Vintage Craftsman Radial Drill Press - Model 149.23970

[Ulma Doctor]

I ran across a little gem i had to get and it went cheap too!
I have never owned a radial drill press, although i have wanted one since i saw one for the first time.
the first one i saw had a table that was about 12 ft across .
the radial arm was a very substantial chunk of iron and machined steel. it could have literally drilled locomotive scale parts .I don't have that kind of room or do i ever work on anything close to that scale.

i'm mainly impressed with the engineering and the capability of such a behemoth not it's practicality.

the little unit i found is a miniature version of what i have wanted for years.
a 32" Radial drill!!! it was made by American machine & Tool Company Inc.
i'm in the process of hunting down a date of manufacture.

Right in line with the other bargain equipment that seem to find me, this poor lil guy has a minor break in the quill feed mechanism.
I'll detail the repair process in another thread.
without further adieu, the newest addition to the arsenal!





the drill head has a great range of motion.
it can swivel 360* , the head can rotated about 110* for most use (300+* if used at the top of the mast)and has the possibility of drilling larger (diameter/area) stuff a regular drill press just could not handle.
it is a light duty drill with a 1/2 (Thanks Jim!!) HP 115v single phase capacitor start motor.
it can handle metal work, but was most likely intended for woodworking.
the construction is very light in comparison to other drill presses i have used.
nonetheless, it's exactly the odd and interesting type of stuff i find endearing.
It came with what i believe to be the original stand but can't verify at this point.
it has 3 speeds that are manually set by jumping the rather long 4L type drive belt.


thanks for reading, comments and information is always appreciated

 

[JimDawson]

What a cute little thing. I don't think I've ever seen one of those before. Nice find.

You might take another look at the HP, it looks like 1/2, especially at 8.8 amps.

 

[Ulma Doctor]

DUH!!!!
i didn't pay attention to the amps!!!! good eye Jim!!!

may be time to have the peepers checked out....

 

[wa5cab]

The motor must not be Chinese made. The power input is 1.012 KW (according to the nameplate) which at 100% efficiency you would have 1.357 Horsepower. Not the 0.5 HP that the manufacturer rated it at. Now where is a ROFLMAO when you need one?

Anyway, nice little radial arm drill press. Who is 149?

 

[Ulma Doctor]

The motor must not be Chinese made. The power input is 1.012 KW (according to the nameplate) which at 100% efficiency you would have 1.357 Horsepower. Not the 0.5 HP that the manufacturer rated it at. Now where is a ROFLMAO when you need one?

Anyway, nice little radial arm drill press. Who is 149?

thanks!!

American Machine and Tool Co, Inc- Royersford,PA

 

[ch2co]

I could almost swear that I saw one of these things in one of my friends dad's garage when I was a kid back in the 1950's. And no the 1/2 HP motor
isn't Chinese! although it might be quite a bit newer than the drill press itself. If this thing is as old as I say it might be, back in those days there were no
3 prong grounded plugs and outlets, almost everything was 2 wire and no sissy double insulation stuff either. I remember feeling a tingle whenever I touched the motor casing on my dads Sears table saw.

Chuck the other Grumpy One

 

[Ulma Doctor]

i can't confirm yet,
the motor looks suspiciously similar to motors manufactured by General Electric i see in the field.

 

[CluelessNewB]

You can find the AMT version of the owners manual on Vintage Machinery

http://www.vintagemachinery.org/pubs/29/5086.pdf

That was my first drill press (AMT flavor). The long arm and tilting head were handy but rigidity is not it's strong point. The pulley key is a weak point. The one I had was purchased new by my Dad about 1985. It sat in a box until he gave it to me around 1988. I used it for a few years for woodworking but eventually sold it.

 

[Ulma Doctor]

Thanks for information and the link!!!!
it looks frail and it won't see a hard life.
i'm envisioning a plywood base surrounding the mast as the drill platform.
i'm dreaming of countermeasures for the lack of rigidity.

a sick game i like to play with new stuff is to marvel at a machines/tools engineering and then think of ways to improve it's shortcoming(s) and tear it apart for improvements.