old drill press column with no gear

[Robert Reece]

I have an old Delta drill press that is really great, except there is no gear on the column to raise and lower the table. It's just a friction thing, so when I release the clamp I am trying to adjust a cast iron table. Not a recipe for success.

Anybody solve this issue?

[Matt Meiser]

There were attachments sold by Delta to add the crank but they go for big money on Ebay. Some have modified their drill presses by adding a large counterweight inside the column with a wire connecting the counterweight to the table via a pulley at the top of the column.

Mine has a hose clamp the previous owner put on the column a little below the normal use range. It prevents the table from falling when you loosen the clamp.

[James Baker SD]

I have an old PowerMatic with the same problem. I bought a vise screw from Lie-Nielsen, mounted it under the table in a maple 2x4 clamp I made. The head of the screw (mounted in another wooden block) pushs up on the underside of the table to lift it and the table naturally lowers itself when I reverse the screw. I loosen the table when moving it, then retighten it when I am done.

Works pretty good for me as I am not strong and in addition to the weight of the table, I have mounted an x-y screw vise on the drill table adding another 50 pounds or so.

This system does not make fast adjustments, but it is a great improvement over trying to lift the table and vise myself.

James

[Peter Scoma]

I have an old 1960's craftsman with the same issue. Mine has a clamp on the table to secure it but also a collar that bolts around the shaft to ensure that the table doesn't go flying if the locking mechanism loosens up.

newer model would be nice but the craftsman is a solid machine with no runout that I can't justify replacing.

PS

[Mike Wilkins]

Have the same problem with my 1974 Rockwell DP. Gives the biceps a good workout raising and lowering the table, especially since adding the auxilliary table and fence. Would love a new variable speed PM or Delta, but since it is not used everyday like other machines, I can wait. Sure would be nice to find a donor drill press to get the raising mechanism off of. Still looking.

[Todd Hoppe]

Some here have used a hydraulic jack from Harbor Freight

[Joe Jensen]

I don't have to move mine often as it has a 6" stroke, but when I do, I use a bottle jack with a scrap of wood. I saw a post on one of the forums where a guy used a trailer jack as it had a long screw. I saw another one where the guy did the same thing, but put a reversable gear motor in place of the crank to make it electrically raise and lower.

[Ken Deckelman]

I have seen someone counterweight the table by attaching a cable to it at the rear, then up-and-over a pulley mounted at the top near the motor, and the attached weights to the cable.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

no gear on the column to raise and lower the table. It's just a friction thing, so when I release the clamp I am trying to adjust a cast iron table. Not a recipe for success.
Anybody solve this issue?

That's the way an awful lot of industrial drill presses were made for ages. Mine is like that. There is no problem so long as you are not operating under a handicap. If you are you may be able to get assistance from the state for a new drill or a retrofit.

[Mark Fogleman]

Here's how I mounted a trailer jack to mine:
http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/924/Drillpress_Trailer_Jack2.jpg

It was ~$19 from Harbor Freight. Had to remove the tire and beat the 2 ears where the tire mounts horizontal so they would support the table. It also swings out of the way if I need lots of height. Much better than before.

[george wilson]

My old 1963 Craftsman drill press never had a gear. I think for the most part,certainly for smaller drill presses,that's a fairly recent addition,and an Asian one,too,for small size machines.

[phil harold]

That's the way an awful lot of industrial drill presses were made for ages. Mine is like that.

Mine South Bend is like that too

just loosen it and wiggle it back and forth to go up or down

[glenn bradley]

I have seen someone counterweight the table by attaching a cable to it at the rear, then up-and-over a pulley mounted at the top near the motor, and the attached weights to the cable.

Easy Riser - http://www.onlinetoolreviews.com/reviews/easyriser.htm

[Robert Reece]

Thanks for all the replies. All are good ideas and I'll give them some thought.

[harry strasil]

How about one of those T Jacks for installing cabinets or one of those Cargo anti shifting bars.

[David Sparks]

I got this idea from Wood magazine years ago. I drilled a hole in my drill press column and tapped it for an eyebolt. I attached a pulley and cord holding a section of pvc pipe filled with sand and lead tire weights. I then attached another eyebolt to my drill press table. The counterweight works great, and makes raising the table much easier.

[Dick Strauss]

I've got an old trash compactor that uses a couple of chain-driven screw jacks that run in parallel. It might serve out the rest of its life as my electronic drill press table lift.

I like the idea of using the trailer jack as well.

[Kevin Groenke]

This is an old thread, but I finally got around to adding an in-column counterweight to my drill press so I thought I would add to this helpful thread rather than starting another.

I scored a nice Wilton VS drill press a while back off of CL ($350....gloat) this machine lacks a rack and pinion so table adjustment was a bit cumbersome.

