Shorty Drill Press not perpendicular to floor, any ideas?

[dusty]

Here, I'll repeat myself: You have chosen to mount the table, carriage and the headstock 180 degrees out of normal. If they were in the normal position, the tilt would be as intended.

If you did say that the castings come in contact with one another when in the vertical position (see two photos I posted earlier) then nothing is assembled wrong or malformed. Your set up is what you can expect in that configuration.

For the reasons you have stated, I would not rotate the headstock, carriage and table as you have done. But then I would not go vertical on that short of a foot print either. That is my opinion and I'm sticking with it. (who said that)

[john_001]

With the weight of the motor hanging out over the footprint and the center of gravity already pretty close to the rear legs, I'd leave it alone as long as it's drilling properly.

[jsburger]

Here, I'll repeat myself: You have chosen to mount the table, carriage and the headstock 180 degrees out of normal. If they were in the normal position, the tilt would be as intended.

If you did say that the castings come in contact with one another when in the vertical position (see two photos I posted earlier) then nothing is assembled wrong or malformed. Your set up is what you can expect in that configuration.

For the reasons you have stated, I would not rotate the headstock, carriage and table as you have done. But then I would not go vertical on that short of a foot print either. That is my opinion and I'm sticking with it. (who said that)

The reason for reversing the table and head stock is because of that short of a foot print. If you didn't the thing would fall over on it's own. With everything reversed all the weight is directly over the bench. It is as solid as a rock.

[dusty]

Here, I'll repeat myself: You have chosen to mount the table, carriage and the headstock 180 degrees out of normal. If they were in the normal position, the tilt would be as intended.

If you did say that the castings come in contact with one another when in the vertical position (see two photos I posted earlier) then nothing is assembled wrong or malformed. Your set up is what you can expect in that configuration.

For the reasons you have stated, I would not rotate the headstock, carriage and table as you have done. But then I would not go vertical on that short of a foot print either. That is my opinion and I'm sticking with it. (who said that)

The reason for reversing the table and head stock is because of that short of a foot print. If you didn't the thing would fall over on it's own. With everything reversed all the weight is directly over the bench. It is as solid as a rock.

Here I go again: But then I would not go vertical on that short of a foot print either. That is my opinion and I'm sticking with it.

Yes, John - I know you have one assembled much the same way. and that does not change my opinion.

[rogersk]

The reason for reversing the table and head stock is because of that short of a foot print. If you didn't the thing would fall over on it's own. With everything reversed all the weight is directly over the bench. It is as solid as a rock.

John,

On your setup, did reversing the headstock/table cause the upright tubes to lean/tilt opposite to their original direction?

[Mike]

Dusty, John and others here are some additional pics but it's pretty simple I think. The way tubes are 88.7 degrees from bench tubes, not quite a right angle. The why may be by design or operator error in reassembly. Either way, I will be disassembling, reassembling, shimming, grinding or whatever it takes to get it to 90 degrees. It works spectacular right now and is the best, most versatile press I have ever owned. I cant have it 1.3 degrees off, its just my dumb nature I guess.

I will also drill the lock set hole deeper to set lock in a more "permanent locked" position. This is as it should be for me. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Thank you one and all for the kind words and assistance which are greatly appreciated

[algale]

Weird. I'm sure others have pointed out that the design is for it to go slightly beyond vertical.

[jsburger]

The reason for reversing the table and head stock is because of that short of a foot print. If you didn't the thing would fall over on it's own. With everything reversed all the weight is directly over the bench. It is as solid as a rock.

John,

On your setup, did reversing the headstock/table cause the upright tubes to lean/tilt opposite to their original direction?

I have no idea since my DP was never a full SS. The head stock and bench castings came from my full size 510 bought new in 1994.Then upgraded to a 520 and finally a full up MK 7. The legs, carriage, 520 table and way tubes came from eBay. The way tubes are thick wall 10ER tubes.

So out of curiosity I went and checked mine. The table, quill and way tubes are all 90°/parallel to each other. However, the way tubes are 0.6° leaning toward the operator position (not over center in the normal configuration).

Now this makes me wonder if the conventional wisdom, that being over center towards the operator in normal drill press mode, for safety reasons was ever a design feature. After all in the normal drill press mode the head stock and the table are hanging off the end of the bench. It would hardly fall back down on it's own even with out the over center.

FWIW, I loosened the lock knob on mine and even with the 0.6° tilt in the rotation diction with moderate force it didn't move. That is with the extra weight of the head stock and table helping. I have come to the conclusion that this whole discussion is a non issue.

It would be interesting if everyone who commented on this thread measured their machines and reported the results. My guess is that they all vary a little bit one way or the other.

[dusty]

The reason for reversing the table and head stock is because of that short of a foot print. If you didn't the thing would fall over on it's own. With everything reversed all the weight is directly over the bench. It is as solid as a rock.

John,

On your setup, did reversing the headstock/table cause the upright tubes to lean/tilt opposite to their original direction?

I have no idea since my DP was never a full SS. The head stock and bench castings came from my full size 510 bought new in 1994.Then upgraded to a 520 and finally a full up MK 7. The legs, carriage, 520 table and way tubes came from eBay. The way tubes are thick wall 10ER tubes.

So out of curiosity I went and checked mine. The table, quill and way tubes are all 90°/parallel to each other. However, the way tubes are 0.6° leaning toward the operator position (not over center in the normal configuration).

Now this makes me wonder if the conventional wisdom, that being over center towards the operator in normal drill press mode, for safety reasons was ever a design feature. After all in the normal drill press mode the head stock and the table are hanging off the end of the bench. It would hardly fall back down on it's own even with out the over center.

FWIW, I loosened the lock knob on mine and even with the 0.6° tilt in the rotation diction with moderate force it didn't move. That is with the extra weight of the head stock and table helping. I have come to the conclusion that this whole discussion is a non issue.

It would be interesting if everyone who commented on this thread measured their machines and reported the results. My guess is that they all vary a little bit one way or the other.

Numbers from all of us would be meaningless unless we all followed the same procedure to collect them. Also, I get different numbers from my AngleCubes unless they are all fully charged

[jsburger]

John,

On your setup, did reversing the headstock/table cause the upright tubes to lean/tilt opposite to their original direction?

I have no idea since my DP was never a full SS. The head stock and bench castings came from my full size 510 bought new in 1994.Then upgraded to a 520 and finally a full up MK 7. The legs, carriage, 520 table and way tubes came from eBay. The way tubes are thick wall 10ER tubes.

So out of curiosity I went and checked mine. The table, quill and way tubes are all 90°/parallel to each other. However, the way tubes are 0.6° leaning toward the operator position (not over center in the normal configuration).

Now this makes me wonder if the conventional wisdom, that being over center towards the operator in normal drill press mode, for safety reasons was ever a design feature. After all in the normal drill press mode the head stock and the table are hanging off the end of the bench. It would hardly fall back down on it's own even with out the over center.

FWIW, I loosened the lock knob on mine and even with the 0.6° tilt in the rotation diction with moderate force it didn't move. That is with the extra weight of the head stock and table helping. I have come to the conclusion that this whole discussion is a non issue.

It would be interesting if everyone who commented on this thread measured their machines and reported the results. My guess is that they all vary a little bit one way or the other.

Numbers from all of us would be meaningless unless we all followed the same procedure to collect them. Also, I get different numbers from my AngleCubes unless they are all fully charged

OK, what ever. Actual numbers don't matter since I don't think this is a problem. However, it would be nice to see if vertical position varies between machines. If it really was a design consideration it should be some what consistent.