# 1963 Rockwell Delta 17-600 drill press strange depth stop?



## jfkid (Jan 2, 2015)

I am am thinking of trading my generic 8" Harbor Freight drill press for this 1963 Rockwell Delta 17-600. The Rockwell has about 0.001" runout measured on the outside face of the chuck, the slow speed pulley, and a fair collection of divots drilled in the table.  Being three phase in someone's garage I couldn't run it. My question is about the seemingly missing depth stop (the typical cast ears with threaded rod and nuts are not there). I thought the assembly there the quill return spring is seemed to have an extra knob that might be the depth stop, but I couldn't figure out how to make it work. Does anyone know the answer?

thanks!


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## randyjaco (Jan 3, 2015)

I have rehabbed about a dozen Rockwell/Delta drill presses and have never come across that setup. I will be interested to hear the outcome.

Randy


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## jfkid (May 11, 2015)

I finally got back to this project and have torn it apart enough to do repairs. The depth stop works fine, but still no depth scale. Any advise on repairing the broken end of the quill return spring?  I'm planning to heat it with a torch and bend a new tap at the end. 

Also I'm looking for a source for new spindle bearings. Any leads? I've already rehabbed the motor with bearings and re-wired it to 220 like the VFD requires.


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## Wobbles (May 11, 2015)

I have a similar, but smaller version of that drill press. You should have good luck with your planned spring repair. They probably break more often due to rust than any type of over-work. Pack the repaired spring with _open gear grease_ before installation. I loaded my spindle with tapered roller bearings which take the thrust load much better than the ball bearings I found in there. You'll love the foot switch. Every drill press should be fitted with one !


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## jfkid (May 13, 2015)

Thanks. I guess I'll just have to take the bearings to a local store to try to find replacemts. I am working on drawing up a switch wiring diagram that would let me use the original on/off switches, a speed dial for the VFD, a forward/reverse switch, and the foot switch that does on/off in forward and changes direction with the switch in reverse.


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