Millers Falls No. 210 Bench-mounted drill press

[Michael Ray Smith]

I pretty much completed my conversion to Neaderdrilling with this Millers Falls No. 210 bench-mounted drill press. It works well, with one exception I'll get to in a minute. It has a bit more runout than I'd like, but nothing I can't live with for the things I use it for -- which is good because I doubt there's much I can do about that. There's one thing I haven't quite figured out, and I hope someone can help me.

The handwheel on top will advance the chuck downward toward the table, but I believe it is supposed to advance automatically as you turn the drill with the handle on the right. For a time, it actually worked that way, and it seems that the knurled knob between the two pinions is a two-position adjustment to change the amount of downward travel per rotation. However, it didn't work very well, and it soon stopped working altogether so that the handwheel on top is the only way to advance it downward. I've tried to figure out how to take it apart so I can inspect the innards, but I can't even figure out how to do that.

Questions: Is anyone familiar with this drill? Do I have the right idea for the way it is supposed to work? Any ideas on how I might go about getting it to work the right way?

[Isaac Smith]

Michael,

I have never taken apart that specific model, but it looks a lot like a Goodell Pratt 9 1/2 that I cleaned up a few years back. Most likely, that knurled knob only changes the speed at which the spindle cranks. If you are interested in seeing what the inside probably looks like, I documented the entire disassembly (http://www.blackburntools.com/articles/gp-9-half-bench-drill/index.html) on my website.

On the one I took apart, there was no provision for automatic advancement, although the friction will sometimes advance it until it comes into contact with the work.

I just looked it up in my MF catalog, and they make no mention of an automatic advance, which is something they would have boldy advertised.

As far as runout goes, it probably had that when it left the factory. Even their more expensive models had some play. They just run in cast iron bearings and were not intended for precision work.

Isaac

[Isaac Smith]

Now that I re-read my post, I should clarify it a little bit. While the frame of yours looks very similar to the GP 9 1/2 that I linked to, the speed selector is like this one from a MF No. 226 (http://blackburntools.com/articles/mf-226-bench-drill/index.html) that I cleaned up a while back. The internal mechanisms and principles are the same, but the knurled shell is a little more elegant, at least in my opinion.

Isaac

[Michael Ray Smith]

Thanks, Isaac. You're probably right about the "autoadvance" being just friction. . . . especially given that it stopped after I gave it a good oiling. But the speed selector doesn't appear to do anything. it does feel as if it has two positions, but I can't tell any difference in the speed. As a matter of fact, I can't really tell any difference if I loosen the set screw above that entire assembly. (You can't see it in the photo because it's turned away from the camera.) I'll play with it a bit more and see if I can figure anything out with the benefit of your pictures. I really don't want to go through the complete disassembly that you did, but I may end up doing exactly that.

Thanks for the help!

[Michael Ray Smith]

Isaac -- success! thanks to your advice. After fiddling around with it a bit more, the speed selector started to click into place. Knowing how it should work was a big help for me. Now it works great on two speeds. Just roughly counting rotations, it looks as if the "slow" ratio is about 3/2 and the "fast" is about 4:1.

Thanks for your help!