Restoration of a 1968 Rockwell Delta Drill Press - WIP

I would say that knife makers are a crafty bunch. As an expensive hobby most of us try to keep our costs down yet still want the best. Who isn't trying to get the most bang for their buck these days though? So often we shop around trying to find just that. We ask around on forums with makers whom we trust in order to get that bang. What I have also noticed though, is that it seems most people put more worth in the makers words who have been around for so long. And as well they should.....but keep in mind one thing. Usually those same folks have more of a budget then we do. I am NOT saying they are wrong (in fact I am quite sure they are correct), just that they have a bigger budget the newbie or the hobbyist and sometimes we can't afford their advice! Sure, the TW-90 machine is superb from what I've seen, but I can't afford it yet! So we need other options. I'm not a knife maker...YET. I admit, I've yet to make a single blade, I have been busy with work and also setting myself up with the right tools as I go along in order to allow myself a greater chance of success. One piece of equipment that can be pricey but I've read MOST makers believe to be indispensable is a drill press. It is an early purchase in a knife makers career and can be pricey. Benchtop models from the do it yourself stores run over $150 bucks yet I've seen first hand how horribly onstructed they are. Those of solid craftsmanship will run you $700-1200 easily.

I am not yet a knife maker, but I do know tool restoration. I have restored Vises, drill presses, band saws, jointers, antique orbital sanders and bench grinders. I believe most machines made prior to the 80's are probably better built than those of today. And they often times can be had for cheaper! I see older drill presses on Craigslist all day long (In Florida) for moderate prices and most people expect a haggle, so they can be had for a great deal....assuming you are willing to put in a little time and elbow grease! I decided to do this WIP to show that great machines can be brought back to life for cheap, and also that if a drill press is acting up (I know one recent thread was here concerning run out) you can have some advice to pull it apart and fix it.

This drill press I got off Craigslist for $65 bucks. I took it home and knew full well I was about to have an amazing drill press. It was made in 1968 and made by Rockwell (though it says Rockwell/Delta since Delta was acquired by Rockwell in the 60's), so here it is. A few shots showing the neglect and why I think some people dismiss old machines, they look different than the streamlined versions of today.

Full frontal view, doesn't look horrible, but hasn't been well maintained either.


Right side view, showing the motor mount which was completely stuck. The motor belt was not tight enough and no one ever bothered to fix it, definitely could have had an issue with messing with the bearings.



Left side view, shows more rust and minor bubbling of the paint. Turns out someone had painted this previously, ugh what a mess I discovered later!



Showing the base and the table which was stuck all the way down at the base. It was stuck because the support pole had rusted up and there wasn't enough room for the table to slide up (older styles like this don't have the elevation feature).


One problem I missed originally, the spindle is somehow stuck down too far below the quill.



Just a simple view of the pulley cover since I wasn't sure if I would have to reproduce the label.



OK, Time to DIG IN! There really isn't a ton of mystery to drill presses. Depending on which year it was made certain features might not be present if its older, or added if its newer. Normally I start by raising the table up so the chuck is resting on it. Why? Because once the pinion shaft is removed (which happens early on), the quill and spindle would fall freely and WHACK right on the table or base, causing potential damage. I say normally because mine was rusted to the bottom most position. I had to use PB Blast sprayed all around the support pole so it could soak around the table. I then also used Scotch Brite pads to sand down some of the rust. Once I did that, I left it to soak overnight. The next day I came out and was able to wiggle it up to touch the base of the chuck. Took some muscle and LOTS of wiggling, but I did get it there.

First thing today, remove the tensioning spring and pinion shaft. As you can see, its just two nuts. The reason there are two is because you can't tighten the interior nut too tightly or it affects the travel of the quill and thus, the spindle (which holds the chuck). I remove one all the way, but only loosen the interior nut slightly. I only loosen the interior nut because we have to relieve the tension on the spring inside that silver cover, take it off and that cover could go flying. We remove tension by pulling the cover out slightly and turning clockwise. There are notches in the cover that align with a notch protruding from the main housing at 12 o'clock. The notch is slightly easier to see with the cover off, which can be seen in the next picture.


See the protruding notch at 12 and 6 o'clock? Turning it down makes it a lot less scary when done in steps!



Tension spring cover, notice it has a cutout portion every 1/4 turn for adding or reducing the tension.



Here I've removed the depth lock assembly, since once I take out the pinion shaft, the quill can be removed but only if the depth stop has been removed first.



Please take note of the handle that extends to the left and angles down at a 45 degree angle, that is the quill lock. I forgot to take a picture of removing it, but basically with the table supporting the quill and spindle, the lock can be removed at anytime. It just unscrews and I set aside the washer, handle and nut for cleaning.
I think I've hit my picture limit per post, so to be continued......

