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- Mar 3, 2013
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Eyeballing mine I suspect there may not be enough clearance under the "helmet" belt guard to have the large end of the spindle pulley up.
You know, I was thinking about this after I posted this question. I was so caught up on whether the pulley could be flipped because of spacer sizes or something, didn’t think of if there’s a enough room in the cranium.Eyeballing mine I suspect there may not be enough clearance under the "helmet" belt guard to have the large end of the spindle pulley up.
Yeah, that’s what I’ll probably end up doing. The slow speed attachment I’m making is the kind that’s a slug of metal that goes into the top of the column which has an off center hole for the pulley to allow for proper belt tensioning. If the middle pulley is off the center line of the motor and spindle pulley then it will probably hit my belt guard cover...which means I won’t be able to use it. Shame because it looks great and not many people with these drill presses still have one.it's a lot easier to put the motor pulley large side down and have the intermediate pulley upside down That's how mine is on my WT900 - came with the slow speed attachment. I put a treadmill motor and speed controller on it a few years ago and rarely ever change pulley ratios from the middle one its on. A few times I'll move it one slower for using S&D drills and the like, but that's it.
one option if you're tight for space is a simpler 2 step intermediate pulley with a set screw to let you slide it up or down the shaft for different speeds. You won't have as many total speeds, but if you work out the ratios and make the 2 steps the right size, you'll probably cover most of the speeds you need. To be honest, the slow speed attachment was a pain. It's a fiddle to use and there was a gaping hole in the speed range between 1300rpm or so and 3500rpm. I guess it was supposed to be "metal speed range" and "wood speed range", but it was still a pain. Much happier with the variable speed motor. It's so much easier to use that, you know, I actually use it