[TheForge] Drill press

[Bob Ehrenberger]

I just got back from the Arrow Rock fall craft festival.  And had a great
time as usual.  You guys must not have enough to do,  three days of e-mail
about farts, really.

Any way one of the other crafters had an old hand crank post drill he wanted
to get rid of.  At first I told him I wasn't interested, since I already
have 6 drill presses in my shop.  But then in the spirit of helping out
beginners, I told him I might be interested just to pass it along to a new
smith that is just starting in the addiction that we call blacksmithing.

We managed to work out a trade for about $30 worth of my product.  A pretty
good deal from my point of view since I didn't have to fork over any money.
The drill press is a Champion #101. It's missing the pipe and work table and
was pretty dirty. But all the parts moved so I figured it would clean up ok.
It also has the most unusual chuck that I have ever seen.  At first I
thought that the chuck was some kind of thread cutting die. It has two jaws
and a screw set up so that when the screw is turned the jaws move in and
out.  What looked like dies for cutting threads (on the jaws)  turned out to
have a series of ridges that interlock when the jaws are brought together.

It took about an hour with a power brush and oil can to get the whole thing
working like new.  The funny chuck holds things pretty good but depending on
which ridges make contact doesn't run exactlly true.  The chuck is held in
by a standard 1/2" shaft in the original chuck which required all the drill
bits to have a 1/2" shank.  I'm sure that it was a big step up in
convenience when it was new but to really do much drilling you would need to
put in a modern chuck.

My Champion catalog is out in the shop so I can't consult it right now.  I'd
be interested to see if that chuck was offered as original equipment.  I
couldn't find any writing on the chuck, there's a 1907 pat. on the drill.

Bob Ehrenberger
Shelbyville, Mo