Drill Presses

psvfd

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I had a HF for a long time too--well still do but a couple of years ago my wife's cousin was having a rummage sale. They were moving and getting rid of almost everything. I bought a bunch of small tools and some lumber. Was paying for that and they said do you need a drill press? Long story short they had this 1978 "Duracraft" in a back room of the garage. It was loaded into the pickup before anything else! It's an old import too, but seems like a pretty good quality tool. I just bought a belt, cleaned it up a bit and lubed it. I still have a hard time realizing that after all these years I finally have a better one! On Easter Sunday I even used it as a kind of a vertical lathe to make a couple bushings for one of my garden tractors!

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DAC
Looks like the press i have, 3/4 hp. Had to put new motor on after hurricane Katrina, not sure if I went back to 3/4 hp. Could use a better chuck, had to patch the clamp to swivel the table on column. Bought from a co-worker around 2003. I have it in pieces to move to my present location, will clean it up and paint.
 

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Gary Fowler

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Nice....I need a better drill press, just have one of those cheapo Harbor Freight type ones, extremely under-powered.
I also got suckered into the HF drill press. The motor doesnt stall but the belt slips even with 1/4" bits. OF course the motor might stall also if the belt would put out just a tiny amount of torque. My battery powered black and decker cheapy drill has more torque but the HF is good for drilling into hard metal so I dont have to press on the drill so hard. It is really good when you have a slightly dull bit.
 

California

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... Long story short they had this 1978 "Duracraft" in a back room of the garage. It was loaded into the pickup before anything else! It's an old import too, but seems like a pretty good quality tool. I just bought a belt, cleaned it up a bit and lubed it.

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I have the twin to your drill press, or at least near twin, out at the ranch. I'm home in town at the moment and don't recall the brand name but I think its 'American'. The same drill press was sold as Jet, Grizzly, and lots of other names assigned by the importer, possibly including HF, back in the era when HF ran an ad in the back of Popular Mechanics offering an occasional one page mimeographed mailorder catalog.

I was given this drill press, too. Acquaintances mentioned their adult son had stored too much stuff at their house including two big drill presses left outdoors on the covered patio. Said they would ask his permission to get rid of this second one because there was some unknown damage with the pulley slipping on the vertical shaft, while his other drill press was much newer and usable. Great! I found the set screw holding the pulley to the shaft was stripped so I took the pulley to a machinist who tapped that hole for the next larger set screw. (Couldn't drill it myself with this drill press because ...)

I think these 'Jet' (and other trademark) shop tools were made in Taiwan before China opened trade with the US.
 
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California

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Ok I got back to the ranch. That drill press, a twin to DAC's, has a near identical label declaring
AMERICAN
MACHINE TOOLS
Model AM-1405 F

Industrial
Drill Press
A Product of AMT
Made in Taiwan

That lever in the upper right releases belt tension to switch speeds.
 

Gary Fowler

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Man you guys are lucky to have such good folks around that want to give you good stuff. Not only do I not have that, around here Craigslist has nothing cheap. People want 200% above market for tools and equipment when/if you can find any for sale. Almost all the industrial grade tools for sale on Craigslist here are 3 phase. Those are reasonably priced, but then who has 3 phase current at home.
 

California

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Man you guys are lucky to have such good folks around that want to give you good stuff. Not only do I not have that, around here Craigslist has nothing cheap. People want 200% above market for tools and equipment when/if you can find any
An interesting cultural phenomenon: The gifting of tools and home decor stuff is because the emerging generation doesn't want Grandpa's shop tools etc. They are more likely to be living in condos instead of a home with a shop in the garage. They can't use inherited stuff and don't have room to store it so it is given away or it goes to Goodwill. However you have to be close to an elder to be offered this stuff as a gift.

In contrast things you see on Craigslist at high prices are coming from a hobbyist or pro who knows what something costs and he wants to get back some percentage of what he paid.

Two different worlds and they aren't connected.

My welders listed below - the 100 lb transformer AC welder was from the last day of an estate sale down the street. Heirs said it was used by Gramps briefly 30 years ago for hobby projects. Now they had to get rid of it. I talked them down to $50 on the basis of 'so if it doesn't sell today you're taking that back in your car to [some other city]?' Actual value is comparable to a used Tombstone, $75 and up.

The other two modern units - $25 for both of them. Guy was an old mad-experimenter type who said he was moving within a week to a smaller place and his garage was full of impulse buys that he played with, then in this case replaced with more expensive gear. He listed them for sale in such an obscure place that I was his first call in the week he had them listed. I rushed over!

And the drill press gift described above was one of two that parents were storing for their adult kid who had no shop after moving out. They had run out of patience storing all his stuff.

Maybe something like Neighbors app would find things that aren't on Craigslist. Or ask at church about elders downsizing, then barter some moving transportation for shop tools.
 

CA_Bgrwldr

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Welder
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An interesting cultural phenomenon: The gifting of tools and home decor stuff is because the emerging generation doesn't want Grandpa's shop tools etc. They are more likely to be living in condos instead of a home with a shop in the garage. They can't use inherited stuff and don't have room to store it so it is given away or it goes to Goodwill. However you have to be close to an elder to be offered this stuff as a gift.

From what I have experienced, many under 40 and most under 30, have little to no desire to bother learning how to use most tools,
let alone get their hands dirty using them. A member on another board was complaining about how he was helping his grandfather out,
and whatever power tool they were using was having issues due to the extension cord. His issue was that his grandfather spent about an hour hunting
down and fixing the problem, when it would have taken him less time to drive to home depot and back with a new cord. I commented that
the reason why he has plenty of extra money is due to fixing stuff himself for free, his replay was, his time watching his Grandfather fix something,
was worth more than the $20 a new cord would have cost.
 

dragoneggs

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I'm a bit worried about my tool collection. Space is a premium these days (garages are becoming a luxury) and as mentioned kids don't seem to have the desire to DIY like their parents. My son is starting to show interest and has a few of my hand me downs and has purchased a few tools but doesn't have the space. My daughter's finance is a little further along the journey so I hope they will split the bounty when I'm teats up.
 

Gary Fowler

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I have to agree somewhat although two of my 5 kids are really into fixing. My oldest son fixes everything from cars to computers. My middle daughter owns the garage at her house. She does all the fixing, not her husband. For Christmas one year she asked for a scroll saw for her hobby works so that is what she got. Now I dont even have a scroll saw but my neighbor gave me his old unused Milwaukee porta-band. I had to put new rubber wheels on it but it works great, even had a new blade on it. He also gave me a 8 foot fiberglass step ladder since he had 3 of them. He used to own an electric contracting company. I need more neighbors like him.
 

Gary Fowler

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By the way, when we bought our "farm " as everyone calls it (11.29 acres) the first thing that got build was my shop. A year later we started on building the house.; Here is a photo of my shop taken from my front door right after a light snow. Light snow is all we ever get here.
 

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California

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By the way, when we bought our "farm " as everyone calls it (11.29 acres) ...
Same size as my orchard. But the tiny farmhouse is so old that electricity was added later. Barns similar, we eventually poured concrete over the earth floor in the tractor stall.

To expand my knowledge of Spanish I asked one of the harvest contractor's laborers would you call this this a finca, hacienda, or rancho. He grinned and said it is most like his father's 'ranchito'. (The first two translate approximately to 'self-sufficient plantation'). Ranchito where he came from is like my place. One's 'home', but you need a job elsewhere to afford to live there.
 
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