Drill press worm gear lubricant

[J D Thomas]

I tried doing a search for this and came up with way too much unrelated nonsense.

What is the best lubricant for the worm gear that raises and lowers the table on a drill press. I have the Delta 17-965 and raising the table has become far too arduous lately.

I've tried a couple of dry lube sprays, but I can't smooth things out.

Any thoughts?

[Keith Bohn]

Paraffin (Gulf wax).

It's available in your local Piggly-Wiggly/Ralph's/Buy-Rite/Krogers, usually with the canning supplies.

It's also good for all sorts of wooddorking machine lubrication where you need a dry lubricant that stands up/not easily worn off/down.

[Thomas Hotchkin]

JD
I use Johnson & Johnson paste wax on a clean column and auto chassis grease (not black colored grease it stains) for your worn gear. Tom

[glenn bradley]

Interestingly, Delta recommends that the mechanism be clean and dry. I use a dry teflon lubricant but, have used paraffin and JPW with good results. Its one of those bothersome requirements where you want something that has staying power, is slippery but, will not collect drill press spoil :(.

[David Kuzdrall]

Interestingly, Delta recommends that the mechanism be clean and dry. I use a dry teflon lubricant but, have used paraffin and JPW with good results. Its one of those bothersome requirements where you want something that has staying power, is slippery but, will not collect drill press spoil :(.
+1 to dry Teflon lube, I also use this on my bench vise screws.

[J D Thomas]

Hmm. Who woulda thought. I pulled out a piece of beeswax from my plane drawer, rubbed it across the toothed column and move the table up and down a few times. Viola!! Back in business, and smooth.

Thanks guys. Great suggestions all.

[Thomas Canfield]

Using a wire brush before applying wax may also help remove any dust accumulation that may have built up. Most any lubricant will attract and hold some dust that will pack with use. Now I need to clean and lube mine since it is getting a little hard to elevate also.