How to disassemble Drill Press?

I have a wobble in idle pulley in my Wilton 2530 Drill press. Idle pulley doesn't have any play and when rotated feels very smooth like it suppose to be with a good bearing. But when rotating there is a wobble 1/8 to 1/4"(Pulley top surface does not stay level). Looks like axis of rotation and axis of pulley is not the same. I want to take idle pulley off to inspect it. I can't figure out how to do it. There is manual here

formatting link
with Exploded view on page 16. Idle pulley I need to take off is part #95.

All suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks

Reply to
Alex
Loading thread data ...

Reply to
Alex

Don't disassemble it. Don't even remove the belt. Just spin it slowly in place and see if it wobbles. Best would be a dial test indicator, but you could just cut out a piece of white cardboard so it sits just above the outer rim, then your eye can watch the gap. Or maybe a tri-square too, whatever. You don't sound like a guy with a lathe .. those pulleys are made to very loose specs so buying a replacement wouldn't help you -- what are you going to do if the pulley isn't bored axially?

GWE

Reply to
Grant Erwin

From the drawing it looks like there is a ball race pressed into the pulley and supported on a static shaft at the centre. For there to be a

1/8" to 1/4" wobble the bearing would be virtually dropping to pieces, so I suspect the pulley isn't true, i.e., this is the way is was made. I have a cheap drill press and the pulleys in this aren't quite true. The wobble in my drill press is perhaps 0.5 mm (from my recollection). If it doesn't affect the operation of the machine, don't worry about it. If it does, you could try complaining to the shop you bought it from.

Best wishes,

Chris

Reply to
Christopher Tidy

Because of this wobble whole drill press vibrates. I can't say it's terribly bad but very annoying and I want to fix. Can this be fixed on a lathe? May be I should try to find a true pulley on ebay?

Christ>

Reply to
Alex

Looks like we identified the problem for sure. It's a not true pulley. It's about 3 degrees that translates into very obvious 1/4" or even more wobble. Is there any solution to fix this? BTW It's not a cheap drill press it retails for $530 new. I bought it used in very good condition.

Grant Erw>

Reply to
Alex

Yes, you might be able to fix this on a lathe (provided that the pulley itself isn't oval) but it won't be too easy because the ball race is held within the pulley. If the pulley is bored off-axis you'd have to make an insert to go in the pulley.

If it isn't out of guarantee I would take it back to the store you bought it from. But if not, even if the pulleys are made to loose specs, some are more accurate than others, so a replacement might help you. If you do see a replacement part of eBay it might solve your problem.

Chris

Reply to
Christopher Tidy

The axis of the pulley and the axis of the bearing are about 3 degrees apart? So the circumference of the pulley moves up and down by about

1/4" as it rotates?

I would try to find a replacement pulley, either new or used. If you can't find a new one, and the circumference of the pulley is reasonably round, you could bore out the centre of the pulley until the bored hole is true, then make some kind of an insert to fit between the bearing and pulley. Or you could make a complete new pulley, but this is a big job because the pulley has several V-belt grooves.

Best to buy a replacement part I think.

Best wishes,

Chris

Reply to
Christopher Tidy

How do I take the pulley off If I find a replacement?

Christ>>>> I have a wobble in idle pulley in my Wilton 2530 Drill press.

Reply to
Alex

I'm not sure. I find it hard to tell from the picture in the manual. Perhaps someone else can figure it out?

Chris

Reply to
Christopher Tidy

Well ... first off -- in spite of it being called a "Wilton", it is almost identical to the Taiwanese drill press which I got in about

1977 or so -- shortly after I got married.

So -- in spite of what you paid for it, it is no better than what I got for about $150.00 back in 1977. The main difference apparent is the location of the switch. Mine is on the left side, with a second one which switches on or off the light bulb screwed into the head casting behind the spindle. (Oh yes -- mine is a 16-speed one, and it has a round table instead of your nearly square one.) And your depth stop is better than mine -- which depends on the collar around the spider for feeding the quill down. Other than that, I could use the manual which you pointed out for working on mine.

Now -- if you slack the belts (as you would for changing the steps for a different speed), and unhook both from the idler pulley, you can lift the pulley and its arm straight up from the headstock casting. (I know because I did this when cutting an extension to the hole through which the arm passed in the belt guard, so I could shift the guard and eliminate scraping of the idler pulley on the side of the guard in certain belt settings.

Beyond that, I have not yet had to go. But looking at the section of the manual page blown up a bit, all I can see is the bearing which fits onto the top of the arm, and into the center of the pulley.

I would *hope* that there is a c-ring or a nut on the top of the arm to keep the bearing from sliding up and off.

The bearing may be simply pressed into place, or it may have another clip retaining the outer race. To be honest, I would have expected a second bearing to help assure that the pulley ran on center, but the drawing does not show one.

Your problem may be that the bearing has slipped in the bore in the pulley, so it is no longer concentric with the pulley. (This would mean that the bore is a very sloppy fit.)

