New (To Me) Drill Press

Iplayfarmer · Nov 23, 2011

I'm in luck. I called the motor guy that deals parts to us at work. He had the right capacitor on the shelf for 35% less than any online price I saw, and he delivered it right to my desk.

I'll put it in this weekend after the holiday festivities and be back to drilling holes. I have yet to do anything useful with this drill press. To date I've just been playing around drilling holes in scrap. I think my first project will be to finish building a receiver tube system for mounting my grinders on my work bench.

bearcreek paul · Nov 23, 2011

It won't hurt to change the belt if it's worn,but that belt slipping is what keeps those old machines going.That is their way of telling you to take it easier.

k0ua · Nov 23, 2011

Iplayfarmer said:
It says electrolytic right on the capacitor. What does that even mean? Are there better capacitors that would give me better performance out of my motor?

Thanks for the heads up on DC vs. AC. I'll be sure to get an AC capacitor. Any ideas of a good online source?
Everything I've seen in a few minutes of looking has been in Taiwan or Hong Kong.

Most electolytic caps are polarized,(+ -) and will go boom if you put 125volts AC on them. However there are non polarized Electorlytics.
You need a motor start cap, made for that purpose. I go to a local industrial supply house for them. Johnstone industrial, or Harry Cooper. No the cap is to kick the motor over upon starting and is taken out of the circuit when the motor reaches speed.

maybe this one if you want to mail order, but I would look locally.

PSU12465 Cornell Dubilier Aluminum Electrolytic Capacitors - Snap In

Electrolytic refers to the "goo" inside between the aluminum foil plates inside the can. it is some kind of liquid paste of just what I dont know.

James K0UA

k0ua · Nov 23, 2011

Whoops, I did not see your last post , where you got the cap locally at a good price.. good deal, you will be back in business.

James K0UA

Iplayfarmer · Nov 25, 2011

Good news!! I sold the smaller drill press for the same price I paid for this bigger one.

Bad News!! I replaced the start capacitor and that didn't fix the problem. Any advice? Do I have to charge the capacitor or something before it will work?

The symptoms are as follows... The motor sits and hums a little when I flip the switch. If I give the spindle a spin, the motor fires up and runs fine.

Gale Hawkins · Nov 26, 2011

Does it take any force to make it start in like it feels locked up before you get it to start spinning?

Iplayfarmer · Nov 26, 2011

Iplayfarmer said:
Bad News!! I replaced the start capacitor and that didn't fix the problem. Any advice?

Nevermind. I fixed it. The little mechanism that disengages the capacitor was stuck disengaged. I have a picture of the mechanism in the first picture. I wiggled the mechanism and exercised it a few times, and it seems to be working fine now.

This likely means that the original capacitor never was bad, but for $6.50, I'll just keep it as a spare. I already changed the ends on the wires to fit the new capacitor (second picture).

Drilled a 5/8" hole in a single pass without a pilot. I LOVE THIS DRILL PRESS!! :thumbsup:

It was the first productive hole I've drilled with this drill press. I'm building the mounts for my grinders so that I can sharpen drill bits better (among other things).

Gale Hawkins · Nov 26, 2011

Great. That is one horse of a drill press.:thumbsup:

deereman75 · Nov 26, 2011

very nice. As much as I love my old delta, I would only drill up to 1/2 inch with it. It is also only a 14 inch one, it would be real nice to have a big one like yours.:thumbsup:

Brad_Blazer · Nov 26, 2011

bearcreek paul said:
It won't hurt to change the belt if it's worn,but that belt slipping is what keeps those old machines going.That is their way of telling you to take it easier.

A few years ago I pulled a drill press out of a dumpster & brought it home only to find the cast iron spindle carrier sleeve was broken. I found a complete head from a HF drill press at a junk reseller for $40. When I brought that home I found out the spindle spline was twisted apparently from snubbing it with the belts too tight. Luckily I was able to make the spindle from the old head fit.

It's amazing how just about every project requires the use of a drill press.