Thread: Waldown Drill Press Mods

Nice work on the mods, should make life a lot easier.
Kryn

Originally Posted by Petip

Hi All
I came into possession of a waldown drill press 6 months ago, while I am very happy with the drill press, there are a few mods that needed doing.
This is my take on a rise and fall mechanism for the table. 3/32 cable routed over a pulley and through a hole in the aft mounting bolt, then around 2 pulleys and attached to a lump of 2 1/2" x 12" steel inside the column. This mod has worked very well and only requires very light pressure to raise or lower the table.
Other mods include - a collar for the column, to allow swivelling at a fixed height.
- a tray for catching swarf and collecting junk
- a foot operated on / off switch
- and a stand from a scrapped Waldown "Lapper"IMG_1391.jpgIMG_1392.jpgIMG_1393.jpgIMG_1394.jpg drill

very nice work you done here . just a question , can you share how you wire up your foot switch ?

Peter

It's funny that we are talking about foot switches as I was in Altronics today and saw their foot switches and it reminded me about fitting one to my DP.

Because I have a VFD on my DP this means it just needs to be a simple contact switch (i.e. no V/I) that is in series with the remote FWD switch.

One issue with the VFD is that I usually leave the VFD on machines like my DP "on" and only turn them off when I leave the shed or I am sure they are not going to be used again. This means if something was to fall on the switch or someone was to accidentally tread on the switch the motor would start the easiest way around this is to get one with or build a guard over it.
Of course I could just turn the remove FWD switch off but knowing my can of works head I would probably forget to do this more often than not.

Something like this would probably do the trick.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Industri...76452819&rt=nc

Originally Posted by thorens

very nice work you done here . just a question , can you share how you wire up your foot switch ?

Peter

Hi Peter
The foot switch is not hard wired, it has a male and a female three pin plug, so it is a simple matter of plugging it in. The standard switch has to be in the "on" position for the foot switch to work. You can just unplug the foot switch and use the drill in the normal way if you want. This setup works well for my needs.
Cheers
Peter

Are you better off with the foot switch wired as a normally closed - that is, to start and run the DP you need to have your foot on the switch? (so the switch is wired to the stop side) If you use a plug like Peter does it could be wired so that the switch could be optional.

Michael

Well done on the drill mods. Have you anymore details on the foot switch, make, age, what it came off? Having a plug in one sounds good.

Anyone ever thought of adding a foot feet to a Waldown? Some old drill I have seen in the USA had a foot feed pedal. It is lever operated and has a quarter gear that feeds the quill.

Originally Posted by DSEL74

Well done on the drill mods. Have you anymore details on the foot switch, make, age, what it came off? Having a plug in one sounds good.

Anyone ever thought of adding a foot feet to a Waldown? Some old drill I have seen in the USA had a foot feed pedal. It is lever operated and has a quarter gear that feeds the quill.

Hi There
The foot switch is a $5 T & T market special, made by "Schmersal". It is a high quality industrial type switch and I reckon it would have cost a lot new.
For safety, the foot switch should have a guard over the top in case someone steps on it inadvertently. I have yet to make a guard, however I normally turn the other switch off when not in use.
Making the foot switch plug-in also allows the unit to be used on other machines or power tools.
Peter