I hate browser crashes! Just lost ALL of my 2nd post...what a crock!

I've removed the Quill lock here (though no picture), and the pinion shaft has also been pulled free. I dropped the table a tiny bit to remove the depth lock collar screw. Once that was out, I tapped down on the collar to free it, then raised the quill assembly to pull out out from under the chuck.



A cool feature I found. When I pulled off the quill cover, I noticed the stop collar. It is for quick swaps of spindles and chucks. Not really needed since a replacement would cost more than I paid for the press, but a cool feature none the less. I was also able to see the stop collar was far higher up on the spindle then it should have been, which was probably why the spindle appeared stuck lower than it should of in the picture from my first post.



When I tried to remove the stop collar, the rust stopped me! I had more work to do with the Scotch Brite pad and PB Blaster.


Quill, stop collar and stop collar washer all removed from the spindle. Not quite as easy as the pictures made it out to be! The rust on a precision fit SUCKS!


I forgot to take a picture but the bolt holding the cable cover on is easily seen in a few of the pictures from my first post. This picture is from the front after the cover has been removed, I was trying to show you the bolt holding the pulley and upper bearing.


You can see the bearing inside the pulley on the table, along with my attempt to show the chuck on the spindle. The orientation tells me it is a taper fit chuck, so now I know how to pull remove the chuck.



By opening the chuck all the way up, you can kind of see the silver in the center at the bottom, which is the spindle.



The chuck is just pressed on to the spindle, so with a punch and few light raps, I could pull the spindle free of the chuck as it sat on my vise.


This technically is of the chuck after complete cleaning and reassembly (compare the look of it below to the picture above the one with the chuck in the vise), but it was a good shot of the opening that shows the Q-tip in the background, through that hole. This is in case my picture of the spindle in the chuck wasn't clear enough.



Next up, pulling the bearings from the quill.

This is the lower bearing in the quill. This one actually sounded pretty decent, but has I had the part numbers (by looking up on the web) I went a head and ordered both.


This is the lower bearing retaining clip. REALLY hard time removing this, but I finally did. Once I did, the bearing just slid right out.


Upper bearing, which was so tight I had to have a friend press it out (and also press it back in). Because a friend did it, sorry, I have no more pictures regarding the upper bearing. Its just always 'in' since I had it done in a single day.


Motor removed from the mount. The motor was simply 4 sets of nuts and bolts. PB blasted them when I did the table, so they came apart easily.


Shot down from the top of the motor mount assembly. The bolts you see (they run vertically) are supposed to hold the rods (they run horizontal) once you adjust them in or out depending on the belt tension needed. Except despite loosening these, the pins didn't move. I had to tip this on its back, hit it with PB Blaster and let it soak overnight.



Rear view of the nuts connected to the pins that were such a problem, that holds the motor mount on. These actually came off rather easily.



After the motor mount was removed, I could tap each pin out individually (they had been fighting each other a bit when connected by the mount) using a wooden dowel and hammer. View with the pins removed.



This shows the rust on those pins, what a pain!


At this point, there is just a very large bolt holding the housing head to the support shaft. I removed this and was able to remove the main piece. Sorry, no pictures as it is VERY heavy being built of iron instead of plastic. I then slid the table up on off, then loosened a few bolts on the base and the support tube came loose also.

Something had been storing things inside the tube as it dropped boatloads of dirt and sunflower seeds all over my feet!

With everything apart, I know dropped all the smaller metal pieces such as washers, bolts, nuts, depth lock assembly, motor mount pins and everything else that was rusted and would fit in my container....in to Evaporust. GREATEST STUFF EVER. Not caustic or scary and cleans rust really well. You can even flush it down your sink once its exhausted all its rust removal capabilities (says so on the label!). I set these parts to soak overnight and turned to the chuck.

One thing to note, as of this point, I realized NONE of this press had been maintained well at all. The grease and oil had dried up long ago and even despite that...it still wanted to run! Most of those made today would burn up and fry in no time if they were run this way!

Ok, I need a break, I will post more tomorrow. Chuck dismantlement tomorrow.

Ok, I knew this chuck is quality because it is Jacobs. They pretty much are the standard, even older ones command a good premium since most of them (even badly damaged ones) can be rebuilt and run like new. The lack of grease and squeaking from metal on metal contact was a little worry some, but I knew I had to take it apart in order to find out what it needed.

