Richardson E39 Bench Drill Press Restoration

**Blu_Rock** · 12th May 2013, 09:49 PM

I picked up an old Richardson E39 drill press for $30 about a month ago, it had been lying in pieces in a shed on a rural property for many years and was pretty rusted up.

Drill1 (Medium).jpg drill2 (Medium).jpg

I already have an el-cheapo floor model that I got from Supa-Cheap but the quill was sloppy out of the box and far from a precision machine. The Richardson looks to have been made in the 60s and is solid as the preverbial.

The wiring was totally perished so I stripped it out (will replace with more up-to-date setup) and temporarily hooked up a plug and reassembled it. It fired up and ran OK but it needed a bit of TLC to restore it to its former glory.

Pulled it right down and wire brushed the rust off (angle grinder driven), followed by a lot of elbow grease and emery cloth... it took many hours to get it rust free... more than a bit of a wire brush that the seller reckoned it needed

Then on to the paintwork, first with a flap disk and more elbow grease and emery cloth.

Stripped (Medium).jpg

Last weekend I welded up some tube for the stand that it will live on, you can see it in the picture above, it still needs a bit of work to finish it off, some drawers need to go in between the framework.

This weekend I got around to putting a coat of hammer finish green on the beast, black on the motor after a coat of rust converter, and got all the parts ready for reassembly.

Base (Medium).jpg Parts (Medium).jpg

I will blacken all the nuts and bolts before I re-assemble.

**RayG** · 12th May 2013, 10:08 PM

Congratulations on a fine looking restoration,

it looks like it will come up as good as new.

The table looks to be in remarkably good condition as well.

It's good to see restorations like this, another machine saved for posterity!..

Regards
Ray

**TKO** · 12th May 2013, 10:13 PM

T^hey just don't make tools like this any more ,and if they did you cant afford to buy them, nice restoration. Eddie

Dave J · 12th May 2013, 10:57 PM

Great restro, that will see your life out now.

Dave

**Blu_Rock** · 12th May 2013, 11:13 PM

Thanks guys. I just love the old stuff... it's well made, solid, feels good to use and it's good for probably several life times. I bought it off a guy who looked to be in his 70s and the drill press was his dad's, a fitter and turner.

Ray, that shot of the base and table is pretty flattering on the table's surface, here is another that shows the inevitable holes that have been drilled in it, still not to bad for a 50-year old machine.

Table (Medium).jpg

I filled the divots with Devcon epoxy.

**Blu_Rock** · 25th May 2013, 06:39 PM

Finished off the Richardson today, I'm pretty happy with the end result.

Upgraded electricals, the enclosure looks like it was made for it. I've used the same type of LED light on my mill, lathe and and other drill press, good value online for about $20.

Elect (Medium).jpg Drill3 (Medium).jpg Drill4 (Medium).jpg

Replaced the chuck with a keyless, about 0.03mm runout after some 'fine tuning'

Chuck (Medium).jpg

Stand is now finished too. Picked up the steel 3-drawer cabinet for $20 from the recyclers and made the stand to suit.

Stand1 (Medium).jpg Stand2 (Medium).jpg

**jatt** · 25th May 2013, 06:47 PM

Nuthin wrong with the old stuff.

I do try n keep my old hand me down gear going as long as I reasonably can. Hard to find stuff built as good nowdays.

**jmebgo** · 4th June 2013, 06:48 PM

Great job. I think that the drill looks fantastic, and I particularly like the stand/cabinet set-up. I've been inspired to do something similar.

Joe

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