Building a hand drill press

[Steve WanParticipant @stevewan33894]

Hi guys,

 

Good to be back! When I was using my German-made breast drill with 2 speeds made me thinking that if I could make a table-top hand drill press with auto-feed would be exciting!

 

Has anyone done it? After I google for answers, I found in the 1900s there were many post drill in farms also smaller version both in shape of wood working hand drill attach to a stand or a box up mechanism with 2 speeds with a heavy flywheel hanging above it for auto-gravity feed.

 

Though with the electrical drill press around is more useful enough for most work. But there’re times the job is too long for that, one could clamp against a table and hand drilling the job at ease…

 

I have the gear ration in mind after I dismantled the breast drill but no idea how the working mechanics of the auto-feeding gears, to engage or dis-engage?

 

Any guidelines is much appreciated.

 

Steve

[Steve WanParticipant @stevewan33894]

[Richard ParsonsParticipant @richardparsons61721]

Steve The automatic feed on the hand driven pillar drill is fairly simple. There is a feed screw which is rotated by hand (manual feed) this pushes the drill down wards. The feed nut is part of the frame. The feed screw has a long key-way which engages with a key inside a ratchet wheel which has its teeth not on the edge but on its face. An eccentric is mounted on the main drive shaft which moves a lever back and forward. This lever carries a pawl at the other end which engages the ratchet wheel pushing round. This screws the drill head down.

Dick

 

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Steve, the two pictures below show what Richard has explaned, although this is only a single speed version. The pawl is lifted and swung back when you wish to back off the drill or if you just use hand feed.

 

Hope this helps

 

Regards Nick.

 

PS if you would like a few close up pictures from different angles, just let me know.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 03/05/2011 20:07:15

[Steve WanParticipant @stevewan33894]

Hi Richard and Nicolas

 

Thanks for the great help! With Richard discription and Nicolas photos I can grasp the picture. Nicolas – possible to send a few more photos with a white paper behind so that I can see the keyway, ratchet and pawl? Better at different views…sorry to bother you here.

Wanted to make this devise a long time ago. I have no problem with the handwheel and bevel gears. It’s the auto feed design above it . You could post the pictures here for all to share or email me: stewan@gmail.com

 

Thanks a million inadvance to both of you

 

Steve

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Steve, have uploaded some more photo into my Autofeed Hand Bench Drill album. Hope these give you a better idea, but feel free to ask any questions about them.

 

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 04/05/2011 12:06:22

[Steve WanParticipant @stevewan33894]

Hi Nicholas

 

Thanks a million! This is my early Christmas gift for next project! Wanted to make one for years…I have downloaded all your useful photos, yet to study it more closely with Richard’s description.

 

Any further questions can I email you? Or here?

 

Steve with delights

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Steve, if you do it here, others may also benifit as well. But you may PM me if you wish.

 

Regards Nick.

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Sounds like a good project Steve, I,v got a wall mounted vertion, I,v modified it so that it is driven by a .3 hp 1450 rpm motor from a washing machine, and its been fitted with a Jacobs 34?5 chuck, the origional drills were 1/2″: shank held in the spindle with a grub screw. Where do you get a drill press today with automatic feed? Mine gets quite regular work. Ian S C

[Steve WanParticipant @stevewan33894]

Hi Ian

 

Thanks for the reply! I don’t think I have ever seen a post /pillar drill in Singapore even during my childhood…but I had seen a leg vise in a carpenter shop. Those old and unique hand tools are disappearing with the event of electrically control hand tools. I’m still using a number of cast iron hand drill and ratchet brace for spot drilling and countersunk jobs that needs slow and powerful feed rate. Small drill bits lesser than 5mm diameter are hand sharpened by hand grinder…

 

Just like the hand saw mitre for picture framing is also gone now. I bought an asian made mitre copying European design, though some parts are weak. That will be my other project to beef it up to saw alumimium plates.