The picture below is after I first pressed off the sleeve. It is fitted in a way that it is what loosens or tightens the split ring inside in order to move the jaws up or down (or in or out, depending on how you look at it). To press it off I closed the jaws all the way, then I set the chuck (jaws up) in my press on top of a metal pipe that matched the diameter of the sleeve, so the sleeve was supporting the chuck. Then I placed another smaller tube on top which was around the jaws but pushing on the chuck body itself. With each crank of the jack, I could hear (and see) the metal sleeve giving way until it finally popped off.



This is when I removed the split ring. They are actually made in a single piece, but then cut in half for installation. It was very obvious from the coloring that the grease had dried up long ago.


A better picture of the gunk and dried up grease on the chuck body.



This picture I can not overstate how VITAL it is. Those Jaws don't all match. I pulled them out in the exact order you see, moving around the chuck body clockwise. It is imperative if you remove them, to identify in which order they proceed or your chuck won't function (not well, if at all..and can be a possible source for run out) when you re-assemble. I personally just started at the stamping of 'U.S.A' and removed the first jaw, then turned the body counterclockwise (so the empty slot that was at 12 O'clock is now at 8 O'clock) and removed the next jaw which I placed to the right of the first, and repeated with the last jaw.


Since it was fully apart, I could evaluate the status of the inner workings. Everything looked solid, there were a few rub spots on the backs of the jaws but I believed it to be rust being rubbed off and not metal, so I decided to clean up the parts (and not order a rebuild kit/parts) for reassembly. I then popped all of these in the Evaporust overnight. It works faster than 8 hours, but since it was late by the time I had gotten to this point, I was ok in leaving it. Some of the discoloration had been removed, the internal rust was gone and some of the dried on grease was removed as well. I just pulled them out, rinsed them off and ran a wire brush on them to remove any other gunk. I then decided that I was going to take it another level. I ran these over the buffer with black compound and polished them up.

This is a picture with all the parts finished after the cleaning and buffing. Not too shabby if I say so myself!



Just a different shot of the sleeve, that ghosting is from the light bouncing off the newly shiny finish!



This is a picture of the jaws installed in the same order I removed them, and then I greased the split rings in order to distribute the grease all over the jaws.


Just showing the split rings installed and the grease being distributed as its on the ends of the jaws (green in color)


Installing the sleeve is basically a reverse of the removal. Sleeve was slid most of the way on the chuck body, once I couldn't push it further by hand I placed it jaws down on the larger metal tube which would hold just the sleeve as the chuck body was sliding in from the top. I then pressed the chuck body back in to the sleeve.

This is the final picture of the chuck as it was fully assembled again.


I know some people will say but its scratched....its a chuck that was made in 1968, it is 45 years old....I think it is allowed to show SOME age! I mostly cleaned it up to this point so that I KNEW it was properly lubricated and functioning since I had done it after the previous neglect it suffered.

All together, not counting 'soak time' of various things, I've got about 4 hours in to this project. I don't think that is so bad. But next up....cleaning up the parts for paint.

I picked up one very similar if not that model at an auction, seemed to be in a bit better condition physically but the wiring to the switch was gone, plug in and it on type set up. I got a foot switch from HF and its working nice. I did notice that the hole in my base plate did not line up with the drill bit. Wondering if I have parts off of different machines??

God Bless
Mike

Thanks for this tutorial, great pics and step by step. I have the same press and 3 similar ones, and like you, paid no more than $35.00 , at garage sales. One has very bad run out due to it being used as a spindle sander, but now that you've d posted this they will all get repaired.

Thanks
Mark

Mike, the support pole was around the same size for variety of manufacturers, so it is possible someone used a different base. I've often seen floor models which were cut down to be used as bench top models, so it wouldn't surprise me. I am assuming you mean that the measurement between the chuck and the support pole is longer or shorter than the support pole to the hole in the base, correct? If you mean it is off center left or right, the head unit can be swiveled...albeit VERY carefully since the main housing unit is fairly heavy.

Mark, Glad I could help you out! The older machines are beasts and even when abused usually are a better machine than the newer ones. The run out issue is a common thing when used as you mention, check the bearings and if they are solid, it might be that you need to shim the quill where it passes through the lower part of the head unit. I've done it a few times and either there or the front pulley is the most common culprit, though I have seen a misaligned chuck cause it as well.

There are six pieces of iron that need to be cleaned up and prepped for paint. There are a few ways to do this and age of the machine becomes a factor. Why does age become a factor? Simple....LEAD paint. It brings about different rules than resurfacing something made in the last 10 years. For this reason if the paint isn't too bad, I'll usually paint over it. I just feel its better to seal the lead in than actively bring it out.

