Delta 17" Gang Drill Press

crzypete · Post by **crzypete** » Mon May 01, 2006 9:26 am

I thought I would start a new topic down here to show the process of rebuilding my new delta gang drill press. There are tags on the heads dating them to 1954. They need some help.

Here are the before pics, Not too pretty.

The heads are removed, and the stripping process is begun. I am using a 4 1/2" angle grinder with a knotted wire wheel to hog away the nasty old paint.

The smaller parts are dunked in a big old 10 gallon vat of lacquer thinner for a couple of hours, the paint is no match for this bath, it literally peels right off

So here is the base, all stripped and nice. I should be smart at this point, it should be time for paint.

But I am not smart, I must take it a step further:

At least it makes painting the legs easier.

I think today shall be paint day. More pics to come.

Pete

crzypete · Post by **crzypete** » Wed May 03, 2006 10:08 am

Two pics with the beautiful gray paint.

crzypete · Post by **crzypete** » Thu May 04, 2006 6:33 pm

Moving right along, the base is masked off

And black detail paint is applied.

crzypete · Post by **crzypete** » Sun May 07, 2006 8:36 pm

work continues. I spent the day patching the table. There were a bunch of randomly tapped holes all over the table. My technique for patching was to insert a setscrew from the bottom, loctite a piece of threaded rod from the top and tighten the setscrew against it. Then I hacksawed the rod semi-flush, ground it with an angle grinder close, had some mixed results peening the threaded rod ends to try to flush out the holes better. Then they were brought down to the surface with a file.

This was a bit of a pain in the ass, and the 34 holes took the better part of the afternoon. I am happy with the results, and will be happy looking at the results long after the work has left my memory.

Here are before and after pics.

crzypete · Post by **crzypete** » Thu May 11, 2006 8:55 am

Polishing the columns on the metal lathe would have been easy- If my lathe had a long enough throw between centers. Lifting the tailstock of the lathe is not my idea of fun. Here is the set-up using a steady rest to support the outboard end. I used 80 grit sandpaper and then waxed it. The results are quite good. I still need to take an "after" picture. This is during.

RossR · Post by **RossR** » Tue May 16, 2006 5:21 pm

Looking good. Will be interesting to see the final product!!

Ross

crzypete · Post by **crzypete** » Tue May 16, 2006 8:00 pm

Unfortunately progress is pretty much stalled out. Too many other more pressing issues.

Currently most of the parts for the three heads are all stripped of the majority of the old paint. It is quite nice looking at three of everything lined up in a row.

Pete

guzziguy · Post by **guzziguy** » Sat May 27, 2006 8:20 am

I want more photos!

crzypete · Post by **crzypete** » Sat May 27, 2006 9:16 am

Unfortunately the real world is catching up to my rebuilding. Too much time spent building work, not enough rebuilding machines. Most of the head parts are stripped- like some strange Noah's ark experiment- lined up in rows of threes. Perhaps a pic or two today.

Pete

RossR · Post by **RossR** » Fri Jun 09, 2006 3:02 pm

Ok stop all that real work and paying the bills stuff...just waiting to see more on the restoration!!!

Ross

nektai · Post by **nektai** » Sat Jun 10, 2006 8:12 am

Ross,

I am afraid that you are going to have to wait a bit longer for this rebuild. Crzypete is on vacation and I know that one of the things that fell through the cracks before he left had to do with this drill press renovation. He had wanted to move the newly painted base into his studio because it had started to rust under the tarp. I hope that it will not rust so much that the paint will be damaged and that he can just touch it up when he comes back.

RossR · Post by **RossR** » Sat Jun 10, 2006 8:59 am

no worries just figured Id see if there had been any progress!!!! Hope his vacation is a good one. Its always nice to get away!!

Ross

crzypete · Post by **crzypete** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 10:41 pm

Ok, I'm back from Alaska. Got the drill press table inside today. the rust wasn't too bad, cleaned up quickly.

I decided to simply us two of my old heads in the interim because I am eager to run the press and am lacking in time.

Should have pics tomorrow with a couple of heads in place.

Pete

crzypete · Post by **crzypete** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 7:56 pm

Thanks to Ross, I have a tag to work from for the name tags that were missing from my base. I drafted the "Delta" on the computer, printed and cut a template from it.

Here is the progress so far.

RossR · Post by **RossR** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 9:20 am

Looks good so far pete. You have some patience I must say!!!

Ross

crzypete · Post by **crzypete** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 9:07 am

I thought I would follow up to this long lost thread with a nearly completed pic. It has been this way for a while and I love using this machine. The enormous table is ideally suited for long pieces of wood. I plan on adding a third head to finish the press, but two has been a great asset for the mean time. Another planned project is a fence to facilitate drilling multiple holes in line or in production pieces.

reggie98 · Post by **reggie98** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 5:54 pm

Why repair all the hole as you did? They were put there to hold production fixtures. You could have just tapped them and installed setscrews flush with top. I see you have a sacrificial piece of plywood under each head. Some parallels of soft steel to raise the work off the table would have accomplished the same result. For round stock, a ring of pipe with a "V" cut in it work well.

crzypete · Post by **crzypete** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 6:33 pm

Hey reggie,

I actually tapped my own holes in a less random fashion- The ones that were there were all over the place and not made with any rhyme or reason. I have set up a standard spacing that I have been using on all of my drill press fixtures making many holes unnecessary. What it really boiled down to is: The aesthetic of them bothered me, so I fixed them. On Hindsight, since I did the patching I have learned of people using tapered pipe plugs which are made of cast iron to fill in similar holes. I believe this would have made a more visually pleasing result, but oh well. My dream would be to have the table ground- that would truly make the rebuild.

As to your other comments, This is primarily a woodworking drill press, where it is important to drill into another piece of wood to avoid tear out on the backside. The mdf rectangles you see are attached via the 3/8-16 holes I use for all of my fixtures. I replace the pieces periodically.

Most of my metal drilling is done on another delta 17" without the gang table, I have the hole in the middle and mostly use a couple of heinrich vises to hold my work.

Welcome to the the forum.

Pete

crzypete · Post by **crzypete** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 9:32 pm

I have been slowly working on this press. The two heads in the photo above were actually two heads removed from a couple of floorstanding drill presses. For some time, I have been working on redoing the original three heads. Tonight was gray spray day.

Interestingly, I was really disappointed with the lighting in my spray booth- I have always thought it was well lit, but for some reason it was quite dark tonight......took me until I was absolutely finished spraying to figure out that two of the three fluorescent bulbs were out

Ok, I feel dumb now.

nektai · Post by **nektai** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 7:09 am

Did the darkness effect the paint?

MachineJunkie

Delta 17" Gang Drill Press

Delta 17" Gang Drill Press

holes in the table