# Slowing down my drill press



## iron man (Sep 29, 2014)

Until I can afford a different one my drill press was just to fast so I thought I would make a pulley for it and slow it down. It is a five step pulley so I had a small piece of 4 inch T6 aluminum so I chucked it up and started to work. I will post the pic's.. Ray


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## iron man (Sep 29, 2014)

After cutting all the steps I sharpened a cutter to fit the stock pulleys and started to cut grooves.


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## iron man (Sep 29, 2014)

I cut all five at a pretty good rate the cutter I sharped just required to go in at the correct depth. So much for the (You cannot take a heavy cut on an Atlas lathe) This was a very heavy cut without vibration or any problem. Ray


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## iron man (Sep 29, 2014)

Then I started to hog out a hole getting ready to bore for bearings.


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## iron man (Sep 29, 2014)

Here it is all done bored ready to press a couple of bearings in. I then made a shaft and a small bracket that will allow the idler pulley to swing.


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## iron man (Sep 29, 2014)

Here it is mounted works great. It slowed it down quite a bit this should help and as soon as  I can find a big enough motor I am going to change the motor to a DC variable speed just like I did with the Atlas Lathe.


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## furnace3 (Sep 29, 2014)

So the cutter you made cuts the groove all in one pass? That's a stout cut for sure. Very nice!

The idlers in all the (cheapish) drill presses I have ever owned seem to be a weak link in the drive train. The stamped-steel brackets get tweaked and start to bind due to the lateral forces with different belt positions. Did you machine the bracket too?


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## iron man (Sep 29, 2014)

furnace3 said:


> So the cutter you made cuts the groove all in one pass? That's a stout cut for sure. Very nice!
> 
> The idlers in all the (cheapish) drill presses I have ever owned seem to be a weak link in the drive train. The stamped-steel brackets get tweaked and start to bind due to the lateral forces with different belt positions. Did you machine the bracket too?



 Yes I made the arm out of 11/2 x 1/2 CR and the shafts ot of stressproof it isnt going anywhere. Thanks Ray


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## NightWing (Sep 29, 2014)

It is talent and ingenuity like this that made our manufacturing base so successful during the early days of metalworking.


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## iron man (Sep 30, 2014)

Thank you. Ray


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## Torbo (Sep 30, 2014)

Smart! Good thinking!


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## iron man (Oct 1, 2014)

Last night I took the table off it sat crooked I remachined the parts so everything was square with the world and put it back together. It worked out nice instead of having a 1/16 drop in the front of the table it now is perfectly flat with the chuck. Ray


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