At the risk of causing any jealousy, I was given for free what I believe to be a 1958 Mark 5 from my in-laws (SN 355174). It seemed to be in really good shape. That is, until I got it home.
Overall, it is in decent shape, especially for it's age. But the carriage casting was broken at the table support ear. Also, the table support tube was bulged on the end, making it impossible to remove from the carriage on one side.
I used a rotary file on the end of the tube, and was able to finally get the carriage piece off of the table section. What seems to have happened is, at some point, when the way tubes were up for drill press operation, maintenance, etc, the assembly was dropped abruptly on some object that broke the casting and smashed the table tube. In doing so, the pinion for the table lift had many teeth sheared off, so this had to be quite an impact.
I've got most of the machine apart already, and I'm working on getting paint on it. I hope to learn much from the folks here, and look for opportunities to share what I may know, or a chance to use my home foundry for some custom add-ons




