Hello all. I rarely post on the forums here, however I am a frequent visitor for the vast knowledge that this forum offers. For your viewing pleasure is another South Bend 14" Drill Press. I won this at auction for a total of approximately $200 after all fees. I drove 2.5 hours from the Albany, NY area to the town of Fulton in Oswego County. The Fulton high school was auctioning off some older equipment and replacing it with newer. From what the custodian who escorted me to the machine shop said, a local machining company was sponsoring most of the new machines, in an attempt to garner interest in the machining trades. They are planting the seed for future employees. There was already a brand new Jet manual milling machine(Bridgeport copy)in place, and other machines were ordered and on their way.
The auction had 2 SB drill presses as well as other machines like an old south bend milling machine and some grinders etc. I bid on both drill presses but only won the one. The other had some wooden table blocks on it, in hopes to prevent he table from being drilled through by high school kids. The wooden protectors were pictured covering the table on the other press. I assume my competitor outbid me by at least $100 in hopes of finding a table in better condition than mine. He was wrong, as both machines were in almost identical shape.
My machine is a bench top model. I'm happy for this as I have my late 60's Bridgeport for the heavy stuff. The drill press has the less often seen full belt guard, and also the very rare parts tray which has 2 small holes drilled in it which I'll be fixing. It would have been quite the buy and a sweet 'hat trick' if my press also came with the sought after multi speed attachment, however neither machine had that option. From the old rust inside the column, they were never in place. If the drill presses had them, they are long long gone.
I have a question. MY drill press comes with the newer cam style down feed. it also has the four handle style down feed vs the adjustable bar with 2 knobs. What I find is unusual. I am missing one down feed handle, however the existing down-feed handles all vary in size. The lengths of the handles are 3", 4", and 5" in length. Can anyone tell me why they are all of different lengths please? The last remaining hole is not threaded, which leads me to believe that the handles on the four handle down feed are pressed in. The whole thing is a bit boggling to me.
Needless to say, this will be another full nut and bolt restoration just like my 13" 1982 South Bend Lathe, and countless other American made metal, boats, tools etc I have restored in the past.
It's quite obvious that I'll need some parts. This is where I rely heavily on the readers of this thread to potentially help me out.
The parts I need are as follows:
1. last down feed handle and 2 knobs
2. table lock hardware and handle
3. knurled down-feed limiting/locking nuts
4. infamously difficult to obtain multi speed attachment
I think this is all I'll need to complete the drill press. Any and all comments are appreciated. I dunno if anyone cares but I will certainly post results once they are done. This will be a winter project, along with a complete tear down of my late 60's Bridgeport milll I purchased from my local county BOCES a couple years ago.
No idea why some pics are coming in sideways!?!
Thanks all for your time reading this and thank you anyone who may help or lead me to parts for this sweet keeper of a drill press!
God Bless America
