Slop in Drill press quill, is this normal?

[Tamara White]

Pete Bova, we have a craftsman too! 113.213151. Just ran into a problem and hoping you might be able to help. The motor is working fine, the handle turns but the drill won't lower properly, it lowers some but then springs right back up, and the minute it hits the wood, it won't lower any more at all. It's like something isn't catching right. It was working fine and then we used it on some metal and it made a bad noise and now this is the problem. We are going to take it apart and see if there is something broken. Any ideas what to look for? Thanks!

OK, called the Delta main repair center in Wethersfield today and of course their closed. So, I decided to take apart my Craftsman 15" drill press (model 113.213151) and see where the problem lies. Having been a mechanic for more than 45 years and building my own street rods, I figure I'd take a shot. Taking it apart and putting it back together was really simple. After all the parts were on the table I took the quill and the pully spindle that it rides in and put them together. Man, talk about poor designing. The pully spindle is only grooved for the quill about 1/2 - 3/4" at the bottom (Wish I had taken pics. May have helped someone else). the rest of the tube, about 2.75" is just hollow. First thing I did was take a center punch and peened a dot in each of the raised groves in the pully spindle just enough to make the quill shaft slide a little snugger (is that really a word?). Then a took some tin flashing and cut it to 2 5/8" long and formed it around the quill. With some trial and error, I kept shortening the wrapping till everything fit snugly (there's that word again) and it didn't bind up. I then greased the heck out of the shaft and other places I knew would need it and proceeded to put it back together. While I had it apart, I cleaned up the groove in the side of the quill and the adjustment screw that goes to it (I think it keeps the quill from turning). After making sure everything was tight I lowered the quill assembly and put my dial indicater to it. I now have less then .002 front to back and almost .001 side to side movement.
I then chucked a bit into it, found a rather crappy piece of 2x4 and gave it a run. Even with the raised grain in the wood, I was able to drill exactly where I wanted to. No more kicking off to the side. Even drilled a piece of angle iron with out center puncing and it drilled right on the money.
Now what do I do with this press? Any way, thought I'd share this with you all.
P.S. In case your wondering, the shim doesn't spin. The shaft just raises up & down in the sleeve so it should hold for quite some time.

[Robert Hayward]

Do you know this thread is ~12 years old?