Drill press fell apart!

[Dave Rosner]

I have an older grizzly floor standing drill press - 17" i think. Its pretty heavy duty and has done well for me the past few years.

Was drilling some metal the other day and the entire arbor section fell down. This is the part that the chuck is attached to that connects up into the machine. I think i heard something break and then it dropped. Before i start taking this thing apart i'm wondering if this happens after many years and there is a reasonable fix without me starting to remove everything to get into the guts.

If i were to guess its the spring mechanism on the side that must have a steel spring that broke off....

Appreciate any help if someone has been thought this before.

Thanks!

[Bill Dufour]

Did it extend farther then designed? Is the quill handle inserted all the way into the casting. It happens on mine when the handle pulls out to the right and the quill free falls under gravity. Did the handle spin or stay stationary as the quill fell?
Bill D

[Earl McLain]

Dave--it may be helpful if you can figure out how to attach a picture of what fell out. If it's the Morse taper that the chuck attaches to, it could be as simple as cleaning both the male & female portions and pressing it back together--common cause might be stalling a bit and the taper spins a bit. Might not fall out right then, but the friction fit may have been loosened. If it was the quill with the Morse taper still in it--you may be looking more along Bill's suggestion. That's where the pic gets helpful.
Good luck,
earl

[Dave Rosner]

Yea my bad for not posting a picture that will help.

it’s not the handle getting loose…it’s the entire assembly that the Morse taper goes into. I think it might be the tension spring that return it back to it’s starting position. I’ll post a picture tomorrow but if this rings any bells please share!

[Bill Dufour]

is it just the spindle or the entire quill including the rotating spindle that fell down.
Spindle= rotating part
Quill = cast iron tube that goes up and down with the spindle inside. It has gear teeth cut on the back side that engage the spur gear on the depth handle shaft. It is possible the gear teeth are stripped out.
Bill D

[Wes Grass]

If you can still crank it up and down without any major crunching involved, its most likely the clock spring.

If it free wheels, could be it has a gear pinned to the shaft instead of milled from solid. The other possibility is the teeth on the quill broken out. But you'd be able to engage it somewhere and get it to move. Either of these cases, the feed handle should still return it's own.