Drill press stalling

[Chad Bender]

I've been using the HF baby benchtop drill press (# 38119) for a few months now. I've mostly used it to drill out material for mortises in cherry (finished by hand with chisels), using both Forstner and brad point bits. The press has worked fine, within its obvious limitations, and has not had any lack of torque. A couple of nights ago I chucked a 1/2" forstner bit and got maybe 1/8" of an inch deep into a piece of cherry before the press stalled out. The press will spin when under no load, but no dice for actually drilling anything. Tried other bits - same deal.

I only paid ~$40 for the thing, so if it's dead that's no great loss. But if anyone has ideas for things I should check, I'm willing to tinker with it a bit.

[John Coloccia]

Is the 1/2" bit the largest that you've tried in the press so far, or are you saying that 2 days ago it worked perfectly fine with all your bits and now it doesn't work at all with ANY of your bits? Also, is the motor really stalling of is something slipping?

[Prashun Patel]

Did you try other bits in other woods? If the press is variable speed, try going to the slowest speed setting.
Can you still drill with a 1/8" twist or brad bit?

[Bill Huber]

Is the motor stalling or is the belt stalling, two different things.

If the motor is stalling I would say it gone, but if its the belt then just tighten it up or replace it.

[Chad Bender]

John - essentially yes, 2 days ago it was fine. I drilled several holes with no problem. The stalling started spontaneously on one hole in a sequence. The bit is not slipping in the chuck - the whole thing is definately stopping.

I haven't tried a tiny brad point - will do that tonight. I have used the press recently with a 3/4" forstner (and maybe 1", don't recall), with no problems. Drilled just fine. These forstners are all Lee Valley, from the same kit. They are fairly new and still sharp.

The press has a pyramid belt system for controlling the speed. I did try adjusting the speed to the lowest setting, but that didn't help.

[Chad Bender]

Sorry to be stupid, but how can I tell the difference? Run the thing with the top open and watch the belt?

[Bill Huber]

Sorry to be stupid, but how can I tell the difference? Run the thing with the top open and watch the belt?

Yes just, just open the cover and leave it open and start to drill. When it stalls look to see if the motor is stopping or if it just the belt.

[Chad Bender]

Will check that tonight. Thanks!

[Pat Barry]

Interesting that I just had a similar problem with my drill press at home last weekend. The motor was spinning away and so was the belt, but the quill did not rotate. Turns out there was a loose setscrew which binds the front pulley to the quill. The front pulley was slipping because of this (actually worked with smaller bits due to some friction in the pulley mount) but with a larger bit it stalled out - I was getting a clunking noise do to the set screw slipping on the shaft which has a flat area for the set screw. I bet yours is similar (or could be). Look for the set screw and tighten it up.

[Van Huskey]

My bet is either Pat or Bill are correct. There almost has to be something in the power transmission setup that is causing this.

[Chad Bender]

Interesting that I just had a similar problem with my drill press at home last weekend. The motor was spinning away and so was the belt, but the quill did not rotate. Turns out there was a loose setscrew which binds the front pulley to the quill. The front pulley was slipping because of this (actually worked with smaller bits due to some friction in the pulley mount) but with a larger bit it stalled out - I was getting a clunking noise do to the set screw slipping on the shaft which has a flat area for the set screw. I bet yours is similar (or could be). Look for the set screw and tighten it up.


Turns out that was exactly it. My version of the "set screw" is a large nut that holds the front pulley onto the shaft. Running the press with the top open made the problem immediately clear. I tightened the nut, and the machine is working perfectly again.

Thanks for you help!