Author Topic: My "new" 25" camelback drill press!  (Read 15662 times)

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Offline Twilight Fenrir

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My "new" 25" camelback drill press!
« on: May 15, 2017, 09:31:30 AM »
Yesterday, I found my personal heaven... A place full of olde machinery that is being sold for scrap prices!

I picked up some other things, and will get more next weekend. (god I wish I had more shop space, the stuff there was insane!) but the biggest thing I got was this big old camel back drill press! (medium sized for a camel back I suppose, I've seen them over 10' tall)

Everything seems to turn alright, though it needs cleaning and new oil. It has so many bells and whistles and levers, I love it! Was a nightmare getting it to stand up out of my truck bed with my engine hoist and a come-along... I ran chains across to my power hammer, and other heavy shop equipment to use as anchors while I winched it up, and wound up dragging my hammer across my garage instead... This sucker is HEAVY! I also had to remove the trim on my garage door to get it in... Just squeeked by...

Obviously it needs a new flat belt, and v-belts for the motor would be wise as well... I'm gonna remove the safety cage, I don't think the flat belt poses a significant hazard at all, and it will make maintanence more of a chore. The motor has 3 wires coming out of it, which means it is NOT  a 3-phase, as that requires 4 wires, right?

I didn't see a makers mark on it, but I haven't scoured over it yet...


Offline oldgoaly

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Re: My "new" 25" camelback drill press!
« Reply #1 on: May 15, 2017, 11:42:13 AM »
4 wires? could it be old 2 phase wiring?  I know it was still around in the 70's here in souther Illinois in the old parts of some towns.  I'd love to have my old 20" or 22" cannedy otto up and running, got it all loosened up everything turns smoothly.
Does yours have down feed on the quill?
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Offline Twilight Fenrir

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Re: My "new" 25" camelback drill press!
« Reply #2 on: May 15, 2017, 02:39:57 PM »
4 wires? could it be old 2 phase wiring?  I know it was still around in the 70's here in souther Illinois in the old parts of some towns.  I'd love to have my old 20" or 22" cannedy otto up and running, got it all loosened up everything turns smoothly.
Does yours have down feed on the quill?
It has 3 wires, so I am assuming it is 110 or 220, I didn't see a plaque on the motor like I would normally expect... Motor is a little crusty, I might have to replace it anyway, but it was well protected from water.

I guess it depends on what you mean.... There are 4 levers on the quil, the main lowering one, a strange stubby one on the opposite side that appears connected to the main arm. There's one that lowers a small wheel which allows for very precise lowering, and a 4th lever that, when combined with the wheel lever, makes it self-feeding. (I THINK, that's what it looks like...)

Up where thr quill comes out of, there is a large lever that slides a gear around, it doesn't have full movement at the moment... Not sure what it is, but I suspect gear reduction, or a disengage. Then there are about a half dozen other levers I haven't looked at closely on the opposite of the pictured side...

I plan on putting PB buster in all the oil wells today to let it sit and work its magic... I'll do some closer inspection, and take more pictures when I do...

And I thought my large Champion post-mount was elaborate...

Offline oldgoaly

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Re: My "new" 25" camelback drill press!
« Reply #3 on: May 15, 2017, 03:21:46 PM »
That motor looks old enough to have a brass plate on one of the end bell, maybe the pulley side? Ican't seem to find pics of mine on the computer. I'm sure there are pics on my shop page in FB. 3000 pics there probably 10-20 of it on there.

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Offline Yadda

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Re: My "new" 25" camelback drill press!
« Reply #4 on: May 15, 2017, 08:29:24 PM »
What a beautiful beast!
You might say I have a tool collecting problem....

