New Drill Press ~ Noisy Spindle

[MrFez]

Been looking for a drill press for some time now and after reading this forum settled on the D147 from Machinery Warehouse. I went for this model as it was nominated for 'heavy duty' use and the larger chuck capacity (up to 20mm).

So I fired it up today and on its first run found the spindle to be running rather noisily and the whole spindle coming to a stop once under medium pressure. The manual suggests that this is due (on both points) to the pulley belts not being tight enough however I have adjusted them as much as I am able. It could, I hope, be a matter of running the machine in and better adjustment of the belts.

Then on closer inspection of the chuck found it marked as being for 3 to 16mm......

Obviously I will be speaking to them about the chuck but I would be interested to hear if anyone had a similar issues with this models spindle assembly?

[BobL]

Been looking for a drill press for some time now and after reading this forum settled on the D147 from Machinery Warehouse. I went for this model as it was nominated for 'heavy duty' use and the larger chuck capacity (up to 20mm).

The 20 mm refers to the capacity of the MOTOR not the chuck. i.e. drills up to 20 mm in steel).
You can still use the chuck to drill a 20 mm hole using reduced shank bits, OR remove the chuck and use MT2 bits that go up to around 23.5 mm in diameter.

So I fired it up today and on its first run found the spindle to be running rather noisily and the whole spindle coming to a stop once under medium pressure. The manual suggests that this is due (on both points) to the pulley belts not being tight enough however I have adjusted them as much as I am able. It could, I hope, be a matter of running the machine in and better adjustment of the belts.

Yep it sounds like you need to learn how to tighten the belts correctly, or the belts might be too long for the drill?

[MrFez]

Hi Bobl
Thanks for the advice on the chuck capacity, you learn something new all the time.

[BobL]

BTW if you want to use bits that are smaller than 3mm you can always pull apart an old power drill and put the chuck into the DP chuck. It's not as good as using a chuck that goes down to 1mm direct on the DP but it still works.

You will probably want to upgrade the DP chuck at some stage and I would suggest a 2MT keyless 1-13 mm chuck as a start. I have 4 of these chucks as I use them on my wood and metal working lathes as well.

[MrFez]

Well no amount of belt tightening was going to fix my problem, so I investigated further...... I found that the spindle pulley was not secured to the spindle. The nut that should be holding it in place was there but not on the thread . Tightened it up and presto - works like a new one, Oh wait, it is a new one... Something for new users to be mindful of.

Thanks for the tip about the chuck BobL. I also have one of those for my wood lathe, another reason why I opted for a 2mt model.