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Vintage 17" Delta drill press -- buggered spindle taper?

Vernon Tuck

Stainless
Joined
Oct 26, 2008
Location
Brenham, Texas
Guys,

In early December I bought a 17" Delta drill press at an Alcoa surplus auction. It came with nothing in the spindle.

After some experimenting I've concluded that it has a 2MT spindle taper. a #2 arbor fits the hole perfectly but will not seem to grab. I've tried it with a used #2 Jacobs arbor plus a new import one.

I've cleaned the inside with a rag, some solvent, and some grease, although I would not claim that it is squeaky clean.

Nevertheless, it doesn't seem to want to grab the arbor. It seems a little better on some axes than others if I rotate the arbor as I insert it.

I reckon I need to get to the bottom of the issue before going to the trouble and expense of repowering it with a VFD. If I remember correctly, it is a model 17-230. It's probably at least 30 - 40 years old and I'm pretty sure is now obsolete. And even if a new spindle were available I suspect it would cost more than the drill press is worth.

Do y'all have any bright ideas?

Thanks!

Vernon
 
Borrow or buy a 2MT finishing reamer and give it a couple of turns in the spindle to remove the burrs. Might also blue up a new-ish piece of taper tooling and just see where the problems lie. Could be one nasty burr causing all your probems.
 
I can imagine a "nasty burr" arising if the material being drilled snatched up a sharp bit and "sucked" it into the material.

The the drill stalls, the operator raises the quill, and the last official act of the drill press was to spin the socket against the drill bit tang.

Let us know what you find, and how it it turns out.

What sort of swarf was on and around the drill press?

Good Luck,
Steve
 
Guys,

Thanks for all the valuable help and resources. I love this place!

The drill press was part of an Alcoa sale and was in their tool room. I'm really not sure what kind of service it was in. The model is 17-430. After doing a lot of googling I found a pdf that seemed to indicate that the 17-430 designation was for units that sold as a drill head only but without a motor. However, the motor looks just like the motors in other Delta drills I've seen.

But it's a very nice machine compared to the low end import that it will replace. It has a really nice table. As soon as I get caught up I will try to take some tool porn pics and post 'em here.

Best to all.

V
 
Vernon,

The older Delta/Rockwell 17" DP's were nice machines. There are a fair number of them around, so parts aren't terribly scarce. If you can't save your spindle you shouldn't have too much trouble finding one. In fact, there's one on eBay right now. Listing said it came out of a part no. DP-600 head, which is a relatively common version. Good luck.

Tommy
 
Vernon,
I have an older 17" Rockwell, probably the same machine as yours. I really like it. According to my copies of the Rockwell parts lists that I have, it came with a spindle fitted for either a 33 Jacobs taper or a 2MT. Mine had the 2MT and I preferred to reduce the long stick out. It was an easy job to machine a new spindle. In my case I threaded the business end for 1/2 -20 to use the chuck that I had. It involved turning the thread, a shoulder, a couple diameters for the bearings and a woodruff key seat, if my memory serves me. I may have the old 2MT spindle laying around if you want it.

Jim
 
Hey Jim,

Your thoughtful response, in addition to being generous, also caused me to have a small epiphany (that's Latin for "brain fart") to-wit: Maybe THIS machine has a JT33! I don't know how the size of JT33 compares to MT2 but if they're similar maybe THAT'S why it doesn't fit???

Do you think???

While I wait for one of y'all to send me a thumbs up or thumbs down I will try to learn more about the elusive JT33 and how it compares to MT2.

Thanks!

V
 
Tapers

JT33 is a Jacobs Taper, #33. This is used on smaller drill presses (my dads 10 year old bench top drill has it). I do believe that it is a male end on his spindle has the JT33 machined onto the end. As far as I have seen, Jacobs Tapers are only used in female in Jacobs chucks (or other chucks) but the male can be an adapter or a part of the spindle) I believe that yours has a female morse taper #2 in it, assuming that it is female. An easy trick would be to rap one of your tapers in sandpaper and spin it by hand in the spindle. If it is not too bad this should work for you. If it is worse, you may want to ream it out a little as others have mentioned. Good Luck!
Joe
 








 
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