So I began roughing up the surface with a wire brush. I realized though that someone else had already painted this and I've no idea of when. I pound large flakes of paint coming off and sometimes rust under those flakes. YUCK. So it all has to come off. I don't like the time investment in having to wire brush paint off, not to mention the need for a respirator and also the fact it can completely destroy the character of the iron from how it was formed. So I opted to use Electrolysis.

Yes, I finally found a use for Middle School Chemistry class! I love this system and use it frequently. Before I explain, a quick Public Service announcement.

DO NOT EVER USE THIS PROCESS on STAINLESS STEEL OR GALVANIZED METAL. SERIOUSLY, it creates very toxic sludge and serious fines from the EPA.

I realize lead is toxic as well, but I don't need super expensive gloves or containers to clean it up and take it to the hazardous materials drop off in my neighborhood.
Ok, so quick how to on the ins and outs. What electrolysis does is replaces rust particles in the metal you want to clean with clean carbon from a sacrificial metal (also called anodes in various writings to differentiate from the metal you want to clean) in a Line of sight path. Meaning, if the metal can see the anode it will clean it up, if it can't then it will not. It uses a DC current like a Car battery charger with the Amps between 2-10, but the more amps = faster...within reason. Too many amps and you can kind of melt the iron if it runs too long. More anodes make the line of sight rule easier, but means you run wires so each anode gets charged. I use Arm and Hammer Washing Soda as that is the easiest way to get the sodium carbonate you need to form the electrolyte solution that is needed.

You hook up the Black connector (negative) to the metal you want to clean (solid connection, wire brush this or whatever to remove paint and have SOLD metal to metal contact) and red (positive) to the anodes. You arrange the anodes around the object to be cleaned but don't let them touch as it shorts the circuit. So with that, here are pictures!

This is my bubbling cauldron! I suspend the anodes (in this case re-bar) from wooden rods as it allows adjustment and is very sturdy. Here I have 6 anodes around the outside and since the head unit is submerged (with large voids inside it) I wrapped 2 pieces of re-bar in screening (like your screen windows) and inserted them inside the unit. The screen allows line of sight which I need but won't let the re-bar contact the outside metal to short the circuit.


After just 5 minutes, you can see some flakes of rust at the top. As we remember from Chemistry electrolysis will break down the water and create hydrogen and oxygen, which is why it bubbles and with the washing soda, creates the foam.


After 3 hours


Overnight....so after 12 hours.


This process removes rust, but it will also remove paint (assuming the rust is below the paint), so as the pieces came out, they were bare metal. It exposed a few rough spots in the various parts though, so I opted to dry them off with air from my compressor and then sandblast them to get a good finish for paint. One other thing, electrolysis leaves bare metal, which will flash rust quickly. I waited painted the interior surfaces as best I could with a rust inhibitor, so it meant the exterior flash rusted, so I had to remove it, thus another reason for the sandblasting.


All the parts together post sandblasting.


Main housing unit close up



Base close up, cable cover in the back



Better shot of the cable cover...just upside down so it would fit on the table better!



Motor mount and depth lock collar


Here are all the small parts fresh out of the Evaporust. Great stuff! Just needs to be rinsed off in tap water and dried with a rag!


I don't count the soak time as time I spend (which is awesome since I can do other things!), so add another half hour for putting pieces in the E-tank and an hour for the sandblasting. So total time is 5 1/2 hours.

Once the parts were sandblasted, I primed them. I used a self etching primer and just gave them a quick light coat, then waited til it was dry about 20 minutes later and applied a second coat.



I waited overnight and then applied 3 light coats to all the parts. Here are the Base, motor mount and depth lock collar.


Here is a good picture of the cable cover and the main housing unit.


While paint was drying I was wire wheeling or buffing parts.

Buffed shaft pinion and handle


Various parts, spindle lock collar, quill lock, table lock, quill cover, cable cover bolt and appropriate nuts and washers. All buffed up.


Quill took some wire wheeling, then buffed


Tension Spring cover and spring. I didn't remove the spring as they are a HUGE PITA to put back in, but I soaked it in Evaporust and then buffed the cover to a nice shine.


Spindle needed wire wheeling at the top, also I had to file down some grooves from the stop collar screw as someone I guess tried to pull down further than the machine could go. Notice the rust at the upper end of the spindle (right side of the picture) is now gone! Also buffed to a shine.


Upper pulley with bearings, buffed and ready to roll


I didn't take pictures before adding the quill, but I installed the chuck on to the spindle again. Just a few light raps, which I was checking the interior hole to see when the spindle bottomed out. This should NOT be pressed on, it is too easy to deform the spindle!


