Refurbishing old Delta DP600 drill press (1 Viewer)

[red66toy]

Hello everyone,
Been on the look out for a good drill press for a long time and found a good deal on one, i think. Paid $50 for it. Missing a couple small things (like a shaft safety collar) but its mostly there. Its a 1940s Delta DP600 drill press.

Guy I bought it from said it didn't drill super straight. Guessing new bearings for the spindle? Anyone into vintage tools that might have advise on where to find bearings for a drill press this old?

i'll post up photos as it comes together! Thanks.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Subscribed. Have a similar Rockwell 17-600.

Not drilling straight can be wear in the quill or head casting where the quill comes down, but it can also be spindle bearings. Get the bearing numbers, then buy new ones off ebay.

 

[red66toy]

Awesome! Is yours from the same era? Mind posting photos of it all put together?
As for the bearings, I get them out and see if I can find a number. Glad they can be sourced online. I was worried they would be impossible to find.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Awesome! Is yours from the same era? Mind posting photos of it all put together?
As for the bearings, I get them out and see if I can find a number. Glad they can be sourced online. I was worried they would be impossible to find.

Mine is a '60s Rockwell. Looked it up on vintagemachinery.org by serial number and want to say it was a 63 or 64. You should check that site out if you haven't already, the manual for your drill press, and pictures of your exact press, will likely be on there.

Here are some photos and a video of my drill press. I plan to start the restoration of it this spring:
https://goo.gl/photos/xeZw7rAxpsyidvVMA

 

[red66toy]

Thanks! Yeah yours looks a little different than mine but lots of similarities too.
He gave me this:

He called it the "oil board" Its made of leather with I think the serial number stamped on it. He said its leather because aluminum was hard to come by during the war. Not sure if that is true in this case with the tag but its a neat little tag. Too bad its so faded.

Excited to learn about these old things and get this back to working condition.

 

[red66toy]

Oh just found this, not leather:
"Style 2C plates were made of "oilboard" (dense coated cardboard) and measured 3/4" x 3" with rivet holes spaced the same as the first style plates. They were used between early 1942 to sometime in 1944. They are fairly common but are somewhat fragile and are often missing or in poor condition."
Cool! Mine was made in 1943!

 

[Proven]

Man, I keep seeing vintage stuff on craigslist. I wanna do this so bad.

 

[gregnash]

This is awesome.. Happened to be going to the bank on Saturday last week when my neighbor across the street yelled at me. Turns out he was cleaning out his garage (older guy in his late 50s) and had a smaller 8" benchtop drill press he didn't really need as he also had a huge floorstand one. Price was FREE!!

Ends up being a taiwanese made REXON from 1986 (still has serial plate on it) and seems to be in very good condition (doubt he neglects his tools from what I have seen of them). Haven't done anything with it other than dust it off but excited as I have been looking for a cheaper on for the garage as of late.

Dumb question, I have never owned a drill press before and find that there is a slight wobble between the shaft and the base plate. Is this normally just pressed in or ????

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Congrats on the new tool. "shaft" and "base plate" ? Little too vague to give an answer. Maybe you're talking about play between the quill and the head casting?

 

[gregnash]

Congrats on the new tool. "shaft" and "base plate" ? Little too vague to give an answer. Maybe you're talking about play between the quill and the head casting?

Ok looking at @red66toy 's pic above... the long tube (calling it the shaft) seems to press into the foot/base plate that the unit stands on. There is a decent amount of play between that pipe and the collar that it seems to be attached too.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Ah. That's called the column. There shouldn't be any play when the column, collar and base are bolted together.

 

[gregnash]

Ok that is what I thought... Will take a couple shots tonight and see if I cannot figure out how to dismantle it.

 

[Madbodhi]

Here's mine with a cast iron production table. I love refurbishing old machinery but just haven't gotten around to this one as I use it often

 

[Madbodhi]

Here's an old Wellsaw 58B I picked up and put back to work.

It has the ability to be used as a vertical saw as well. Has been a huge help around the shop.

 

[gregnash]

Ok yeah my column is toast. Was able to dismantle the foot from the column this weekend and then just wiggle to piece that the column is pressed into off the column. Any ideas how to get this fixed? Do have a welder so I guess if worse comes to worse I can tack weld in a few spots to see if it will hold. Other than that, Maybe Red or Blue loctite around the base before I press it in?

 

[red66toy]

Geez I need to update this! I just about finished the drill press…. And then I found another today. Hahaha. I’ll post pics of the completed drill press later. This new one has a large table like yours @Madbodhi .

 

[MrMikeyG]

I can't let myself fall into the old big tools hobby until I have an actual shop space. I do have an old Craftsman 4" jointer sitting on a shelf. I let that one slip by due to its "benchtop" size.