With permission from Mac and encouragement from a few fellow Woodnetters, I’m going try something a little different here. A number of folks post information, discussion, photos, etc. of machinery restoration projects, typically in “before” and “after” condition, and occasionally with some questions while in process. But we don’t often get to follow along throughout the restoration process, looking over the shoulder so to speak.
I’ve been thinking about doing this for a while, but haven’t come across a good project machine that might be of general interest to the WN crowd, would not be too difficult for folks with varying levels of background and shop infrastructure, and is likely to cover a lot of topics that come up here on occasion. A good, solid drill press that needs work seems to fit the bill pretty well, and I finally snagged one to try.
The purpose of this not to show “how to do it” or even just “how I do it.” Instead, hopefully, it will generate discussion, questions, and encourage others to chime in with input, other suggestions, alternative approaches, etc. The intent really is to show what’s involved, that it can be as much or as little work as you want to make it, you don’t need lots of equipment or knowhow, and is just a process that goes along at whatever pace you wish. I’m not going to rush on this, just take it as usual -- a couple hours at night most nights, a fair bit on weekends, and don’t work when I don’t feel like it. It is just a hobby, after all. The only difference is I’ll document it as I go, rather than waiting until it’s done.
For the record: as usual, I am bound to screw up, may do things nobody else would ever consider reasonable, and will use whatever tools, techniques, ingenuity, and other resources I have available. Throughout, I’ll include the good, the bad, and the ugly… which definitely fits the project machine (to be described in a subsequent post). Cringe if you want, and I invite scrutiny and criticism on any front. Unlike most threads, where we see the project after it’s done, I don’t know how this will turn out. I hope and expect it to be nice a few weeks down the road, but don’t know what’s going to turn up… every project is different. Hopefully, we’ll see a really nice drill press in about a month.
Finally, for now, I’m not sure whether it will be more appropriate to run this as one long thread or to break it into separate subject “chapters.” I know, going in, that the project roughly breaks down into a few key topics:
- Introduction, Acquisition and Disassembly
- Stripping, Cleaning and Painting
- Bearings, Pulleys, Chuck and Mechanical
- Motor and Electrical
- Reassembly, Tuning and Operation
As we go, I’m only going to show what I do, but will give passing mention and links to resources regarding other subjects where appropriate. If you have input, suggestions, see anything you don’t understand, have something going yourself that would contribute to the discussion, please post away. But please keep it clean, orderly, and on topic, so we don’t get poofed somewhere down the road.
Thanks all… hopefully at least a few folks will follow along, and maybe even a few play along with the home version yourselves.
Bill.
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Bill
Know, think, choose, do -- Ender's Shadow
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