Total paint time was about 1/2 hour, and buffing and wire wheeling various parts was another 2 hours. So no we are up to 8 hours.

Here is the re-assembly!!

First up, just reinstalling the base alignment screws. I make sure that all screws have Anti-seize on them. Never know when it will be pulled back apart, but I'd like it to be smooth!


Support pole installed and tightened down. Also the table, which if you look close as I was buffing the top of the table I removed a bit of paint from the upper edges. I just taped it off and resprayed to touch it up.


Main head unit back on and tightened down, again...Anti-seize!


Motor mount reinstalled. I also applied anti-seize to the pins as they were inserted, which went VERY smooth! Far smoother than when they came out!


Front pulley installed. Quill lock also popped in, though not tightened down in the least.


Quill and spindle assembly installed, notice the table supporting the quill, I didn't want there to be any alignment issues if I used the Quill lock when installing the pinion shaft and tension spring, so I just supported it with the table.


Tension spring installed. I inserted the pinion shaft (which prevented the quill and spindle from falling) then slid the table aside and lowered the quill down as far as I could. I did this so that as I increased the tension spring (remember the quarter turn with the notches from taking it apart? just reverse it for assembly!) it would give me an accurate read of HOW much tension I needed. I went 1/4 turn past where the quill was pulled 100% back up in to the housing. Then I tightened down the interior nut just enough so the spring can't pop the cover out and loosen but not tight enough that it inhibits the quill travel. I then installed the second nut to hold the interior nut at the right location. Again, Anti-seize!


Front shot, quill and spindle installed nicely, depth stop lock collar installed as well as the depth measuring assembly? Not sure what those are really called. Also the pulley and cable cover installed.

From here I just popped in the quill cover and re-installed the labels. I left those alone for the most part, just a bit of cleaning with a cloth and soap and water. It leaves some of the character in there. Probably another 2 hours of time for install. So total project time at this point is 10 hours.

And TA-DA! All done.

Quick reminder of what it USED to look like (and didn't work properly either)



All done, just need to reinstall the motor (or change it, I'm debating on a 3 phase I can plug in to my VFD to lower my RPMS for metal drilling)


It isn't as scary as some might think, to rip it all down and clean it up and bring it back to life. In the end it is worth it to have a high quality machine that will out last you, for less than a Crappy brand new one!

Looks great teter09 can't wait to start my rebuild.

How much run out can we expect?

Thanks
Mark

Mark, it really depends on your dedication to it! I've slapped them back together, been lucky and had as small as .0005 ( I'm mostly estimating because the dial gauge did move some....but not enough to trigger a full .001 measurement) all the way up to .009. I have helped a friend whose run out started around .02 and we were able to get it all the way down to .001. With that one he had a bearing that was bad, also we used some stainless sheet material to form some 'washers' that helped to center the quill in the main housing head. A lot of it can be tinkering, perhaps the spindle isn't perfectly straight as it heads in to the front pulley, so you tap on the pulley some or twist it a bit to get it back to perfect alignment.

I personally feel that anything below .005 isn't worth adjusting. It is a drill press, not a mill...which obviously should have tighter tolerances.

Also as a tip....when you have a large amount of run out....measure at different points along the spindle to help narrow down WHERE the issue is. Just measuring the chuck leaves the chuck mounting, the spindle alignment which further goes in to the quill bearings and the pulley bearings. I measure at the chuck, then (if enough space....which depends on the chuck) I check the spindle above the chuck. You'd be shocked how often just resetting the chuck on the spindle can clean up run out! Then I will pull the handle and check both the lower part of the quill and the highest point I can (this can point to bearings). On mine...and others like it with the quill cover you can check the spindle itself above the quill.

I loaned my gauge out to a friend for the weekend and I'm getting it back Tuesday, I'll let you know what mine checks out as.

Thanks for your detailed response, just for fun I'll snap some pictures of the old ones I have and post latter today.

Thanks Mark

Quick update, I got my dial indicator back today and checked her out. .003 is what I've got!! Not perfect but I will take it for just being reassembled with no tweaks of any sort.

I really hope this helps some folks either with machines they have or it gives them the confidence to buy an older and rough looking machine to restore!! Hope you all enjoyed it too!

Thanks for the walk through on the process of rebuilding a great older machine.

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com

I think .003 is great, hope I can get that. Thanks for doing this I was considering selling but will rebuild instead.

GREAT work you've done here !!!!

Cant wait to see the knives you'll come up with

-Josh

Here's a few pics of ones I have, one has a drum switch to reverse it and a key-less chuck that I think might be original, it's the one used as a drum sander and has horrible run out.

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