but it wasn't a dual voltage unit and as such couldn't be run from a vfd as easily (or cheaply). As i had gotten the drill for free anyway i didn't mind spending out for a new motor. The only motor i could find for it locally was in the engineers suppliers and bearing factors. It was an australian made 1hp motor and it fitted the machine with no problems at all and has all the power i'll ever need.

As for the weight of the drills, i seen somewhere the bench model is supposed to be around 2 1/2 hundredweight, having had to lift my drill onto a bench i think that would be an accurate weight. Finally gate machinery still hold the progress name and stock drills called progress, though i'd imagine they are rebadged far eastern models. But they did hold some spares, but not a huge amount i'd think.

Graham Hi, Great Restore Job on the Elliot Stand Drill, I have the same model, which we have in use every day for the past 45 years plus, We have just broken the return spring, Are you able to point us in the right direction to obtain a new one or a replacement, if so would very much appreciate a reply so we can carry on drilling for the next 45+ years., Thank You Kind Regards Rob Thomson, Continental Engravers (Precision) Ltd

Rob, if you go to toolco.co.uk and select fobco spares , they have the return springs there, if they are in stock or not is another matter.

Sadly Ronan they are showing out of stock. I did see some somewhere but I need to rattle the old Grey Matter and try to remember where.
If the spring has broken at the end it is not a difficult job to anneal the spring end and fold it over to form a new hook.

But I do remember someone advertising these.

graham.

Yes i have seen them somewhere else too. They are available , just a matter of tracking one down. I would say its something a small springmaking company could make for you anyway. It would be a pity to scrap a machine thats given so long a service for something so small.

You have tried ebay? There are plenty of chinese ones on there but I have also seen an old english one on there recently.

If a Fobco quill spring will fit the Elliot pillar drill then take a look at Tony Griffiths spares site at www.store.lathes.co.uk.

He has quill springs for the Fobco, but they are £28 each at the moment. I don't know what any of the other sellers charge for them, but I suppose it's worth it to keep these excellent drills going.

Help! I've got a progress No 1 in bits at the moment but I can't get the spindle out of the quill. I've tried holding the assembly and hitting the top of the spindle with a copper and hide and it does move down about half an inch loosening the lower bearing from the housing (but still tight on the shaft) but that's as far as it goes. Have I missed something or do I need a bigger hammer?

Anyone?