1950s Walker Turner Dill Press Resurrection

So I finally got the drill press head off today
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And I took it outside and used my angle grinder to grind off as much of the rust as I could with a twisted wire cup
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And when I have some time the rest of the hardware that I put in a box for now I'm going to take down to the shop and sandblast and then let my granddad cold blue them.
 
What I don't freaking understand is why drill press tables end up with so many holes, are people really that freaking lazy to not move the table over and align the drill bit with the hole in the middle of the table which is there for a reason
 
Yup. If you own the press, there will be very few holes. If the place where you work owns the press, the operator usually won't care. Yours is by far not the worst I have seen
 
randyjaco said:
Yup. If you own the press, there will be very few holes. If the place where you work owns the press, the operator usually won't care. Yours is by far not the worst I have seen
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From what I understand my buddy got it from an shut down and abandoned machine shop it had been sitting outside out behind the shop and he got a hold of it and brought it home and was going to go through the process of getting it working again to sell it but he never got around to it so it just sat until he asked if i wanted it and i immediately said yes.
 
You got a winner. I'd do just as you are, clean it up and enjoy it. The hole pattern is known as an "Arc of shame". I wouldn't worry about it. You might run a straight edge over the table surface. If there are any high spots, just lightly stone the surface down with an oil stone.
 
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Dirty work, but worth the effort when done. That's a pretty cool equipment tag on the head. A sharp putty knife under the corners, and you should be able to pry up the push pins without damaging the tag. Makes bead blasting easier, The other option is to put duct tape over it and trim with a razor knife. Mike
 
I think I have enough room to get a punch back in behind and tap the rivets out but we will see tomorrow after i get back from the local flea market.
 
It'll definitely be a good drill press compared to my Delta model 15 benchtop drill press. Still can't get over a I got this thing for free
 
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