Or -- it might be that a single bearing can't handle angular loads, as would be put on it with one belt at the top and the other at the bottom.

But -- at least, once you have lifted the pulley and arm assembly out of the drill press, you can examine it more closely to try to determine both what holds it together, and where the eccentricity is.

If the bore in which the bearing is mounted runs true, while the outer sheaves do not, you need a new pulley. You may opt to buy one or to make one, but you certainly need one.

If the outer race of the bearing is tilted, you need a new bearing, or if possible, you need to mount two of them in the pulley to better handle the unbalanced loads.

So -- pull the assembly and examine it where you can more conveniently do so. Stuck in the top of the drill press makes life more difficult.

Good Luck, DoN.

Reply to
DoN. Nichols

Indeed, it doesn't show one and it's hard for me to imagine how you could do it with just one. BUT, the parts list shows a "quantity" of 2 for that part #. And the 20" DP diagram shows 2. So, there probably is actually 2.

Bob

Reply to
Bob Engelhardt

You are right! I was able to take off the pulley straight up along with it's arm just by pulling it from headstock casting. I don't see any c-ring or nut that holds pulley on it's shaft. Is it called press fit? Now next step is to get pulley off the shaft. Is it safe if I just hit on top of the shaft with Plastic-Tip Hammer while holding pulley?

Thanks

D> >

Reply to
Alex

What does it look like on the bottom? Is the pulley bored thru?

Raeson I ask is I would try to tap the pulley to run true to the bearing and secure it.

Reply to
wws

Reply to
Alex

If I understand, the pulley has no "bottom." So the pully CAN move with relation the bearing.

Tap it true, and secure it.

Reply to
wws

I've spend about an hour trying to true it by tap. The pulley response very good to tapping. One light tap and it moves a lot. The problem that it moves along the shaft too. So when I have it trued it's always little higher or little lower compared to other pulleys. Also even I were able to make it true I am sure it won't stay that way for too long.

I disassembled pulley. You can find picture here:

formatting link
The pulley is hold in place by only one bearing. No wonder it moves around considering that pulley is made of soft aluminum. Wilton sucks!

Is there any solution to this?

wws wrote:

Reply to
Alex

formatting link

This thing... there is room in the pully for a larger bearing in width

yep, true it and solder it, set screw it or as a last resort glue it.

Reply to
wws

Ouch! I'm not surprised that it has difficulty staying in place.

Several possible ones. It looks as though the pulley is bored to three diameters. The largest of the three is to match the bearing.

So -- the first question is whether you can get away with boring it deeper on a lathe. Ideally, deep enough to hold two identical bearings. (The pulley grooves may be too small to allow this.) If you do this, you will have to turn a new shaft for the bearings to run on. It looks awkward to hold that arm, so you may have to make a new one for the task.

A second option, which also requires a lathe, is to thread the bore partway, and make a ring to thread into it to secure the outer race of the bearing. (Check the length of the bore and the width of the bearing's outer race to see whether this will work.

A third option would be to make a plate to go over the bearing, with a hole for the end of the shaft to pass through, and screw it to the flat surrounding the bearing bore. If the bearing is not as wide as the length of the bore, you'll either need to make a projecting ridge when you make the plate on a lathe, or make a ring to go between the bearing and the plate.

A forth option would be to get some Loctite bearing mount compound (I forget what the number is for that -- but go to a bearing place and they will have it, as well as many Loctite threadlocker compounds.

However, remembering that you apparently got the drill press

*new* -- you should complain loudly to the people you bought it from, and see if they will supply you with one in better shape. *Maybe* they have had enough trouble from this design so they have gone back to the two-bearing design which the parts list suggests was at one time the standard.

The web site which is hosting your image makes it impossible to save a copy of the image so I can enlarge it and check for fine detail. And no -- don't bother e-mailing me a copy -- it won't get through the file size limitation on my email which keeps me from getting flooded with each new virus that comes out -- not that they would harm my unix systems, but 200+ copies (which I used to get when a new one came out) are a serious waste of time and space.

Why didn't you use the dropbox

formatting link
for saving the image so people could download it. The site which you used appears to be designed for commerce. You even have a price on it. :-)

Good Luck, DoN.

Reply to
DoN. Nichols

I don't know how much clearance there is between the shaft hole and the v-belt groove in the outside of the pulley, but here is what I would do: First, get rid of that atrocious old bearing. Go to mcmaster-carr and order 2 new decent bearings for your shaft size. Find ones with an od larger than the current one. Then you will need to find someone with a mill and a boring bar. They will be able to re-bore the hole true to the pulley, regardless of the orientation of the previous holes. Also bore the hole 3 thou undersized. This size is critical. You will need to find an arbor press or substitute (drill press quill, vise, etc.,) and press the new bearings in place. Without this press fit, the bearings will not do you any good. After the pulley assembly is complete, put it back on the shaft. The problem should be fixed.

Reply to
woodworker88

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.