Steel City Drill Press Owners - Assembly Help

[Derek Hansen]

I just wanted to make sure I'm not an idiot before I call Steel City.

I am on step 1 - bolting the base to the pole.

However, the way the bolt holes are drilled will not allow the table support to be in line with the base.

It doesn't look like you can adjust the table support position around the pole, and it doesn't say anything about doing so in the manual.

Was anyone else's like this or did it bolt straight up in the correct alignment? If this is a manufacturing issue, this is a lot worse than that guy with the untapped hole!

Thanks in advance.

http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/4986/img0250gg6.th.jpg (http://img180.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0250gg6.jpg)

[Michael O'Sullivan]

Can't you loosen the clamp in the back of the table support and rotate it around the column?

[Derek Hansen]

Can't you loosen the clamp in the back of the table support and rotate it around the column?

Nope, the rack and pinion that raises and lowers the table prevents you from doing so.

[CPeter James]

On most of those drill presses, the rack will rotate around the column. It just sits in the lower support and will slide around.

CPeter

[Derek Hansen]

Ok, you're right, the rack is not fixed and I was able to slide it around with a little muscle - Thanks!

[glenn bradley]

Ok, you're right, the rack is not fixed and I was able to slide it around with a little muscle - Thanks!
If it is not rotating easily, adjust the collar. The track should move around pretty smoothly.

[Michael Wildt]

Sounds like you got the info you needed. I've just assembled mine and it went together fine. Some things I have noticed so far;

- The motor runs fine alone, but there is some vibration that I would like to get rid of. Some is due to how the belts work the other I think is due to design and adjustment.
- The motor hangs off the dp head. When looking at the dp head, facing the serial number plate, you can see the motor spindle leans away from the dp head.
- When tightening the belt this spindle will standup more straight, though not completely.
- When discussing this with the SC customer service it was mentioned that this was intended. Though I still feel that the amount of vibration caused by the belts is more than I had expected.
- I still ned to adjust the motor such that the belts are 'flat' aka not slightly twisted from looking at the belt assembly from the front of the machine.
- I have considered making the DP, overall, more heavy. Like filling the column with something heavy so the vibration is reduced. Or screw it to a heavy base.

- The laser had some problems with the adjustment screws on the left side SC customer support will send me a replacement. The build in nuts for the adjustment screws is in too far so the screw cannot engage the thread.

- The light needs some viagra for sure. I think it can be fixed by making a new bracket, which I plan to do when I find time. The bracket currently mounts the light so it is parallel to the floor. If one instead have a bracket that mounts the light such that it is mounted parallel with the column then the light potentially can keep it's position better.

- The chuck type is online and in the manual listed as Jacobs 33 but it is a JT3 instead. The answer from the SC customer service said JT3 is correct and that the manual was wrong. I have not found the tolerance difference, yet, between the two.

I have not measured the runout yet, but before I purchased it I had SC customer service measure it and they claim 0.006" 90mm down from the chuck using a 10mm drill rod.

Thanks
Michael

[tim mathis]

michael ,
i have had mine for over a year and i have no vibration. when i measured the runout with a 7/16" drill rod , the needle of my starrett barely moved.
my belts are not twisted, that may be your problem with the vibration?
i have used mine heavily for wood and steel and love it.

[Matt Meiser]

The collar on mine was very tight--I wonder if they do that during shipping on purpose? I moved it by may 1/32" and all was good.

[Michael Wildt]

michael ,
i have had mine for over a year and i have no vibration. when i measured the runout with a 7/16" drill rod , the needle of my starrett barely moved.
my belts are not twisted, that may be your problem with the vibration?
i have used mine heavily for wood and steel and love it.

Maybe my expectations on vibration is high, but it does change based on how tight the belts are set. I'll have to play some more with the settings as well as double check for twist. I did take the belts off and there was some debris in the 'thread'. Removing those small rubber pieces did help.

Any chance you could let me know where you got the drill rod ? I know they come in different types like A-1 and O-1. I'm leaning towards the O-1 type.

Thanks
Michael

[tim mathis]

michael,
i purchased my drill rod locally at Alro Steel in Dayton Ohio. any steel supply house should have it.
i use a-2 (air hardened)

[Michael Wildt]

Thanks Tim. I'll try to find one locally or online.

Michael


michael,
i purchased my drill rod locally at Alro Steel in Dayton Ohio. any steel supply house should have it.
i use a-2 (air hardened)

[Matt Meiser]

Alro now owns http://www.asapsource.com. If you can't find it locally (they are one of my local places) then you might want to try them. Their online prices seem to be the same as their walk-in prices, based on my comparison of the two items I bought there yesterday.

MSC has it too, but shipping with MSC is a crap shoot.