Drill Press tune up

[old redneck]

I tried to post this already, but I'm pretty technologically challenged so pardon me if this shows up twice. I picked up a 13" craftsman floor model drill press in very good shape this week. In the course of cleanup and setting the table square, etc., I was annoyed by the noise and vibration. Close inspection showed that the armature shaft of the motor moved up and down about .250" while in operation. Yesterday the motor was pulled and taken apart and I discovered that the thrust washers are held in place by a spring clip in grooves and one had slipped. The groove was very shallow and I could push the clip out with my thumb. A quick trip to the lathe and the groove was deepened .010-.012, reassembled and tested. The motor now has .020 endplay and runs much smoother and quite. From unplugging the motor to begin work until flipping the switch to test run was 25 minutes. If you have a simular vibration/ pully bouncing it is worth a check. I am still a little let down by the slack in the splines of the spindle which allows some vibration, but I'm not sure how to fix that without a level of machining I'm not equiped for.

 

[dgjessing]

... still a little let down by the slack in the splines of the spindle which allows some vibration...

I've got the same issue with my old Craftsman (King-Seeley) - I replaced all four bearings in the quill (and they needed it) but still have a lot of noise from the splined shaft rattling in the pulley.

 

[stevehuckss396]

Nice work! I would love to find a nice drill press like yours.

 

[cfellows]

I was reading somewhere about fixing side play in the splined shaft by drilling and tapping a center hole in the top end, then running in a screw with washer turned real close to the inside diameter of the pulley spindle. Again, that won't fix the rotational slop, but would get rid of side to side movement.


Chuck

 

[old redneck]

Thanks for the tip cfellows. Hope you don't mind if I save that in my ever growing file of "stuff that I need to upgrade". That is a relatively easy way to keep it centered. My old Chicom bench top from HF was improved by American made bearings and if i ever have to rebuild the spindle on the craftsman I'll see if it helps it. Meanwhile I'm so much better off than I was in the drilling department. If the whole drill press goes south, I'll still be "talking it up" when speaking with the Minister of War and Finance (Wife) :bow:. The little dove has been very understanding about all the money i've dropped on tools this year.