View Full Version : How do I correct an imbalanced Drill Press?
mikeinatlanta
02-19-2011, 05:55 AM
Not sure what you mean.
Wayne Presley
02-19-2011, 08:44 AM
Is it possible you have a bent arbor under the chuck?
riptide motorsport
02-19-2011, 08:44 AM
yea exactly whats it doing?
Big-Foot
02-19-2011, 09:07 AM
I used a piece of carpeting (short nap) under the base.. Takes the wobble right out of it..
Sorry to take so long to get back to my computer (and respond). I'm refering to a dynamic shake. There is a multi-step pulley on the drive motor and a similar pulley on the rotating arbor that contains the Jacobs chuck. One or more of these rotating assembles is out of balance (like a wheel on a car). I know where to take my car to get the wheels balanced, but I'm stumped so far regarding my drill press.
I'd like to do this by myself, given some education by you guys, but if I have to hire-out the process, who does stuff like this?
Wayne: it looks like a bit shy of .002 TIR; id that enough to cause trouble?
lbperry
02-20-2011, 01:26 PM
You can take the cover off and run it and see any significant runout in the pullies. Or you could just gauge it at that point too. You could remove the belt and run it to isolate it to the power or shaft end. I have seen them designed to that both pullies were the same and one was just flipped 180*. In this case you could swap them to see if it's one of them.
I'd tend to go with Wayne on the likelyhood of it being the shaft (arbor). I've got an old lightweight drill press that I got too many things hung in and bent the shaft. Probabaly could have been fixed but I used it as an excuse to buy a new one.
Good Luck
Great Idea to isolate driver/driven!! I lucked out; it was the motor. I took the belt off and ran the motor. At first it seemed OK, but I noticed that there was a small vibration as the motor coasted back through a certain rpm range back to zero. I substituted a 1/3 HP (same size as the original Craftsman) that I scavenged from a broken Harbor freight bench-belt sander. It's running smooth as silk with the HF motor!
I can't imagine how the old motor got unbalanced, but it's in the trash now and I don't care.
Thanks for the ideas!