Variable Speed Drill Press

I recently made the decision to get a drill press...the cordless drill and my wrist were tired of waiting for a mill. A few days searching on craigslist, and using an old treadmill motor I had laying around, got me an inexpensive and useful tool for the garage.

The drill press was made by Orbit. It's an old Taiwan press that I've read is much better than the chinese ones floating around. The owner wanted $230 for it, but we worked a deal where he kept the motor and I got the press for $50. It also came with a 1/8" - 5/8" Jacobs chuck with a #2 Morse Taper...great American made chuck that will fit the lathe too. First thing I did was strip it down for a closer look.

I was very impressed with the inner workings; well made and everything was still nice and tight. While I was inspecting it, all moving parts got a fresh coat of lithium grease.

To fit my motor I needed to make some modifications to the belt and pulley housing. I used a funnel to trace a circle and enlarge the hole.

I also had to modify the switch plate. The original had 2 switches: one for the motor and one for a working light. I'm not using the working light, but did need a place to mount the speed control knob. I picked up a metal cover plate from Home Depot for a blank canvas.

Some dremel and file work and I had a new switch cover.

The motor is a 1hp treadmill motor I got from an estate sale almost a year ago. The treadmill was broken, so I was able to pick it up for $5! I utilized the orignial motor mount as a welding jig for my new mount.

Here's how the motor is mounted now.

For my first design I tried to use the existing v-belts and build spacers to get the motor located correctly. Here's some spacer work on the South Bend.

And here's how it looked with the spacers installed. Unfortunately, the flywheel on the motor was just too large. So eventually the spacers came out and I was forced to by a new v-belt for $10.

I mounted the electronic controller below the motor to take advantage of the cooling fan. I also made a wood cover to protect the circuit board.

Time to wire everything up. Luckily it went together just fine and I had all the correct connectors to make it work.

The wiring and entire assembly cleaned up very nice.

Here's a picture of the switch cover mounted. I also machined an aluminum knob for the speed control.

All done! For $65 I'm very happy. With the money saved I'll be able to get a clamping set and start saving for nice vise.