Drill press restoration - Zapins

You realize there's some fundamental law of the universe that states that now you've finished that restoration, a better drill press will now become available.

P.S.: I thought you'd be working on cast brass nameplates for it by now .

 

Geat effort, great outcome. Thanks for taking the time and effort to post it.

Pete

 

Quick unrelated question. Is this worth $150 ? I believe its a hardness tester from Rockwell.

Seems to be 1800$ new but the seller bought a machine shop and doesn't know much about it or if it works etc he doesn't seem machine inclined. Are the inner workings of this thing easy to break or go out of alignment? Is it likely to be in good or bad shape?

 

It's cool, but I wouldn't buy it. Do you really need to know if something is say a 40 or 60 hardness? If I can't drill it, it's HARD A/F! I do the file trick. And you can buy a set of files that will tell you how hard something is. It takes up much less space and they are cheap too! If I had a big shop, I'd buy it... Now when I bought my lathe, they tried to GIVE ME a comparator from the 1950's! You should have seen this magnificant tool! It was an old Navy tool and must have weighed 1500lbs. It had a huge screen on it and it was FREE! I made a bunch of phone calls, but couldn't find anyone that was willing to save it's life. I'm pretty sure it went to the scrap heap in the end. Can't save everything!

 

All true points. I'm not sure that I'll be checking hardness very often. I was thinking a set of files is like $70 bucks. So for twice that I could get an exact number for the once a year I decide to use it. But if it is likely to be broken or not accurate then it might not be worth it. Space wise - I still have room to walk in my shop so I'm doing great!

 

Good, you want to store and use my surface grinder and mill for about 6months? lol... I've started cleaning out the garage into a 2nd storage unit I picked up. I have to go retrieve the beast next week. Something tells me I'm not prepared for how big 8x16ft REALLY IS!

 

I have a Wilson Junior hardness tester that I use very frequently. I find it very handy to know with some accuracy what the hardness is of materials that I am working with or that I am hardening on purpose. The fact that the file set only goes down to Rockwell 40 at the lower limits is a significant limitation as things like 4140 pre-hard is typically in the 28 to 32 range and annealed 4140 is in the 8to10 range.
if you pop the top off of that machine I think you’ll see on the inside that it is a very simple mechanical device that is likely to be in good condition given the external appearance and the fact that the internals are pretty rugged.

Diamond tips for making hardness tests are extremely durable and widely available. It looks like it has a tip at the present time and that’s probably the last one you’ll buy.

From what you’ve said I’m pretty sure if you offer the guy a hundred bucks he’ll take it and you’ll be the better off for it.

Denis

 

Now i would give it a home for a C-note. But that would be it. For a hundred, at least you LOOK like a serious machinist this way....

 

Well he started out at 300 which is too much so I offered 100 he countered 200 so I'm gonna see if he will 150 it and post it to me so I don't need to waste 5 hrs round trip driving (tank of gas $65).

 

5hr round trip? I'd offer $75!

 

I’d be careful about shipping such an item unless it is properly secured prior to shipping. And from what you’ve said I don’t think this guy knows much about machinery so he’ll probably just put it in a box and send it off. If you’re lucky the box will be somewhat intact when you get it with most of the parts still present but I’d be pretty skeptical of shipping such a thing.

I know I said it’s pretty rugged and it is in ordinary use standing upright stationary. But it is built like a classic balance beam scale inside with pivot points and things like that that may not like being bounced around in a truck and thrown from the truck to the floor of the post office etc.

if I were to go and pick such a thing up and carry it upright to my car or truck and secure it in an upright position and I’d probably take the top off and look and see if I could stuff foam, rags, wood blocking, or something to stabilize the mechanical parts inside for the trip home.

Denis

 

Ehh yikes. Didn't realize it was so delicate. Is there anything I can have him do before I commit to a days worth of driving to get to it. To make sure it works correctly?

 

Get the manual online. Hopefully it is available. Walk him through test sequence—-not difficult. Have the guy test a piece of hot rolled with the crust ground off. Should be Rc8 or so. Have him test a ground mill parallel—-should be 50 to 65.

This is a well-made but precision tool. It will not survive tossing randomly in a poorly fit box and then being man handled.

Denis

 

Does it have the diamond anvil tips to go with it?, it looks like one is attached in the photo. They can be expensive to replace.

 

Unsure. I'll have to see what he's willing to do. Seems like someone who doesn't care much for the tooling or having it go to someone who will appreciate it. Rather just wants to move it out/make some cash. I doubt he'd do a test piece. But who knows maybe?

I'd assume it was working at some point if it was in an active machine shop but who knows if it was banged up or kept in rusty bad conditions. Its hard to say without seeing it in person. I'll have to have a look and see what items should come with it.

 

Ok so the restoration went well but I just couldn't leave well enough alone. I had to pimp out my drill press a it more

I made a side table for it, I made a mount for an air/oil mister system, I am almost finished making the bracket system for the DRO.

More to follow. Completely pointless mods, I know, a mill will negate any and all of these mods but why the hell not!

 

You really need a vertical milling machine..

 

FYI

https://www.auctionsinternational.c...auction/monroe-2-orleans-boces-ny-28461-28461

https://www.auctionsinternational.c...auction/monroe-2-orleans-boces-ny-28469-28469

 

I really really do need a mill sigh...

Do they really go that cheap?

 

There's still awhile to go on those auctions, so, no probably not.