Question about the Delta DP300L drill press

[JonW]

So I just picked up a Delta DP300L drill presses and set it up according to the instructions. Everything seems A-OK except for the table (that holds your work piece) which rotates around the column fairly loosely. No matter how tightly I screw down the screw/handle in the back, the table is able to rotate a bit. And I’m thinking this won’t be good for when I have my work piece aligned on the table and then it moves a little. Any thoughts on how to get the table to stop moving? Thanks!

-Jon

[LCHIEN]

They've worked on all my DPs (three)
those locking collars work like this:

The collar is split on one side, the split is plulled together with a bolt, usually with a swivel handle/knob so you can close it by hand force.

The split has a clearance hole in one side, and a threaded hole in the other side. The bolt goes in the clearance hole and into the threaded hole. There is a lip on the bolt to stop it against the clearance hole support, thus when you tigthen the bolt the split will be pulled together.

Check if the split is visibly closing? Does the bolt bottom out before it gets tight? In this case maybe the bolt is not threaded far enough - add a washer or two over hte bolt in front of the lip to pull the bolt back a bit and give you more thread length engagement.
try threading the bolt in the back side of the threaded hole to make sure the hole is clear.

The other side of this problem is that the split is closing up B4 the collar gets tight. Check and see if there is some visible gap like about a dimes width - if the gap is complete ly closed then the column is undersized or the hole int he collar is too large. Not much you can do easily for this problem.

Or just take the thing back and trade it.

[fbrend123]

My DP is an earlier version (same thing, but without the accessory table, light, and laser, and painted a different color), and the table clamps tight. Can you see if there is anything stuck between the ears in the back of the casting that might be preventing it from compressing completely when you tighten down the handle? Maybe run some emery cloth through the slot to try to clear it out. Maybe a hacksaw blade to enlarge the slot a little? Pretty simple arrangement, and not much to work with, there.

[JonW]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the replies. You folks are great.

So I was looking at the locking mechanism more closely. And no, the two sides of the clamp were not getting any closer when I tightened it down. But I could press them together with large channel lock pliers. I took out the screw/handle and it looked fine. I looked inside the holes where the screw/handle resides. And that’s odd… only one side of the clamp has threads. They forgot to thread the other side. No wonder it’s not clamping down. Shoot, I need to take the drill back to the sto… Hang on… Let’s put the screw/handle in the opposite way. So it will sit in the hole without the threads, but then pull from the opposite side with the threads. Now screw it tightly. The two parts of the clamps are getting closer together. And the table no longer rotates. Wow. It worked perfectly.

OK, I’m an idiot. Problem solved. Well, the problem with the drill is solved. I’m still an idiot. I’m much happier with my new drill. Thanks again.

-Jon