 

I got an old breast drill that’s made in West-Germany. It has 2 speed control. I took them apart and examine the gearing ratio…able to get those standard gears to make another but comes to auto-feeding I’m lost. Lucky, I have guys like Richard and Nicholas to guide me this path. Will be making one smaller version for hard to drill places. I have a china-made drill press that’s able to handle most jobs…

 

You can email me to stay intouch of those wonderful dated metal/wood working tools.

 

Steve

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

Hi Steve,

 

You may be interested in this website, I came across it some years ago and was pleased to find it still exists.   Unusual in these days of the web with it’s ephemeral nature.  There is a very good explanation, with pictures, of the feed mechanism which you may find useful in your quest..

 

http://www.beautifuliron.com/thepost.htm

 

Enjoy

 

Best regards

 

Terry.

Edited By Terryd on 05/05/2011 04:54:17

[Steve WanParticipant @stevewan33894]

Hi Terry

Thanks for the info.

 

Hi Nicholas

 

I think I see light at the end of the tunnel! The eccentric shaft is the driving force for the pawl and ratchet auto-feed and rotate the drill chuck below…one last question:

 

The threaded feed screw and the lower drill shaft both have key-ways for the ratchet plate above and the bevel nut below respectively. Are these 2 rod connected? There’s a thrust bearings inbetween…if they’re in 2 pc the driving force down is ok what about withdrawing upwards? How’re they linked?

 

Thanks inadvance.

 

Steve

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Steve, the drill shaft and feed screw are two seperate items. The screw thread is hollow, and the drill shaft from the thrust bearing upwards is reduced down to a sliding fit inside the hollow of the screw thread, it terminates on top of the feed screw handle with the double nuts, as seen in the last photo.

 

Regards Nick.

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Terry, very interesting site you found there, thanks for sharing it with us.

 

Regards Nick.

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

I’v got a friend who has a small private museum (about 100 M from my home), he has some bench hand drill presses, next time I see him (he lives and works in Christchurch), which could be a week or two, I’ll see if I can borrow one or two of them so that I can get some photos, we’ll just have to wait and see. Ian S C

[Steve WanParticipant @stevewan33894]

Hi Ian

 

Hope to see any photos you have more importantly if the gears are enclosed, possible to remove the cover before you take photos?

 

This is the bench hand drill which I’m looking for, a smaller version of Post drill with similar principles. Though China-made this design was originated by the German in early 1900.

 

Please alert me if anyone out there have seen this machine on sale in hardware stores.

Wish to mail-order one. This machine is very suitable for light and hard to drill places as it could be swung around 360 deg. if the job is clamp on side of the workbench.

 

Steve

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

The machines I am thinking of come from a period between the end of the 19th century, and the 1930s, the one in your photo is modern by comparason, it looks like a useful tool. The old ones have exposed gearing, although my one has a rather crude gaurd over the gears. Ian S C

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Posted by Ian S C on 06/05/2011 14:59:07:

The machines I am thinking of come from a period between the end of the 19th century, and the 1930s, the one in your photo is modern by comparason, it looks like a useful tool. The old ones have exposed gearing, although my one has a rather crude gaurd over the gears. Ian S C

 

Hi Ian, Steve picture may seem to be a modern one however, the drill in the picture below is not unlike the advert from S. Tyzack and Son Ltd., London, placed in Model Engineer & Practical Electrician July 5th 1934.

 

 

Regards Nick

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 06/05/2011 22:14:24

[Steve WanParticipant @stevewan33894]

Hi Ian

 

This machine is very handy once one understand the purpose of it, being able to swing 360 deg is the most advantage—will send you photo at work of my DIY stand.

 

Hi Nick

 

Wow! I’m so lucky to get you here! This is the machine I have in mind to build…sorry to bother you again. Ok to take photos of the gearing and auto-feeding mechanism enclosed?

 

I have been using a West-Germany breast drill of 2 speeds just like yours with 2 bevel and 2 normal gears. By attaching the handle to each spindle one gets a slow and fast speed rate. This part I understand fully. This bench hand drill’s auto-feeding must be more compact than the earlier Post drill…will be interesting to study it.

