Primitive wall drill press

[skipskip]

I thought maybe homemade, but now I think it's not

too small for barn beams right?

anyone have any input?

DSCF6551 by Skip Albright, on Flickr

DSCF6554 by Skip Albright, on Flickr


DSCF6553 by Skip Albright, on Flickr

[Bill Houghton]

Looks pretty home-made to me.  Post drills (Gooooogle it), which is what this is aiming for, have a spindle in two bearings, so the bit stays straight, and generally an adjustable table or adjustable-height spindle.

I am puzzled by the hinge above the gear wheel.  Other than that, the drilling mechanism looks like a more or less standard breast drill - great big eggbeater drill with a flat plate or leather strap at the top that you rest your chest against to get pressure on the bit.  Can you see any maker's name on the gear wheel or the crank from the center of the wheel out to the spinny handle?

I'm also puzzled by the chuck, which looks odd and home-grown.  More pictures might help.

And I'd be delighted to find out I'm wrong.

As to your barn beam question, I've never done timber framing, but you're usually working some distance from the end of the beam when boring mortises; this would be frustrating: limited horizontal depth.

[bill300d]

I also think it's got that homemade look to it (too many similarities to a breast drill).
By its design and lack of significant "quill" travel and the block of wood for a table Makes me think it was used for drilling the hole in the tendon of a beam or brace instead of using the larger beam drill which would better suited to drilling thru the whole beam.