Shorty Drill Press not perpendicular to floor, any ideas?

[rogersk]

If you unlock it will the way tube assembly go all the way back to the point you want? Is something preventing it from moving that far besides the lock?

This is what I was going to suggest looking at. The OP's machine is tilting in the wrong direction. If he were to flip the headstock and table back to the correct side, the headstock would be leaning away from the operator, instead of toward the operator, like it is designed to do. Something is preventing the unit from tilting to its fullest. It should be tilting to the right, when viewed from the perspective of the photos. Could it be just the weight of the headstock alone?

[DLB]

I have not read this entire thread but I must agree with you that your tilt is incorrect' ...

Both of my Marks are Double TIlt so I ignored those but I mocked this up on a Base Assembly with a couple of short tube scraps and I measured 90.0 degrees with my Wixie. This was a new style Base with the smaller diameter hinge bar and setscrews on the 'top.' Is this angle, and/or deliberate under- or over-rotation, something that was changed at some point? I'll look around for another Base to try this on...

- David

Are you saying that you get a reading of 90.0 degrees after zeroing on a Bench Tube.

Yes, I zeroed the Wixie on the Bench Tube and measured 90.0 on the Way Tube.

- David

[DLB]

Both of my Marks are Double TIlt so I ignored those but I mocked this up on a Base Assembly with a couple of short tube scraps and I measured 90.0 degrees with my Wixie. This was a new style Base with the smaller diameter hinge bar and setscrews on the 'top.' Is this angle, and/or deliberate under- or over-rotation, something that was changed at some point? I'll look around for another Base to try this on...

I measured this on a second machine with an earlier style base at 89.8 degrees. A small deviation from 90 degrees in the under-rotated direction. Here again, I zeroed the Wixie on the Bench Tube and measured on the Way Tube. This is an earlier Base, larger diameter hinge pin and less accessible set screws for holding the way tubes, I believe it to be from 1991.

- David

[JPG]

I think we are making progress(sorta).

We have determined that the shorty under discussion is NOT typical so we must stop talking about 'normal' stuff.

Discussions re table and drawers are counter productive and obscure the problem. (same as the drill bit!)

The problem is isolated to the base casting and the tubes. The 'raised' position of the casting parts is what is unusual.

We have not yet(?) determined the cause of this anomaly.

We need to concentrate on WHY the under rotation exists. IF the bench tubes are not installed correctly(that rib 'stop') the angles will not be correct. Nothing else is relevant.

Reversing the carriage/table ... has no bearing on the under rotation.

[Mike]

Ed- it’s bottomed out and still leans towards operator-
Here are a couple pics with zero on bench tubes

[Mike]

I’m going to take it apart and start over I think.

[JPG]

I'se cornfuzed. That looks like it is as expected(rotated OVER 90°)?????

What dos a level(plumb vial) look like rather than the Wixey?

[edma194]

Wait, now seeing the above from JPG I don't know if I'm confused now. The vertical assembly should be able to over-rotate past 90°. I have no idea what the 91.3° on the level thingy means, which direction is less than 90° on that thing?

Anyway, here's what I posted before:

Just to clarify everything, am I correct that the way tube assembly is under-rotating in vertical mode?

You should be able to see if the base arm is bottoming out on the base, though I can't understand how that could happen unless the parts are mis-shaped. If that's not the issue I think that base arm may not be able to fully rotate on the hinge pin. You've done a beautiful job on restoring all the pieces, but you probably didn't confirm the base arm had full rotation before you started working on it, so it may not have worked right before. Even if it did work previously the hinge pin or casting could be imperfect and they previously settled into an orientation that wasn't problematic. You may be able to find that again, or maybe you'll just need a new hinge pin.

[Majones1]

The confusion is coming from where he placed the Wixie in the second photo (note that the photo is posted sideways); he should have placed on the left side of the way tube. If you look at the first photo, it is on top of the bench tube, and it should be moved to what would normally be the top of the way tube, as if you just moved it up before raising into the vertical.

[dusty]

Wait, now seeing the above from JPG I don't know if I'm confused now. The vertical assembly should be able to over-rotate past 90°. I have no idea what the 91.3° on the level thingy means, which direction is less than 90° on that thing?

Anyway, here's what I posted before:

Just to clarify everything, am I correct that the way tube assembly is under-rotating in vertical mode?

You should be able to see if the base arm is bottoming out on the base, though I can't understand how that could happen unless the parts are mis-shaped. If that's not the issue I think that base arm may not be able to fully rotate on the hinge pin. You've done a beautiful job on restoring all the pieces, but you probably didn't confirm the base arm had full rotation before you started working on it, so it may not have worked right before. Even if it did work previously the hinge pin or casting could be imperfect and they previously settled into an orientation that wasn't problematic. You may be able to find that again, or maybe you'll just need a new hinge pin.

Aah, could it possibly be over rotated by 1.3 degrees. That is what is indicated to me. Find the little arrow to see what direction the Wixey was rotated from zero.