Atlas drilling machine

[Mike Waldron]

Hi
I’m new to this group, and, being here in the UK, have a rebuild of an Atlas drilling machine. It started life with me when a colleague brought it in from a scrap yard for £10!
I added a 2” column, and got a foot pedestal from a fellow Brit in Birmingham.
The other item my colleague brought in was a circular table with degree increments all round the edge, and a knee support, which I had to line with a sleeve to bring it down to the 2”.

Does anyone on this group know how to tell which model the drilling head is? There’s no makers plate in it, except for the cast name on the (cracked & rewelded) pulley guard. It had 3 step pulley which I’ve replaced with a 4 step, as none that I know of ever had a 3 step; unless of course it was a UK version.

I’ve downloaded a whole load of literature showing many models from the1930s up to the 1960s, but still can’t quite decide which head I have!

When I stripped it down, I found a thrust bearing had either worn or slipped, so I reset it, but it appears to have slipped again.

Any tips with this would be appreciated.

Mike

[rmac]

Hello, Mike, and welcome to the group. I guess the first tip would be to upload some pictures in case somebody here might happen to recognize your machine.

-- Russell Mac

[STRR]

Mike,

You might take a look at VintageMachinery.org or the sister site Old Woodworking Machines OWWM.org. There is a lot of information on those websites. The members are very knowledgeable and friendly. ONE HUGE RULE: U.S. and European machines ONLY. NO Asian made allowed.

Good Luck,
Terry

[pete]

With you being in the UK it's always uncertain if what you have is from the American Atlas company or possibly a UK based company with the same and not that uncommon machine tool manufacturers name. Start here and see if anything looks familiar. http://www.lathes.co.uk/atlas-drills-31-32/ A picture of an Atlas logo on your machine if it's still there would also help. The American Atlas logo is easily identified and afaik remained the same over a lot of years. Failing that, and any parts you have with cast in or stamped part numbers? Atlas was pretty good about doing so and any numbers you can find might be able to be cross referenced against the part numbers in a user manual. If it was from the American Atlas company and it matches one of the ones here, http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/detail.aspx?id=26146 (click on the front cover of the manual to open the PDF) the part numbers are on the last few pages.

Most drill presses use quite simple and inexpensive ball and thrust bearings. Depending on just how old the machine might be, there's a good possibility the bearings will still have stamped part numbers on them that can be cross referenced to other manufacturers to get the correct sizes. For the low cost I'd just replace the spindle and thrust bearing and be done with any problems in your life time.

[neanderman]

I agree with Pete's last paragraph: odds are, the bearings were standard, third party parts, are identified by number, and are easily replaced by new equivalents.

At least that's been my experience.

Good luck, and report your experience!

[Steggy]

I agree with Pete's last paragraph: odds are, the bearings were standard, third party parts, are identified by number, and are easily replaced by new equivalents.

When I purchased my old Arboga drill press I decided to replace the spindle bearings, which had a lot of “miles” on them. They were standard sizes, which the local Berry Bearing (now part of Motion Industries) distributor had in stock.