Gallery, Projects and General > How do I??

Slow down a drill press ?

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MetalMuncher:
I have a mini mill. But it's spindle height isn't quite enough to effectively use the tapping head I want to get. :)

The kit I found online is made by Rogue Fabrication. I think it is what you folks meant by a counter shaft, but part of the kit mounts outside the belt housing in order to get a nice 4:1 reduction. I've emailed them to see if it will fit my drill press.

sparky961:
Well that's a little ironic.  I'm sure the picture of their 4:1 reduction kit is mounted on a drill press with the same main casting as the one I sold.... that has a mounting hole inside the belt cover for the counter shaft.

My advice: if this is for commercial use to make immediate profit, just buy something that gets you set up immediately.

If this is for hobby use, or for that "future business idea" that may or may not happen, take the time to build each part yourself.  I don't know your skill level, and it really doesn't even matter.  Your desire, coupled with the assistance from the great people that contribute to this forum can make pretty much any project a success.

Don't have the equipment?  Don't let it stop you.  I've seen plenty of wooden pulleys that work just fine and are much quicker/easier to make.

Sorry if I'm getting a bit ranty...   Most of the above is directed as much at myself as it is you.  ;)

MetalMuncher:
I value all opinions here.....whether I use them or not. :)  But we each have our own way of viewing things, so I respect that.

Not for a business. If it were, I'd be investing in something serious to get the job done. Just looking for ways to reduce this aggravating wrist tendonitis that is trying to hamper one of my retirement hobbies. :) I just finished putting a larger table and Y Axis power feed on the mini mill (the latter of which was to avoid so much hand cranking - I've had power on the X axis for some time now). In the process of doing the table upgrade, on my mini mill (SIEG X2 style) that has a column stiffener modification, I had to D&T some holes in steel plate. Although the larger table would be a "bolt on upgrade" as purchased from LMS on a "stock" X2, they made enough changes in the tail end of the casting that it turned out to be a challenge to get my stiffener plate moved over. When I get up into 3/8 taps and larger, even using spiral flute taps now, my wrists don't like it. Been looking at tapping heads for a lot of years, so I decided to get one. All things considered, it will have a lot more room to operate on the drill press, where the original mill table from my mini mill now resides! I wish there were a reasonable way to extend an X2 mill's Z axis. I keep hoping someday someone will make a longer column casting for these mini mills.

Having seen the way Rogue puts these speed reduction kits together, I feel it falls under the category of "it would probably cost me more to buy or make the parts than their kit sells for", and also they have already worked out all the mechanical problems sure to be encountered along the way, and figured out the reduction math. I do enjoy designing and building things. But in this case, if their kit will work for me, I'd buy it. Now, when I am told I can't do something, or that something simply won't work........well, that's when the desire to engineer a solution goes into overdrive.  :) :D

Speaking of ironic - I don't know what brand that red drill press in Rogue's photos is, but it looks VERY much like my Craftsman 5 speed 13 Inch model in the way it is constructed.

Did you look at their 16:1 reduction kit? Rube Goldberg would be proud of it! lol

MetalMuncher:
I just ran across an old forum thread where a fellow used parts made for a 12 speed Grizzly drill press to slow his old restored Atlas drill press down. Specifically, the center shaft, bearings, and center pulley, and snap rings from the Grizzly model. Although the forum thread is 9 years old, that model Grizzly is still sold, so the parts are still listed.

But if I wanted to try this, which would be nicely contained within the stock belt cover, I would need to invert the stepped pulley on the motor. And, that can't be done with the current pulley. The motor shaft doesn't extend up through the entire pulley, and the setscrew is down at the small end of the stack. I would need to swap the motor pulley with a stacked pulley that has a drive bore running the full thickness of the whole stack of 5 pulleys. That way it could be inverted as required.

The down side is he only got 2.2:1 reduction. I'd like to get the 4:1 reduction offered by Rogue's kit.

trevoratxtal:
A "Drill speed reducer" fits in the chuck and turns only when grasped.
So fits in any drill Press or portable.
Very useful for tapping .
A Ebay search will give a clue.
I have used one for many years. works well.
Trev.

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