Offline Twilight Fenrir

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Re: My "new" 25" camelback drill press!
« Reply #5 on: May 15, 2017, 08:56:43 PM »
That motor looks old enough to have a brass plate on one of the end bell, maybe the pulley side? Ican't seem to find pics of mine on the computer. I'm sure there are pics on my shop page in FB. 3000 pics there probably 10-20 of it on there.
I think I found a plaque on the motor, but it's completely obscured at the moment... I'll try to carefully clean it, but it might be painted over, a little hard to tell, I have to get the rest of the "Safety" cage off of it before I can get to it.

Anywho, futzed about with it as I said I would today, and have goods, and bads, and apparently I was exagerating on the number of levers :P

It is a W. F. & J Barne's 25" drill press, which is larger than any of the ones posted on Vintage machinery. None of their catalogues seem to have it listed either, but the only metal working machinery catalogue they have up is from 1898, since this was made specifically with an electric motor, it's almost certainly more modern than that. I believe I found a plaque with more details on it, but it's been painted over heavily, and will take some care to clean and read.



The press has two driveshafts, which can be switched with the large lever on the left side of the press nearest the belt drive. The upper shaft appears to run on gear reduction, while the lower shaft is direct drive. The lever in the head, from which the quill descends, allows you to switch between the upper and lower shafts. However, the gear has been welded/brazed to the lower drive :/ It looks as though the teeth were somewhat stripped, and someone just went ahead and solved it brute force. I'd love to replace the two surfaces and get it working again, but I doubt I'll come across parts any time soon...




Over on the right, are all the parts I previously mentioned... Main crank down, a worm-gear hand crank, and the switch that activates the auto-feed... Reading some of the catalogues leads me to think that the press might have an auto-stop as well, but I don't see what mechanism would allow that... Maybe whatever the chain on the quill hooks to inside the frame?

Also on the right, there's a strange slot with a post, and 4 locking holes... on the other side, there is a wheel with many holes drilled through it. I have no idea what this is for... I didn't fiddle with it extensively yet though...



Someone appears to have just put in new babbit into the bearings, which is awesome. But, they forgot to drill back out the oil-holes. Which is bad, but easily fixed, just have to pull the drive shafts and drill them out.

Table height adjustment works remarkably well... Taking a wire-wheel to the shaft quickly should make it adjust smooth as silk...

In my wrestling with it the other day, I broke the lever that engages the worm-gear feed... any suggestions on reattaching it? ^^;

« Last Edit: May 15, 2017, 09:12:55 PM by Twilight Fenrir »

Offline Twilight Fenrir

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Re: My "new" 25" camelback drill press!
« Reply #6 on: May 15, 2017, 09:06:39 PM »
It appears to be a descendant of the #5 pictured here...



Mine is missing the little bar that runs above the lower belt drum, and the arm that comes off of it... There's a pair of holes through the frame to allow for it, and there are set screws there to retain it, but the bar and arm are not around, and I have no idea what it is for...

There's also a lever with a fork up just underneath the upper drum, that seems to slip under a piece of sheet metal. I'm not certain what this is for, but I'm guessing it's to slacken the belt for adjustment? the pivot on mine is broken off, but that's easily repaired.

Offline oldgoaly

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Re: My "new" 25" camelback drill press!
« Reply #7 on: May 15, 2017, 10:23:52 PM »
Nice!
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Offline turnnut

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Re: My "new" 25" camelback drill press!
« Reply #8 on: May 16, 2017, 10:58:21 AM »
 Hi Twilight,   I know what your thoughts are after breaking a part,  thru the years, most of the time that I broke
 something, it was due to trying to remove or operate something without thinking it through.

  today they have some real good penetrants,  and we all know that they are not a few seconds miracle,  now
  if I am trying to remove something that is stuck, it is spray, wait, tap   and spray again, and let it sit for a while,
  but then yet, being retired sometimes helps with the waiting part.

  I am looking forward to your update reports, good luck. 

Offline Bill Houghton

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Re: My "new" 25" camelback drill press!
« Reply #9 on: May 16, 2017, 04:59:07 PM »
Looks like cast iron, that lever.  Figure out how to remove it, find a good welder, take his/her guidance as to what method (welding, brazing) will work best.

