Results 1 to 6 of 6

Thread: Drill Press quill shaft vertical play

  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Location
    NJ
    Posts
    1,363

    Drill Press quill shaft vertical play

    I have a 16.5" Delta drill press (model #17-965) and I suddenly have quite a bit of vertical movement in the quill shaft - about 3/8" up and down. I'm a little stumped on how to address this so any help is appreciated. I'm attaching some pics of the shaft seated all the way up and the gap caused when its "pulled down". The second set of pics are of the forward pulley, you'll notice the shaft protrude a bit more in the one pic.

    2.jpg1.jpg4.jpg3.jpg

    Not sure why they're coming up sideways - sorry about that.
    "The reward of a thing well done is having done it." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    San Francisco, CA
    Posts
    10,304
    Dunno about your machine, but in many drill presses, the chuck fastens to a shaft which connects up to machine above it with a Morse taper. Perhaps that Morse taper connection is loosening.

  3. #3
    From the looks of it, with motion in both the chuck end and the pulley end of the shaft I would suspect something with the quill bearings. There are two in there and there is at least one sort of threaded fastener that ties the whole shaft assembly to the housing. Morse taper being loose possibly but if it were I would expect the whole thing to fall out. Take the pulley off of the shaft and see what happens. Could be that's all that's keeping the shaft from falling out. Other possibility is a bad bearing. The other place that might be suspect is the rack and pinion assembly that is part of the vertical motion drive. Any free-play in there would give you a similar condition.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2016
    Location
    Modesto, CA, USA
    Posts
    9,876
    Bearings are bad or at least loose. Likely the lower bearing is locked in place and the top bearing floats up and down with heat.See if the driven pulley can be screwed down to remove the slop. Or remove the driven pulley and see if there is a lock ring/colalr under it that can be screwed in tighter.
    Bill D

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2019
    Location
    North of I-84
    Posts
    82
    Is there a missing/broken thrust bearing or washer?

  6. #6
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Location
    NJ
    Posts
    1,363
    Thanks for the replies, gentlemen. Nothing obviously broken or missing and no vertical play at all.

    I really don't have the time to tear this thing down right now so I going to throw a 5/8" stop collar on top of the pulley shaft and get back to it when I can.
    "The reward of a thing well done is having done it." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •