The Franken-Drill

B

Buffalo20

Forum Guest
Register Today
A while back I bought a Altas/Clausing (Johansson) milling machine, I bought it knowing all of the spindle assembly was either broken or missing. When I bought it, the seller said the knee and the table function properly, he somewhat lied, the knee and table are almost perfect. Tight and smooth in operation.

My whole intent was to turn this into a X-Y drill press, I removed the top pieces, mounted an 11" diameter 3/4" thick steel plate, to the top, then bolted a 20" Jet drill press head assembly to the steel plate. There were no modification made to the Atlas/Clausing column/knee/table assembly, I used all of the original existing mounting holes, so it could if the pieces, were ever found, I could be a mill again (as I now have 4 milling machines, that will never happen).

Since I've made the changes, this has become my go to drill press in the shop, used to drill holes, 1/2" or less. Next to the Jancy belt grinder, probably one of the most used tool in the shop.franken-drill 2 001x.jpg franken-drill 2 004x.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Since I did the original conversion, I added a one shot oiling system, new table and knee handles and made a drill press vise adapter plate, so I can lock the vise down to the table solidly. About 45 years ago, I broke my left wrist, when an unsecured piece, spun around and whacked my wrist numerous times. I think because of its simple appearance, a drill press is one of the most dangerous machines in a shop, people under-estimate its potential power.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
That's one versatile Franken mill/drill , I have thought about adding a cross slide table to my drill press but it will never be as solid or as sturdy as your modified drill press.
 
Pretty ingenious


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
The Franken-Drill is MT#3, as it was a Jet drill press head assembly, not a mill/drill, I had a mill drill head assembly, but I didn't need another milling machine (really too big to the Atlas/Clausing column assembly), but I could use a good X-Y tabled, drill press. The chuck is a 0-5/8" Rohm , which is plenty big enough for what I'm using the drill press for. I also have another 20" drill press with an excellent import sourced 3/4" chuck and a large drill press/tapping head, that has a 1" Jacobs Super Chuck, there is a 4th drill press in the basement, a small precision bench top drill press with a 1/4" Rohm chuck.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top