Vintage Rockwell Drill Press Question

[Jim Peck]

When I bought an old Rockwell 15-017, I knew I needed to replace the quill return spring. I found one on Amazon that fits. Then I noticed that the spring tension adjustment screw was missing, so I ordered a new one from Ebay that seems to be the right size.

Everything fits together well, EXCEPT I can't get the threads on the screw to synchronize with the corresponding indentations on the spring cover. (For those following along at home, the idea is that by moving the screw--set into the bottom of the drill hear adjacent to the spring cover--in or out, the spring cover will rotate. In rotating one way or the other, the spring tension is increased or decreased.)

Is there some secret to getting the screw and the cover indentations to fit together properly? Or is something else perhaps wrong that I'm not seeing?

Pics of the drill (sorry, can't get the pic to sit up straight), spring/cover and screw are below for reference.

I appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks,

Jim


Drill.jpg Cover and screw.jpg

[Jerry Bruette]

I'm guessing the threads on the cover and screw are different. Was the spring installed in a new cover when you bought it? You might have the proper screw and wrong cover.

[Jim Peck]

I'm guessing the threads on the cover and screw are different. Was the spring installed in a new cover when you bought it? You might have the proper screw and wrong cover.

Original cover, new screw.

Outside the machine, the screw and cover seem to go together properly. I just can't get them to play nice with each other in the machine.

[Charles Taylor]

I have a different model of 15" Rockwell/Delta press with a similar head casting and spring cover. I may have to take another photo from a different angle to confirm, but on mine I believe the teeth around the spring cover are cut all the way across. On yours, they stop before reaching the outer edge. I wonder if, when your spring cover is held tight in its recess the screw is trying to engage where the teeth aren't cut deeply enough.
Spring Tension Adjuster.jpg

Try securing the spring cover loosely so that it can move outward a little, and then see if the cover and adjusting screw find a way to mesh properly. If so, there might be a way to make that work, or you may decide you need to hunt down another spring cover.

[Bill Dufour]

My Walker Turner drillpress has most of the holes tapped smaller then normal. This is so they do not have to use locknuts. It may have been a war time way to save material? I know it is older then 1952 when they had dropped the cast iron belt guard for sheet metal.
Bil lD

[Jim Peck]

I have a different model of 15" Rockwell/Delta press with a similar head casting and spring cover. I may have to take another photo from a different angle to confirm, but on mine I believe the teeth around the spring cover are cut all the way across. On yours, they stop before reaching the outer edge. I wonder if, when your spring cover is held tight in its recess the screw is trying to engage where the teeth aren't cut deeply enough.
Spring Tension Adjuster.jpg

Try securing the spring cover loosely so that it can move outward a little, and then see if the cover and adjusting screw find a way to mesh properly. If so, there might be a way to make that work, or you may decide you need to hunt down another spring cover.

Appreciate your thoughts. I've seen your cover design before and I considered whether the grooves on my cover not going all the way to the outer edge might be an issue. But I looked closely at my DP head and the place where the cover and screw intersect is set back from the outside of the head by the same distance as the teeth on the spring cover are set back. (Hope that sentence made sense.) So, it doesn't appear to me that the teeth not going all the way through my cover should be the problem. But--as in so many things--I could be wrong about that.

[Victor Levey]

Jim,

Are you able to specify which spring you picked up on Amazon? Did you get this issue sorted?