A radial drill press made from spare parts

My radial drill press cost about the same in materials as small, cheap ones you can buy, and it isn't much bigger or stiffer than those, but it has more freedom of motion than some more expensive machines. It's made from some parts I found and other parts I made. It ended up so the maximum extension is about 73cm - I guess this makes the swing 57" - and the head has about 28cm vertical travel, and it can swivel, rotate, and pivot 360°; it has a 3/8" chuck, the quill travel is up to 8cm, and with the temporary "Hi-Power" gearmotor runs at something like 1000rpm with no load.

Even with more reasonable torque it probably wouldn't make a great everyday drill press, it takes a lot of room and it's difficult adjusting it to drill square, but it's great for drilling series of consistent angled holes in wide pieces of wood. It can drill straight out and even upwards and still is light enough to carry.

Step 1 Parts

The base, column and ram are parts from a power feeder made in Italy that someone got rid of because it has a 550-volt three-phase motor. It came bolted to a 14" tilting top table saw with similar power requirements, but it usually was in my way and anyways one of the wheels was wrecked. It took up even more space when I removed it.

The head is from a hydraulic door closer I found in a pile of them at work. It might have been made by Ilco and it had green wrinkle finish, almost the same color as the feeder but that was something more like hammerite.

The quill is made from a 10.5" long piece of 1 5/8" 1/4" wall 1026 cold roll steel DOM seamless tube I bought from Metal Express, the current price is about $18.

The spindle might be a guide rail from a printer, I found a bunch of them loose in a dumpster, 14, 18 and 20mm diameter, hard outside with different amounts of rusty spots. I think the 30202 and A4050/A4038 tapered roller bearings I bought from a local bearing store were less than $20 each, now they're $25 and $27 from McMaster-Carr. Ball bearings would have been much more appropriate and easier to deal with, and probably cheaper. I used a TCM 20x35x7TC spring loaded double lip seal on the bottom, maybe $7, and just a piece of turned scrap UHMW-PE at the top, held in place with a TN-01 bearing nut, maybe $3.

A little $6 flea market universal motor electric drill drives it, but it would be nice to replace it with a 250 watt variable speed motor. It runs from a 52-tooth XL timing belt with two 15 tooth pullies. I might have got them from SDP/SI, $6 for the belt and $10 each for the pullies. They're a little small.

The feed yoke is a cutoff piece of aluminum bar bent into shape, pinned with pointed 1/4"-28 set screws to a split collar made from steel plate. The handle is a piece of 1/4" rod attached with a 10-32 button head cap screw, and the connecting rod is a piece of brass bar from a player piano exhauster pedal, held on with a couple dowel pins. I modified a 1/2" button head screw to clamp the steel toggle plate to the casting. The feed stop is a piece of leftover 5/16"-18 threaded rod with a couple hex nuts to jam against each other.

Comments

[Benz]

Wow. what else can I say. Wow. colour me impressed.

[threesixesinarow]

Wrong size, even if you use Vienna inches

[btop]

That looks like a good press to convert to cnc. Please have a go, and post the results :)

[threesixesinarow]

I need to find a few more parts first!

[btop]

Haha, your garage looks full of various parts! Isn't there a stepper motor or three?

[threesixesinarow]

It's not a garage but full is about right, and the orange thing in the box is one of three slo-syn motors I have. I don't think it would be worth having computer control of more than the table and quill feed even though have to walk around it to make adjustments. The holdup is the quill feed.

[reginaron]

I really like this. Recycling...Cool. I just commenting on that you use old standard & metric. It's not confusing to me, but mabye to somebody else. cheers

[threesixesinarow]

I figured it would help keep the tolerances straight, but here in central Massachusetts it's also easier and cheaper finding things in (English) inches.

[alston]

Price estimate?

[threesixesinarow]

I think I spent something like $150 on parts as it took shape, a better quality chuck and motor will add at least another $50, and that's ignoring things I didn't use or that I ruined. You might be able to buy just the frame for a power feed, but the modern door closers I saw for sale don't look like they'd work.

[cannonsaercool]

if those are all spare parts you have sitting around i'm so jealous of your garage

[GorillazMiko]

Awesome! This is insanely insane to all insanity of insaneness to the max of insanity because it is so insane. Nice job!