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Niles radial arm drill press id help

Bigtrucklover

Plastic
Joined
Aug 6, 2019
I recently met a gentleman who has this nice Niles drill press buried in a tire pile.
I've never seen one quite like it, does anyone know the model or approximate age?
Also, what would be a good guesstimate for value if I was to make an offer on it?
All I know is he said its 3 phase and he's never used it. I didn't see a table for it either.
Sorry for the bad pics, its buried deep in the tire pile and it's dark in the barn.

Thanks,
Jay


drill2.jpgdrill1.jpgdrill3.jpgdrill4.jpgdrill 5.jpg
 
Those ARE some horrible pictures.....hard to do better under the conditions.

Doesn’t seem like Niles is much mentioned after WW I?

IMHO economic value is near zero, but if it appeals to you would be easy to get $500 of entertainment and personal satisfaction from it.

Just depends on where you’re at on the user/restorer/collector/hoarder continuim.

Scott
 
Mr.Oder, how extensive is your library??? I am always amazed at the amount of info you are able to unearth... (thank you by the way) regards, Jim
 
Mr.Oder, how extensive is your library??? I am always amazed at the amount of info you are able to unearth... (thank you by the way) regards, Jim


Its simple - I cheat.

For instance Rob Lang has nice Niles catalogs up in the Scans/manuals sticky

I find a likely page and shoot a screen shot, open it in an old version of Paint Shop Pro, and save it as a jpg (with a useful title) and post it - all in hardly any time at all
 
Small from 1900, so maybe some later from the really awful photos

Niles TOOL works is pre-1900, would have been lineshaft-driven, as your photo.

Niles-Bement-Pond around 1900 with the acquisition of Pratt & Whitney.

N-B-P became General Machine Corp WEF a restructuring around 1928 - the P&W & Sigourney names remaining separately branded, as always.

So "Niles Tool works" would be pre-1900, N-B-P only 1900 until 1928.
"Possibly" electric-motorized somewhere in that span? Or this one could be a DIY conversion.

Mind they did not ALWAYS change the casting molds right away.

One of the Niles lathes I operated at Galis, dawn of the 1960's, the castings said "City of Allegheny, Pennsylvania". Near as we could tell, it had shipped in the mid to late 1920's, post-dating the name change to "Northside, Pittsburgh" (my birthplace, and vintage of 1922 late Mum, before me..) by several years.
 
Missing table is not a real issue. We built one at work out of 1" plate. Just a two sided box, open at both ends, with a long foot that has holes for T slot bolts in the machine base, and with overhangs on one side so you can get a big C clamp on the work. Used it that way, shimmed level, until I went back to that shop and they had bought a big VTL during my absence. I slapped it on the VTL, upside down first, and cut the feet level. Flipped it upright and took a couple of passes on the top to flatten it. Just a few thou of shims required to get it to dial near 0 on an indicator run out several inches from the spindle.
 
Missing table is not a real issue.

Forgiving as radials are about table sizes, yah just buy one of the part-out ones off eBay that is close enuf to go-fetch cheaply. Tee-slots, top and side are already "there".

The table is more important to useful radial ops - straight holes, bustid drills and taps NOT, work ruint NOT - than might first appear.

It needs to be "right" or good, fast, work becomes a constant fight and yer about as well-off with a column drill or even a mag-base portable as take less space.
 
It would be interesting to see if it has the original tilting table.
Missing on mine.

Rob
 

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