Thread: GMF Betts 12 Speed Drill Press Tidy Up

Originally Posted by Grahame Collins

A question for those of you with the same model/genre drill press.
The beveled face of the spindle were the 3 drill press arms screw into. On my unit the threaded area is not solid for the depth of the female threads.
In fact the female threaded area is only 1 or 2 threads deep. Are there other examples out there, like this?

It makes for the handles/arms propensity to regularly fall out of the female thread and wobble as they can't be tightened up and stay tightened up.

I am thinking of a disassembly of same and replacing the boss (think that what it is called?) with something that has some more "meat" in it.

Is there is a better way to achieve this ?

Also to turn some spoofy brass knobs for it, probably making them the most valuable part of the machine.

Grahame

Yes mine is hollow, if they come loose again now I have tapped out to 10mm with pretty much full depth threads I will remove one and fill it with epoxy. I was thinking of some nice ally knobs for mine now it is all pretty much done but as the ball knobs are on the way I think it is overkill. I do have a fancy belt tensioner mod that I am about to do but you will need to stay tuned for that

I mentioned earlier that I wanted to make a belt tensioner along the lines of the Waldown one for ease of use and so you can dump the tension when the press is not in use. I thought about this for a while before having a brain fart and realising a simple horizontal clamp would do the trick. A trip to H&F and $20 later the mod was far quicker and easier than I had imagined, I also picked up a coolant bottle and tap off the specials table for the huge sum of $0.

Marked, drilled and tapped out 4 holes to 6mm and fitted, 1/2 hour tops (gotta love tapping cast). Highly recommended mod to any DP if belt changes give you the poops because the factory tensioner is garbage. Still adjustable via an extension bolt in the slide and I am currently using some high density foam to cushion it which I will glue to the motor mount if it works well. This new tensioner also has the benefit over the original tensioner that it acts in the centre of the motor mount rather than at the top as I have mounted it below the original.

Now to go and make up a mount for the coolant bottle.

Sorry Grahame, the day got away from me today. I'll try have a look after work tomorrow.

Cheers,

Simon

Hi guys, can anyone tell me the belt size or part number for this drill press?
I have been given one without belts and this could save me a heap of time trialling different belts.
Tony

Originally Posted by ajcmbrown

Hi guys, can anyone tell me the belt size or part number for this drill press?
I have been given one without belts and this could save me a heap of time trialling different belts.
Tony

Hi Tony
My Drill press uses A24 on the front belt and A 21 on the rear, but will not be the "exact " match for yours.

I had made mods to the center pulley base to slide it forward for fitting of an easy riser wire cable through the vertical column. There is also a fabbed a vertical hinge assembly that allows the motor to swing back to the left side.Given these mods my sizes could be regarded only as a start point. I think the belt sizes will be smaller due to the mods carried out.

There are lots of these DP's in this pattern and someone should be along shortly and should be able to give belt sizes for an un modified version.

Cheers
Grahame

Thanks for that Grahame, even if not exact it is a great baseline to work from.
Regards, Tony.

Originally Posted by Wimmera Jack

My drill press is the same. when I purchased it, I had the choice of a tilting table or fixed one. An old fitter from the Victorian Railways workshops told me not to touch the tilt table one. If I did he said to align it properly and weld it so it couldn't move.
His comment was that I would never need the tilt table, and it was a bugger to get exactly trued up, and stay that way.

.

Having had a non tilt or turn table on my old Richardson when I first got it, I soon found it to be a PIA. When I rebuilt the machine about 20 years ago I fabricated a new table arm and a circular table for it. Have used the swivel function more times than I can remember and have also used the tilt function a lot as well. I would hate to be limited to a square, non tilt or swivel table now. I have calibration marks to align it but could always tram it like a mill head if I needed more accuracy. (cant see that happening though)
As my DP only has the armstrong method of raising or lowering the table I'll be looking at that in the near future I hope.

bollie7