Finally, a new (old) Drill PRess

[Dave Wagner]

I have been looking for a new drill press with a longer travel (3+"), So I posted it on our classifieds at work a couple weeks ago that I was looking for one....a guy calls and states he has a good one....so I figured it's worth a look.....This one has 4" travel and stands about 6 feet tall.

1958?ish Craftsman Model 103.23140, already found the manual online!!

WOW! I bought it on the spot, everything works perfectly, smooth and quiet.
Infinite Variable speed, I never seen that on a drill press....the pulleys open/close (Like a snowmobile clutch) to vary the speed. You can still change the pulleys for different speed ranges too!!
Enjoy! I know I am!

[Bob Vallaster]

Congrats on your find. That's a svelt looking unit and appears to have had very light use (paint good, trim bright, few errant holes in the table...).
I have an old Sears unit (similar vintage, longer stroke, but not nearly as elegant as yours). It has been mine for 15 years with nary a problem.
May yours give you many years of good service.

BobV

[Myk Rian]

Nice DP.
Variable speed has been around a long time. My Delta DP350 has it, as well as my lawn tractor. Variable speed pulleys are used.

[Dave Wagner]

Thanks! There is actually only 1 small divot in the tabletop.

I know the variable speed been around, I just never seen it on a drill press...until now...my smaller table top one you have to physically change belt on the pulleys....

WOW! Just got it down my basement and it BARELY clears the rafters, I have about 2" to spare!!

[David Christopher]

congrats on the drill press, man, that thing looks like new

[Van Huskey]

That is a very cool DP, it just needs some fins.

Congrats on the find.

[Jonathan Hsu]

Dig the engine turning on the trim. You don't see that anywhere anymore. Too cool.

[Bob Aquino]

They are nice old machines. I just finished working on a benchtop version a couple of months ago. That slow speed attachment is rare to find. It looks to be in beautiful shape. Only thing I would check would be the condition of the bearings, if they are original, they would probably need to be changed, even if they havent had much use. The original grease would have long ago dried up so there would not be much to keep the balls from siezing up. It is possible that it has open bearings, those you could repack with grease and keep on using. And don't forget the motor bearings, that does most likely use open bearings if its like the one I just finished. Here is a link to the photos of the restoration if you want to get an idea of what was involved:http://picasaweb.google.com/aquino.bob/CraftsmanDrillPress?feat=directlink

[Dave Wagner]

Very nice resto! I will check the bearings.....:)

[Troy Turner]

Dave -

Great find. I love older Craftsman tools. Built to last back then!!! Good luck on the many years I'm sure you'll get out of it.

[george wilson]

I have a drill press I bought from Sears in 1964,exactly like that one,except I don't have the variable speed. My drill press has that "smoke gray" paint. I had one from the 50's,and it was more Navy gray. Plus,the older one had a tilting table,which the 1964 didn't have. I see yours does have the tilting table. Perhaps it is just a few years before 1964. I also see that yours has a nicer motor than mine,the beautiful old Sears motor with the bright band wrapped around its middle. I'm not sure that is the original motor as it has the bottom shaft sticking out which has no use in that position. I'm also not sure if that motor is meant to be used in a vertical position. Hope it doesn't get worn from maybe having no thrust bearing for vertical use. I have one of those motors that I use for a buffer.

I don't know when the variable speed feature became available,though I'm sure it wasn't offered when I got mine. I got mine on sale for $125.00 at the time. That was a lot of money in 1964. You could just about multiply that by 10 for today's money!

I have never done anything about the bearings,except for oiling the motor,but have used the drill press for light use since I bought it. Regretfully,I recently had to change the original motor,which gave up the ghost.

It is not a good drill press to use for routing,I must warn you. The drill press I have has a rubber cushion ring around the spindle,which I wish it didn't have. It makes the spindle whip sideways some if you try to route with it. Maybe you are lucky and don't have the rubber!

You can be happy with the way the chuck is mounted: It has a #33 Jacobs taper,but,more importantly,the collar which traps the chuck onto the spindle so it cannot come off. That is an excellent design,much safer than just a chuck on a short #33 taper,which CAN come off. Happily,that chuck is still available today. I bought a variable speed Delta drillpress (a dog) for work. Its import clone chuck was out of true,but I bought a Jacobs with the collar,and put it on. My old Sears chuck(by Jacobs) still runs very true.

I did buy the extra wide range cone pulley which mounts in the column,and does give a huge range of speeds manually from very slow up to 10,000 r.p.m..

[Bill White]

I have the exact same one. I believe it was made by Dunlop for Sears. Wait!!! I'd better run out to the shop to see if mine's still there.
I'll never wear mine out. The thing is a tank. Too bad Sears doesn't sell stuff like that now.
Bill

[Bill Huber]

That is a good looking drill press.

In 1955 they had the Vari-Slo Speed Control that could be added to your drill press, it cost $19.95

They also sold the drill press with the Vari-Slo Control already installed for $146.00, they don't show the Vari-Slo on the it, it is the same picture as then one without it.


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[george wilson]

That dark gray color goes back farther than I thought! It has been so many years since I got mine,I guess my memory fails. Perhaps I couldn't afford the extra money for the variable speed back then. Now I can't remember. It could also be that I wanted the greater speed range I got with the manual change 3rd. pulley. I can't recall the slowest speed,but the highest is 10,000 rpm.

Now I'm wondering how old that other old Craftsman drill press was that I had. I inherited it from my step father. It was a bench model which I didn't have space for. Same castings and other parts,just a light gray color.

[Don Whitten]

Wow nice find, I'd been allover it also.

[David G Baker]

I have 3 drill presses and a tool room mill and I still would have purchased your drill press if I ran across it for sale. Great find.