 

I will post my stand and support of the breast drill I did which serves me well for almost 25 years for odd places to drill. Will be upgrading to a box type smiliar to yours for heavier drilling, seems getting one from India/China is not easy here. I can get those internal gears locally.

 

Also surprised that you kept the 1934 ads for so long I was born 30 years later!

Nick can I have your email? You could be my teacher or engineering buddy, couldn’t find your email here…stewan@gmail.com

 

Steve

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

These two are a wee bit older.

[Steve WanParticipant @stevewan33894]

Hi Ian and Nick

 

Here’s my version of drill press though miles apart from yours but comes with 2 speeds. This structure is quite rigid and simple but at times needs to check the vertical axis while drilling.

 

Any comments here? No auto-feeding, feeding is done by applying pressure above.

 

Nick if I get the chance to view S. Tyzack and Son Ltd – drill press interior, am sure I could build one hopefully…I hear from you with delights!

 

Steve

 

 

 

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Steve, please give me two or three days for more photos, as I’ll be a bit tied up, if I get the chance towards the middle of the week, I’ll strip this one down and clean it to get a better view of things. However I have taken the front cover off and taken a photo of the inside.

 

The driving mechanism is fairly straight forward in that the drill spindle is driven by the bevel gear at the bottom which is driven by the crown wheel on the left hand side, this in turn is driven by the middle shaft running left to right, which has a small gear on it on the right hand side. The bottom shaft on the right hand side also has a small gear on it with which it meshes with the middle shaft. This bottom shaft extends out of the right hand side of the case, and is the slow speed one that the operating handle is attached to. The top shaft on the right hand side has a larger gear and is like wise extended out of the right hand side, and is the fast speed one that the handle is attached to.

 

The drill spindle is all one piece on these type of machines and a threaded portion passes through the fly wheel at the top. They work on a kind of differential friction, and a sort of feedback pressure from the piece that is being drilled. They have, apparently. got the tendency to break small twist drills, because it isn’t possible to reduce pressure enough to stop the drill from pushing downwards during drilling, However, a guy by the name of E. J. Szlumper came up with a solution to this problem, in which he wrote an article about with a design that he describes in The Model Engineer April 1939.

 

Ian, I do have a few earlier issues of ME and I have seen the T. Bradley advert before, it looks like a precursor design to the Union one that I have.

 

Regards Nick.

[Steve WanParticipant @stevewan33894]

Hi Nick

I’m ever grateful for your help! Please take your time to dismantle and degrease. No hurry here. This machine is worth restoring and a good cleanup! Looks like the grease is still very fresh? Rarely in used at your end?

Any comments over my simple breast -drill stand holder, it can take small drill bits at high speed gearing without breaking though as for ME April 1939, I will ask my good friend to help.

I hear from you again,
Steve

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi Steve, I haven’t actually used this drill, I bought it at an auction last October with a couple of others along with a some other tools, some which I have resold. The drill is in fact married up to a different base for some reason, maybe the previous owner broke the original. I haven’t even used the other drill either, that was also bought at an auction some years ago and is still waiting, as can be seen, for a clean up and restore.

 

I used a breast drill like the one in your picture where I first started working after leaving school back in 1968. You have utilised it very well by the look of it, I presume that is padding on the breast plate, for better comfort during use. Adaptable tools are always much more versatile.

 

Regards Nick.

[Steve WanParticipant @stevewan33894]

Hi Nick

 

Seems that in England there’re auctions for antique tools which I doubt any here. Yes, the Schroeder Breast Drill was bought in the 80s. I added the wooden padding for comfort and turned a more antique look wooden handle replacing the straight red handle. Yes, also you can see the fading paintwork, is well used for light jobs. I google this model which is still available in USA by Kmart and Highland Woodworking (USA).

 

Thought of buying a spare before this model is phase out. The shipment is expensive and a pc cost US$100/-

 

Please ignore my request if the mechnism of your drill machine proofs too difficult to cleanup or restore as rust do bind things up

 

Steve

Edited By Steve Wan on 09/05/2011 04:03:47

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