As usual, I started this project with a perusal of the McMaster Carr (http://www.mcmaster.com/) catalog but unfortunately there were no "ready-made" fixes in there.... or even an inexpensive pulley block that would work particularly well.

So, to the junk drawers........ where I found an old sash pulley which I was able to integrate into a turned/mortised wooden block. The counterweight simply drops into the open top of the column. The turned block with the integrated sash pulley caps the column post. The only modification to the drill press itself is the tapped hole on the back of table for the attachment of the cable.

The counterweight itself is just a scrap of fence-post which I found in the garage..... inside that tube is: 3)old window weights and some scrap metal.... I can easily adjust the mass of the counterweight if I add an auxiliary table to the drill press or whatever.

It wasn't hard to adjust this table before, but now it's plain simple. It works over nearly the full range of the column (all of it if I can make the counterweight shorter - ie denser - lead shot?) and the table still rotates out of the way without issue.

-kg

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http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1612101538787

[harry strasil]

Tire shops will usually give you old tire balancing lead weights. FWIW

[Bruce Wrenn]

Why not mount a boat trailer winch to the column with a couple of U bolts? Mount it on the backside, near the head. Run the cable down and around the bolt that tightens table to the column. If you select a worm gear drive one, it becomes infinitely adjustable. A while back on one of the sites, a poster added a variable speed gear motor and a piece of acme threaded rod to power raise and lower table.

[Phil Thien]

Very nice write-up, Kevin. The window pulley looks ideal. I'm going to bookmark this thread in case I ever stumble into one of these older drill presses.

[Kevin Groenke]

Why not mount a boat trailer winch to the column with a couple of U bolts? Mount it on the backside, near the head. Run the cable down and around the bolt that tightens table to the column. If you select a worm gear drive one, it becomes infinitely adjustable. A while back on one of the sites, a poster added a variable speed gear motor and a piece of acme threaded rod to power raise and lower table.

I think what I've done here is cleaner and more elegant than adding a winch or other mechanical system. The table mass is basically neutral and moves almost effortlessly. A power table might be useful in a machine shop or similar use where heavy parts are being moved, but for my use it would be overkill. Also my total material cost was $0 as this was done entirely with salvage and scrap hardware and materials. If I had had some sort of winch, or acme screws and motors lying about, maybe I would have gone in that direction.

-kg

[Don Bullock]

Some here have used a hydraulic jack from Harbor Freight

I saw a post where someone did that. It looked like a great solution.

[Bob Riefer]

Great execution and great post Kevin, I'm on the fence as to whether to try your method or the trailer jack method with my walker-turner model. I think it'll come down to which is cheaper since I don't happen to have a free solution floating around.

[David G Baker]

I have an older Craftsman drill press that has the friction lock to stop the table from dropping. I had a large spring (18" long by 2" across with hooks on each end) that I hooked on to the bolt that holds the upper portion of the DP in place and the lower bolt that holds the friction locking device. When the spring is relaxed the table is very close to the drill chuck and when I loosen the table friction lock the table stays in place and the spring is long enough to allow me to stretch it and lower the table as low as I have ever needed it. Not as good as a counter balance weight system but it has worked well for me.

[Cliff Furman]

I rigged a weight, inside the tube for table lift. The weight is a piece of exhaust tubing, filled with lead. The head on the 60's Craftsman drill press is open in the middle, so the rope can go down thru it to the table. The wood that holds the pulley, just sits on top of the tube, with a piece of wood inside and outside the tube.
Picture is the prototype, that has yet to be refined. Too much other stuff to do.

[Deb Malloy]

Is this video still available ?

[Rod Sheridan]

I have an old Delta drill press that is really great, except there is no gear on the column to raise and lower the table. It's just a friction thing, so when I release the clamp I am trying to adjust a cast iron table. Not a recipe for success.

Anybody solve this issue?

Add a pulley under the head, use a counter weight to balance the weight of the table...........Regards, Rod.

[Bill Adamsen]

Easy riser ... I have the same concept - perhaps more home-spun - on my Clausing. Works great! Mine is a 1:1 .. the diagrams show a 2:1 which would provide more (and slower) lift with the same weight.

[Myk Rian]

Move the head instead.

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[Edward Oleen]

When I was a kid we had a bench-top drill press with the same problem. I could't raise the table by hand - I'd either have to have one of my parents help me, or bribe my kid brother (I lifted - the other person locked the table in with a wrench.)

Then I found an old - but still in very good shape - scissor jack...

Problem solved. I not only had all the range I needed, but also very good positioning accuracy.

I fastened the base of the jack to a piece of 3/4 ply, and then used some 2/4 stock to straddle the base of the DP. A couple of angle brackets screwed into the top of the "base cabinet" - an old dresser picked up at a local auction which served as a tool base for the DP and a grinder/wire wheel/polisher setup - held the jack steady yet allowed it to be removed when we needed the full height for large objects. In that case my Dad helped me.