Official Luthiers Forum!

I am taking a look at an old drill press this week. I don't have any experience with them, so I'm not sure what to look out for. Anybody have some tips for me?

Thanks,
Wayne

_________________
53% of all statistics are made up on the spot
http://driftwoodguitars.blogspot.com/

Take a long (12" or so) straight steel rod less than 3/8" in diameter and
chuck it up in the drill press. Turn it on to see what kind of runout there
is (how much does the end of the rod wobble). Turn it off, grab hold of
the rod, and see how much slop there is in the quill (how much are you
able to wiggle the rod back and forth).

Other than that, a DP is a pretty simple machine - a motor and a couple
of pulleys.

Good luck!

Jay,

Thanks! That does seem pretty simple.

Wayne

_________________
53% of all statistics are made up on the spot
http://driftwoodguitars.blogspot.com/

Use a round rod that is good and straight or one bent into an open "Z" shape as this "Z" shape will does not matter if the rod is straight. A 12" long 3/8" round may have as much as 1/4" bend in it and there by indicate run out that you may not have. The "Z" shape will have one end in the chuck and the other leg pointing down to the work bed. Allow the end to just barley make contact with the work bed. It will ad a light scratch to the surface of the work bed if the circle formed by the scratch is concentric with the center of the work bed and spindle then you run out is min. If the scratches look like an ellipse of pena-graph then you have run out issues. This "Z" shape tool is also great to find if your work bed is in a true flat perpendicular plane to the spindle. if not there will be gaps in the scratches on the low areas and deeper scratches on the high areas.MichaelP38845.5993287037

Be sure that it has a quill lock so that you can lower the drill, or safty planer and lock it in place. One of my EXemployees took mine off and lost it. Now I have to raise and lower the table to set the height for planing.

Al