More Iron for my Disease
November 27th, 2009Drill Press!
Was this all too predictable?
That’s a Rockwell 17-430 drill press. A guy was trying to sell it on Ebay with a minimum bid of $219, and I got in touch with him, and I took it for $220. These machines are pretty simple, but very expensive. A new one runs about two thousand. Don’t ask me why.
I would guess it weighs 250-300 pounds. There is cast iron all through it. I think even the power cord and belt are cast iron.
Getting it off the truck was fun. I used my chain hoist and a crappy nylon rope. I felt sure I would kill myself, but I was spared. I can’t say as much for the bit the previous owner left in the chuck. It caught on my bed liner and popped.
The table has the “arc of shame” on it. I guess I need to find a good filler. I’ll also need a decent drill press vise.
The owner is an interesting guy. On the phone, he kept saying he lived in halberd. I’ve never heard of Halberd, Florida. Finally I realized he was saying “Hollywood.” I ran up there to see the machine, and he had it crammed into a tiny storage bay with a 1963 Porsche 356 he and his son were restoring.
He was one of these friendly foreign guys who like to tell you their life stories. Let’s see. He was born in Rumania. He came here in 1979. People were nicer here then. He tells his son that all the time. He was an engineer in Rumania. He ended up in metallurgy because his father thought it had a better future than electronics. Here in the US, he didn’t want to go through all the hassle to re-learn everything, so now he writes code for CNC machines. The metallurgy situation in Rumania was pathetic due to Communism. When he got here, he couldn’t believe how many kinds of stainless steel we had.
He really likes Dodge diesels. The Fords sound better, but you can’t do the maintenance yourself, and an inline six will last forever. He had to see my engine, so I popped the hood, and he climbed up on the bumper and told his son why this truck was totally superior to a Ford.
I told him we used to have a hive of Rumanian professors and grad students in the physics department at the University of Miami. We agreed that the English measurement system is pathetic, and we both marveled that the US had done so well while forcing its engineers to live in the Bronze Age.
I enjoyed meeting him. A lot of people get bored with older people who like to talk, but I’m not like that. I find younger people boring. What do they know? Nothing. How to play video games. Wow. That sure beats hearing about storming the beach on D-Day, doesn’t it?
The workmanship on this machine is very impressive. Everything moves as though it had no metal in it. It feels like it’s all oiled rubber parts, squishing against each other as they move.
I think I’ll pop the motor off, confirm the size of the shaft, and stick a 3-phase motor and VFD on it. I can do this for about what the drill press cost, and it will put an end to my concerns about the odd speeds this machine features.
The metal yarmulke is a little off center, and the Rockwell badge is gone. I may pretty it up a little. The collar that holds the table won’t lock up very well; he said it needed to be tightened.
Very nice buy. This should put a permanent end to my drilling worries.
November 27th, 2009 at 9:33 PM
Keep this up and next thing we know you’re going to need to either expand the garage or lease a space for a machine shop.
November 27th, 2009 at 9:40 PM
Gotta love big iron.
November 27th, 2009 at 10:13 PM
I went to CNC school with three Russians. One was a Nuclear Containment design engineer with a PhD in Mathematics. He helped design the reactor at Chernoble. When he learned that the Soviet Gov’t. was actually going to build it, he escaped from the Soviet Union to avoid prosecution when the plant inevitably failed. The design parameters were all political, intended to force all materials to be procured from pre-decided sources. I learned more mathematics by sitting next to him for three months than I did in twelve years of Federally Mandated Indoctrination. He said the only thing the Soviet Union ever did right was teach math and engineering. Then the political system made it impossible to build anything right. America’s going down the same road.
Gerry N.
November 27th, 2009 at 11:15 PM
When shopping for a vise, consider getting one that has flat surfaces on the sides, so it can be tipped up on either side. Sometimes this is useful, such as when drilling irregular bits of other machines.
November 28th, 2009 at 3:15 AM
Do be careful with your new machine. Vises and clamps are necessary not so much for accuracy as for safety. Drilling small pieces of sheet metal can quickly make razor-like slashes to your fingers if you are too lazy to clamp the sheet metal down. You can find some clamps that are like half of a vise grip and fasten onto the table slots. These are easy to adjust and use for non-critical work. You did, indeed, find a nice machine.
November 28th, 2009 at 4:02 AM
Love your description of how the metal parts feel moving. That is just right. Some of my old sewing machines are like that.
November 28th, 2009 at 8:30 AM
I can tell you why – it’s an industrial drill press. It will last for decades in an enviornment of constant use, that would make the typical Craftsman or Rigid break down in months. I paid 400 bucks for Delta/Rockwell Variable, and I’m glad I got it for that much – I really wanted a Clausing Variable spd, but I’m not spending 2 grand or more on a used DP.
November 30th, 2009 at 10:41 AM
I’m with you when it comes to talking to older folks. I had a most pleasant conversation with a gentleman from my church that was on a bomber crew in WWII and was a POW in Germany for a couple years.
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And the man you describe reminds me of a man I worked for in high school. He was a physician in China but owned a Chinese take-out place in my home town. He went from being a doctor to cooking. Dr. Chen sent his son to some high-falutin’ prep school in NYC. His wife tried to leave China, but disappeared when she ruffled some Communist Party feathers.
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I hate commies.