Moving a drill press table the easy way.

[tonyfoale]

I am going to my shop right now to sus out my Fobco drill press (Superior British made , similar to Startrite (). The older one gets the heavier these things become..../The older I am the faster I was (old motorcyclist adage)

Lathe chucks and mill vices have certainly got heavier since I turned 70 a few years back. I thought that it was something to do with the metal structure aging.
The racing adage is my case is not quite right. It should be a bit more like "The older I am the slower I was but the faster I am". I race better now than I did when I was younger.

[TennesseeZ]

The older I get, the better I was

[RetiredFAE]

My 1936 Rockwell Delta 16" variable speed drill press, with this huge cast iron table, lacked the rack and pinion raising / lowering feature, I picked up a $29 on sale Harbor Freight 4 ton Long (44 inches fully extended) flat bottom hydraulic jack, made a socket to somewhat capture the ram on the underside of the table, and mounted the flat bottom to the drill press bottom foot, added a foot lever pump actuator and a cable release to let the pressure out, and now I can raise and lower the table even with something very heavy mounted to the table.

I had tried the counter weight set up as described above, but it didn't give me enough control when there was something heavy mounted to the table, so ended up going with the hydraulic jack set up in addition to the counter weight set up, now it's real easy to raise and lower that monster table even with something heavy on it.

[jimirwin]

I'd sure like to see pics of this set-up.

[Gergemall]

Cheers on a brilliant idea. I too find myself mostly alone these days to solve problems. Lol . Cheers to you . Thank you for the brilliant idea .

[VinnieL]

I have also seen weights made from buckets of concrete. I have an old 1950's Craftsman made by King Seeley Tool Co. that I am going to do something like that to. The inside the column weight is a good idea but I bet it would emit an annoying rattle noise inside the column.

[dpastuck]

Nice Idea. Have same prob but was going to use an electric screw but your idea is much simpler'

[katy]

Dangerous lead:

[RetiredFAE]

I had a 1936 Rockwell Delta 16" drill press that never had the rack and pinion table lift, I put a Harbor Freight 1.5 ton long ram flat base hydraulic jack under the table, quick disconnect mount on the table and the floor base so it can be removed for really tall workpieces.

Slow to raise and lower the table until I rigged a foot pedal and a pressure relief valve that I didn't have to bend down to actuate either of them.

Think I like the above idea of the pulley arrangement with a counterweight better!

[tonyfoale]

I have also seen weights made from buckets of concrete. I have an old 1950's Craftsman made by King Seeley Tool Co. that I am going to do something like that to. The inside the column weight is a good idea but I bet it would emit an annoying rattle noise inside the column.

A potential problem with concrete is that it is less dense than lead and so it takes a larger size to get the same effect. To get the lead I went to a scrap metal place and bought old plumbing waste pipes.