Drill Press Casting Crack - Repair or No?

[Nuke_It_Newport]

Hi everyone-
I have a Craftsman drill press that has a hairline crack in the casting where a screw thread is located. I assume this screw takes up the slop between the head and the column. There are two of these screws, and a roll pin that secures the head to the column. Would you repair this, or not worry about it? Are there any acceptable repairs other than disassembly and having the casting welded? I only have a mig welder with C25 gas, so I'm not going to risk ruining it. Could I drill and tap a new hole on the thicker, flat part of the casting between this hole and the other screw? Put a 1/2" u-bolt around the casting, replacing the thin flat plate on the u-bolt with something beefier that would be drilled and tapped for a set screw, then drill out the hole in the casting to make it a pass through hole? Ignore it? I have no idea how important this screw is to maintain drill press accuracy. Thank you!

 

[RaisedByWolves]

Thats a poor design and liable to fail again after repair. Honestly it looks like someone reefed too hard on the screw causing that.

I would take off the head and redrill/tap that hole an inch further up.

 

[MrWhoopee]

Thats a poor design and liable to fail again after repair. Honestly it looks like someone reefed too hard on the screw causing that.

I would take off the head and redrill/tap that hole an inch further up.

^^^This^^^

 

[pontiac428]

Either that, or epoxy the heck out of it with J-B metal. That is probably the world's most common drill press design, from Craftsman to Harbor Freight and every store brand in between. Not much cause to remove or pivot the head, and if you do, the foot is staked with the same type of screws. It may have been overtightened, or it may have fallen over at some point. Either way, a good epoxy joint will be stronger with less stress on the casting.

 

[francist]

I was going to say it was good that the crack is below the hole and not above as the hole should limit the tendency of the crack to migrate. But... I think I can see a small hairline of the crack above the hole as well which isn't comforting. Looks like there's room on the bottom of that casting to slip a collar -- thinking of something like a really beefy hose clamp -- but I don't know if that would really do anything or not.

 

[OTmachine]

You could affix a nut plate to it to better distribute the load. Fab up Something like this:
A plate with a tapped hole in the center and 2 to 4 holes to bolt it to the casting via tapped holes.

 

[epanzella]

I would just leave it until it becomes a problem but I don't think it ever will be.

 

[extropic]

A bulletproof fix would be to drill the existing hole out to a clearance diameter. Turn a steel ring with a ID that will fit over the existing casting hub.
Ring ID may want some taper to accommodate draft present on the hub OD. Epoxy ring in place. I would clean off the paint before bonding, but with the sand cast texture, that would probably not be necessary.

 

[cathead]

I have a similar drill press from MSC so had to go look at it. On mine, the threaded hole is
about 1/4 inch higher than on yours. Gravity holds the head on and one would think that the
Allen screw is there to keep the head from rotating. I think it would be prudent to make a
threaded hole on the opposite side of the press a little higher up and then remove the screw
that has the crack so there is no pressure on the casting there. If there isn't a crack forming
above the hole, it's not a big concern. Then fill the hole with JB Weld and dab on a little paint
on that spot so you can't see it.

Also, I removed the Allen screw to see if it pins the head in a certain position going into a hole
in the pipe or something, but the screw just presses against the pipe to hold the head in place..

 

[markba633csi]

I wouldn't spend any time on it- it's typical low grade cast iron