Of the two drill presses in my shop, my favorite is 40-something year old Craftsman benchtop model that was supplied with a variable speed motor. This thing’s massive enough to be a battleship anchor. Years ago I made a 4-foot long drillpress table that adds considerable weight to the factory cast iron table. Unfortunately, this drill press has no rack and pinion table elevation adjuster – adjusted merely by brute force. The older I get the harder it is for me to easily adjust the table height. Has anyone ever come up with a method of jacking or lifting such a table by mechanical means? Any proven solutions would be most appreciated. Thanks.
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See this link http://www.woodworkersworkshop.com/cached_files/19038_files/
Might be more than you want to chew - but looks good (I have not tried it). I did a google search under rack and pinion lift drill press. Good luck
This is a pain for me too. While visiting another guys shop, I noticed that he had what looked like an old iron pipe that was cut in half(long ways). It was wrapped around the round pole that the table road up and down on. He welded it back together so it could slide up and down the pole. At the base he had a small hydralic jack he found in a car trunk. He had a heavy table that he just could just ease up and down with the cheap little jack and a piece of black pipe like you make bar clamps with.
Just a thought if you don't want to go the electric route.
I am still working on a sleeve for my delta drill press. Being lazy, I just use a small hydraulic jack and a piece of 2x4 straight up to the table base. I pump the jack and up she goes. Its very handy and I don't bust my knuckle on that worthless crank.
I took the crank parts off and never gave it a second thought.
Good luck
dan
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