>
>> I recently picked up a 53-year-old Rockwell drill press at a yard sale. Great
>> machine, and I needed one, so I started the resto project. Turns out that the
>> belt gaurd had a chip missing and a couple big cracks. Welding was the obvious
>> fix, so I decided to take a stab at it--what better way to learn than on an
>> irreplacable antique?
>>
>> The results surprised me. After hearing all the talk back and forth about the
>> dangers of iron I thought it would be a trial. It actually was no sweat, even
>> though I'd never done it before. Veed out the cracks, drilled the ends, and
>> preheated with a propane torch. 3/16" nickel 99 rod went in smoothy with my >> $65
>> Harbor Fright 100A buzzbox. A lot of grinder work was needed, but it looks
>> great now that it's painted. Filled in the 1/4" chip, welded the ends of the
>> crack, and spotted the drilled holes.
>>
>> GTO(John)
>
>Part of why it went so smoothly is because it was a 53 year old casting.
>Old american machine tools had really nice castings that were all
>properly heat treated to a consistent gray iron.
>
>Most modern machine castings for small items like drill presses are
>made from a lot of recycled metal and they rarely take the time to do a
>proper heat treat.
>They are much more prone to cracking than the old castings.
Didn't they age the old cast iron before machining?