Drill press restoration - Zapins

Oil in cast anything is a nightmare. Had an aluminum gear case I was brazing just pour oil out when we started heating it. No matter what I did that case always leaked around the area that we brazed (didn't get all the oil out of the metal I think) veed it all the way down trying to fix it. Sometimes you do the best you can and live with it. Or toss the whole thing in the kiln and cook it for hours first.

 

I wouldn't mind upgrading the post eventually and getting a dom pipe for a new column. The iron is a bit soft and dents when the set screws push on it which is why I got into this mess of brazing in the first place - trying to fix some dents!

Maybe when steel comes down in price I'll order some. I might also make a new table and find a place to Blanchard grind it for me.

 

It's been a while since I had the thing apart, got to do it again soon as I have the rack on upside down and can't get the table all the way down. I'll have to take a look at the column inside again and maybe get a picture: it was as cast. I believe the cast iron columns are considered better as they are considerably stiffer than the thin wall steel pipe which could bend under heavy drilling forces.

 

What about a very thick walled dom tube of steel? I'd imagine it would be the best option all around. Weldable and repairable to boot.

 

Steel is going to be a better option all things considered, it likely came down to iron being cheaper if you happen to have an in-house foundry making your drill press castings. The buyer is the one paying for freight so the extra weight isn't an issue either. The only issue I've ever experienced with small drill presses is the table casting flexing under heavy force and needing a prop under it and that's with a steel column.

 

Hermergerrrr... in order to cut the splines I need a dividing head. But I need to mount it to the spindle of the lathe. So I made an adapter for some dividing plates. I'm just doing the last little bit of mounting the dividing plate to the case of the lathe.

This was fairly fiddly to make an adapter.

 

I made a little mount for an LED spotlight. The light mount can swivel and be locked into place. I also painted the last few parts. Now I only need to cut splines on the shaft and it will be time for final assembly.

 

Ok so I spent several hours slowly cutting and finishing a back plate for the dividing head. Then when I finished I realized it wouldn't work so I had to make a second one to fix the issue. This is the fixed one.

I will attach it to the lathe with a metal rod system. I'll finish that part up tomorrow.

Also I fixed my 4 jaw chuck back plate. It was all wobbly and unusable so I took a face cut on the back plate and got it dialed back in again. I am unsure why it got screwed up since I was very careful when I made it to get it exactly right. Maybe there was a burr in the threads that threw it off or something. Anyway fixed now.

 

Nice machining!

 

Thanks! I got my 3rd booster shot today and ran out of energy just now. Maybe after I rest up for a while I'll weld on the metal supports for the dividing head then it will all be ready and done. I'll make a video and show how it works later. Maybe someone on youtube will find it helpful.

 

My body freaking aches. Ugh so annoying!

However I finally friggen finished the dividing head add on. It works super nicely. No scraping or misalignment during rotation. The pin registers in each hole accurately. Looks like it is ready to rock. Will make some test splines in the morning with some regular steel turned down to the right diameter.

I may eventually make gears for an octopus clock with this contraption like I wanted to 7 or 8 years back.

 

Hmm. Well first test sort of worked. Seems to have made a spline with some chatter along the edges. Also I think I need a 4 mm end mill rather than what I have. Its not quite wide enough.

When I turned the shaft all the way around it seemed to be off by a hair when I got back to the first groove. A couple thousandths off. I wonder where this error came from.

 

So instead of waiting for a solution (last 5% of the project takes 95% of time) I just sent the shaft to a machinist who cut the splines and ground the taper. He also loaned me a machinist level so I can try leveling my lathe bed. Hopefully it will help my taper issue.

But anyway project is done. Interestingly each tooth has a 10 degree angle cut into the side of it to make it more or less square.

It slides very smoothly. I'm pretty happy with it. I press fit it back into the housing with new bearings. It is out by less than half a thousandth on the jacobs taper which is much better than it used to be. I'll see about reassembling the rest of it tomorrow.

One last thing I need to do though is cut and thread the handle holes into the central handle hub. They are at 60 degrees to each other and then beveled maybe 30 degrees up so the handles clear the housing. Will need to have a good think about how to do that accurately.

 

Good job. PTFM! The older I get, the more I've learned to say that!

 

Oh yes. Especially that its done nicely and works well. I did what I could do to the best of my tooling/ability but I think this really worked out better than half assing it.

In the future when I perfect the gear cutting ability then I'll be able to do projects like this. But thats a whole project in itself to build a gear cutting machine

 

Next time, you have the tooling to do the job yourself. I finally got my dividing head back together last week. Just in time for a job I needed to do.
Have you seen the little rotary grinder doubleboost is putting back together? That's a slick addition for the lathe. I've been on the hunt for something similar for my surface grinder.
Now there is a tool I really dont need but was high on my list of wants. It was dirt cheap and doesnt take much space. For that one or two jobs a year I do on it, it becomes worth every penny not to send something out.

 

I bought dividing plates but need the machine. Shouldn't be too expensive. But I'll wait until I get a mill first before buying the machine.

 

Finished the hub. Had to offset handles by 20 degrees so they clear the pulley casing.

Paint and assemble time.



This is the original. It has seen better days.

 

I reassembled it today. Works nicely. Very smooth. No catches or weird banding sounds like before. I replaced the very worn and threadbare belts with nice tight chain belts. The power difference is noticeable. And the first test hole through 1/2 inch of steel and weld was very smooth. No chatter marks on the hole wall. Just a nice straight markless cut all the way through.

Very happy.

Its still not 100% finished. I want to replace the stickers and decals and info panels. I'm going to try waterslide paper and see how that looks. Then I will probably add some accessories like an arm with a table and an air/oil coolant system and maybe a digital depth read out. Replacing the torn up table would also be nice. Bit we will see.

Anyway here are the pics.

 

That gets me thinking it's probably time I put fresh belts on my old atlas drill press. Same for the lathe! I put a new belt on my surface grinder and no more bump bump...