Offline turnnut

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Re: My "new" 25" camelback drill press!
« Reply #10 on: May 16, 2017, 08:36:24 PM »
 Hi Twilight,  take a look at the camelback on ebay.   item #  232333494114

 it might give you some ideas as to the motor and drill size.

 Frank

Offline Chillylulu

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Re: My "new" 25" camelback drill press!
« Reply #11 on: May 18, 2017, 09:40:38 AM »
Hard to weld cast iron.  It spiders out and cracks all over, even if you pre-heat it.  I would braze it with a brass rod and lots of extra borax.

Very nice piece of iron.

Chilly

Offline oldgoaly

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Re: My "new" 25" camelback drill press!
« Reply #12 on: May 18, 2017, 11:54:48 AM »
Post heat is as if not more important when welding cast iron. Peterson's  cast iron flux with cast iron rods or clean piston rings.  I do some small stuff it can be hard, getting all the impurities to float to the top and not melt into a complete puddle.  I've done cracks in toy / salesman's sample wood stoves when finished there is no sign of the repair, color and grain is exact. Brazing works well but you need a little more brass to flow /adhere to both sides and build up some strength.
 I don't have a pic of a weld / crack repair, got one of a stove with a door I recast cause someone had ground off the name Karr range Belleville, IL. The wife's family name is Mueller that is why I made it a Mueller Stove. These are fairly rare, about 50 were re-popped they are easy to tell from an original "Phillips head screws" give it away. This one is an early version with the older style warming bins. At one time Belleville was the stove capital of the world, more kitchen stoves were made there than any where else. Still one place still making them. 
 2nd pic is of some of the replacement parts I cast for different stoves. The wife has ????10-20 ??? probably more like 40 or 50 of these? They are bigger than the "kids toys" that china repops, size is about 12" wide  and 16-18" tall with the warming bins. Even bought a "pexto" easy edger with spiral crimp to do flue/ smoke pipes for these little stoves.  Some day I'd like to melt cast iron but that is down the road.
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Offline wrenchguy

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Re: My "new" 25" camelback drill press!
« Reply #13 on: May 18, 2017, 12:02:24 PM »
geezers that really use those drill press call 'em "upright" floor drill press and get a little !@#$%^&*())(*&^%$#@! when called camelbacks.  ask me how i know………   nice machine.

Offline Twilight Fenrir

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Re: My "new" 25" camelback drill press!
« Reply #14 on: May 18, 2017, 01:47:23 PM »
I got the rest of the cage off, definitely no plaque on the motor... I'm going to look at the power switch, seeing how that's wired SHOULD let me figure out what I need to do for a power supply. Unfortunately, someone used identical red wire on all 3 runs, so I'll have to sort it out with a continuity check which is annoying... The motor is really crusty looking, but it spins freely, I'm optimistic. I'll take an air gun and blow out the easy debris. There is a grease fitting on each end of the motor, so I'll give it some new grease, and start hot wiring it to see if it works.

After soaking in PB blaster everything turns nicely, so it seems to be just a matter of getting a new belt, sorting/replacing the motor, and getting a chuck key, and I'll be in business! :D I'm gonna get measurements for the belt and key today to get them on order, and I'll fiddle with the motor as well.

It'll be fun moving the thing across my garage.... But I have 30 three foot lengths of 3/8" round steel, I think I'll try rolling it across log-style.

As for the broken lever... I'm contemplating drilling a hole in both pieces, and JB welding a steel rod, as well as the joint to try to reenforce it. Does that sound workable?  I'm just not confident enough to try to weld or braze it. I've fixed a little cast iron in the past, but I was using a MIG welder with nickle/silver wire that was a friends...
« Last Edit: May 18, 2017, 01:49:02 PM by Twilight Fenrir »