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I have a ~20 year old Sears Craftsman floor mounted drill press. I has a lot of nice features including a wide range of speeds with only one belt to move around. It has one feature that I don't like - completely manual height adjustment for the table. I just got done making an accessory table, my second, for it so that I have a fence and a replaceable insert where the drilling occurs. I added drawers underneith which further complicates the manual adjustment - the table is heavy! I'm thinking of getting a small winch for a boat trailer and hooking it up to crank the table up and down. Any other ideas?
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Automobile scissor jack? Not sure how much travel you can get, but it might cover the necessary range.
Regards,
Tom -
dagnabbit,
I can't remember where I saw that and can't find it again now ... but I'll try to explain it.
It was basically a cable attached to the back of the table's column collar that ran up and over a pulley attached at the back of the upper column, then a sandbag was attached to the cable. Fill the sandbag with ballast until you had an acceptable counterweight system.
HTH, if I didn't explain it good enough let me know and I'll try to do better.
Thom
wishin' I could find that pictureIf it ain't broke.. don't fix it!!!... but you can always 'hop it up'
**one and only purchaser of a BT3C official thong** Comment
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Thom's idea sounds good. With a counterbalance it should move much easier.
If you don't do the counterbalance, consider putting a hose clamp around the column a few inches below where you usually use the table to keep the table from accidentally dropping all the way to the floor or onto some body parts you like to keep if you lose your grip hwile adjusting it.
Loring in Katy, TX USA
If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to treat all problems as if they were nails.
BT3 FAQ - https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...sked-questionsComment
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Thanks for the thoughts. I liked Thom's idea of a counter-balance but did not implement it because I found a $13 winch at Northern Hydraulic and because it would seem to require a fairly large continuous weight to be placed (by pulley) on the motor mount - the only place I have to bolt to at the top of the drill press. A jack would also have worked but wouldn't have given me enough range.
I installed the winch this morning. All the parts were a little less than $15. Works fine. I tension things up with the winch and then have to wiggle the table to get it to move. Not exactly like cranking it up and down but a lot better than wrestling with it. When I am not moving the table (which is most of the time), I back off the pressure. It may not matter but I like the idea of only stressing things when necessary.
JimComment
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Thom,quote:Originally posted by Thom2
dagnabbit,
I can't remember where I saw that and can't find it again now ... but I'll try to explain it.
It was basically a cable attached to the back of the table's column collar that ran up and over a pulley attached at the back of the upper column, then a sandbag was attached to the cable. Fill the sandbag with ballast until you had an acceptable counterweight system.
HTH, if I didn't explain it good enough let me know and I'll try to do better.
Thom
wishin' I could find that picture
Is this what you're looking for?
http://home.earthlink.net/~kvaughn65j/drillpress.htmlComment
LCHIEN
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