Dedicated Spot Drill

[cfellows]

This is a small, antique drillpress I picked up on Ebay a number of years ago. It was originally powered with a round belt running over two pulleys on the back to a motor mounted on the workbench. I replaced the motor with a 120 volt DC motor and browning timing belt & pulleys. The wiring to to convert AC to DC is inside the metal box below the motor. The spindle RPM is pretty low, maybe 600 RPM, so I just use it for a dedicated spotting drill.

I later adapted another EBay find, a small x-y table of unknown origin for more precision positioning of parts. I position them against the fence for now, but will add a small vice or T-Slot table at some point.

Today, I finished adding a third piece. This is an indexing tool I had made from an old 4" craftsman 4-jaw chuck. It has a row of 20 and a row of 24 holes around the steel disk on the bottom. All I have to do now is add a spring loaded detent and I'm set.

 

[black85vette]

That looks really useful. Too many projects, so little time.

 

[arnoldb]

Chuck, that should be a very handy bit of kit to have around Thm:

 

[Deanofid]

I love the look of it. Things used to be simple and elegant, like this old drill press.
You've done a good job giving it a second chance at a useful life, Chuck. I like your indexer base plate!

Dean

 

[cfellows]

Just to finish it up... I put together a detent out of some scrap 1/2" x 1/8" hot rolled steel and a broken tap for the detent pin. The hole in the steel was drilled about 5 thou under and the tap was tapered on the business end and pressed in.

Not very elegant, but I didn't have to drill any holes in the drillpress casting. The middle bend was necessary so the handle on the column clamp bolt would clear it. The small, rounded flair at the outboard end was gratuitous since it had already been put there for some prior purpose.

Chuck