Anorak Bob
25th Aug 2017, 01:48 PM
I thought this may be of interest to anyone refurbishing a Waldown bench drill press. I purchased a base model Workmax bench drill a number of years ago simply to acquire its motor which I subsequently fitted to my Waldown 3M drill. Then I found another motor which I fitted to the Workmax along with a longer column and appropriate base. The bench base and column resided in the garden shed until Wednesday. The newly acquired Tough's solid column has suffered from numerous impacts and it's heavy. It weighs 25.1 kilos. The Waldown's column is hollow and weighs 6.1kg. Both columns are the same 2 1/2" diameter.
"Justification" for the purchase of a fourth drill press was that I could give one of the bench drills to my daughter living Melbourne. The hollow Waldown column would make transport and handling cheaper and easier.
Now the important bit and this may only apply to the Workmax, but there are no fixings securing the column to the base. Waldown uses socket set screws to lock the Workmax head casting to the column and split castings with pinch bolts on the heavier 3M. I thought the bench column must have been pressed into its base. Several blows with a heavy hammer and a drift were ineffectual so I mounted the base and column on the 20 ton press. Initially, nothing moved. You would expect movement if it was pressed in place. I heated it up gently with a Mapp torch. Then BANG, the column moved about 20mm. It had been adhesive fixed. The adhesive's green colour is similar to Loctite's bearing retaining compound. To soften that I would have needed more than my gas torch.
My first attempts at removing the adhesive with a single sided razor blade quickly gave way to a fine lathe file used carefully with the column stationary on the lathe. To clean the column I used a coarse Scotch Brite scourer and wet and dry paper with WD-40. The bed was well covered during the process.
BT
"Justification" for the purchase of a fourth drill press was that I could give one of the bench drills to my daughter living Melbourne. The hollow Waldown column would make transport and handling cheaper and easier.
Now the important bit and this may only apply to the Workmax, but there are no fixings securing the column to the base. Waldown uses socket set screws to lock the Workmax head casting to the column and split castings with pinch bolts on the heavier 3M. I thought the bench column must have been pressed into its base. Several blows with a heavy hammer and a drift were ineffectual so I mounted the base and column on the 20 ton press. Initially, nothing moved. You would expect movement if it was pressed in place. I heated it up gently with a Mapp torch. Then BANG, the column moved about 20mm. It had been adhesive fixed. The adhesive's green colour is similar to Loctite's bearing retaining compound. To soften that I would have needed more than my gas torch.
My first attempts at removing the adhesive with a single sided razor blade quickly gave way to a fine lathe file used carefully with the column stationary on the lathe. To clean the column I used a coarse Scotch Brite scourer and wet and dry paper with WD-40. The bed was well covered during the process.
BT