Drill Press Part 4

I spent some time since last weekend searching for machine knobs. I found some on Amazon but the delivery dates on them were at best in May. I ended up finding some nice textured ones at Grainger for less than $2.00ea.

I had an hour tonight to get the rods threaded and install them.

Tomorrow I'm contacting a Marathon distributor to see if I can figure out the resilient rings on the motor.

Drill Press Part 3

Today I spent the better part of the day trying to bead blast the wheels for my corvette. The factory paint on them wasn't done very well and one has some minor curb rash so I thought I would repaint them. Unfortunately only blaster I have available to me large enough to put them in had plastic media and while it would remove the paint I estimate it would have taken me 3+ hours a wheel.

Because I wasted the better part of the day with that, I didn't get much done on my drill press.

I did get the quill spring cleaned, painted and installed, along with the motor plate which I some how forgot completely about when I blasted all the other parts. The plastic beads worked ok on it, I just need to paint it now.

I also got some quill handles made, this is one part I'm confused about. Every photo I have seen of this model has a quill handle that bolts to the end of the pinion. My pinion has a hole that is about 1/4" that is not very deep and not threaded, so I'm not very sure how the original handles attached. Anyway I made some from 1/2" rod and threaded them into a sleeve at a 18° angle. Now I just need to find something to use for knobs. I found an old umbrella handle but I don't really want to wait till I break two more.

Drill Press Part 2

Last weekend I borrowed my buddies blast cabinet and cleaned up most of the drill press castings. Wednesday it was warm enough here to paint what I had blasted.

The biggest pain was cleaning the support column, the rust on it was fairly thick but fortunately it didn't pit the metal.

I got about 70% of it put back together today.

I still have some details to figure out. It didn't have any quill feed handles or a depth stop, I think I can make both. The thing that has me a bit baffled right now is the motor mounts. It has a Marathon 1/2 horse motor with resilient ring mounts, the mounts are shot and I have no idea how to remove them from the end plates on the motor or what to buy to replace them. I have had zero luck matching the data plate to anything I can find online. I did find a major supplier for Marathon motors, I'm going to call them next week and see if I can get more information or what replacement rings to buy.