# Ye Olde vintage Atlas Drill Press



## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

About a year ago my nephew brought over a 1940 vintage Atlas Drill press and dumped it off in my garage/shop. 
As you can see it came from Sad City.
So I set to cleaning it up ,The bearings were tight, the Quill had a 4" travel the motor ran with a whisper the quill had a lockdown. What more could you want? Well to raise the table there was no crank and you had to swing it back and forth and pull up on the back and the front to raise it. Not at all desirable., (cast iron table)
So... I cleaned it up went to Harbor Freight and got an electric trailer hitch jack and mounted it under the table. I put an up/down switch on it and had an auto electric table raiser. Not quite,it didn't work, the table bound up on the column and had to have hand pressure downward to raise and upward to lower. 
Since it was 12v. and had to have a battery to work, I built a table with a battery shelf on the back to counter weight the table and now it works smooth as silk. Also put a trickle charger on it to keep the battery charged up. This thing is built like a tank.

Herb


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## Gaffboat (Mar 11, 2012)

A very creative restoration job!


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## chessnut2 (Sep 15, 2011)

Herb........you obviously put an enormous amount of work into the restoration. Very nice. And a good idea about the lift. I have an old Craftsman behemoth (shipping weight was 302 pounds !) that's older than I am and it has that type of table. I've been wanting to get a new one just because that table is such a pain to wiggle up and down, then get centered. This can save a lot of people a lot of aggravation. thanks. Jim


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

I had an old Craftsmen industrial that I lost in the fire and I adapted a scissor jack under the table with a hand wheel on it, it work OK too. I had to mount it as close to the column as possible to make it work freely.


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## tbahorski (Nov 11, 2014)

Nice job on the drillpress. I like the old iron tools, I have an Atlas scrollsaw I need to do some work on and an Atlas jointer that needs clean up and new knives. Both picked up at auction, and very heavy duty machines.

Tom B


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## firstmuller (Aug 28, 2014)

That is quit the lift. Nice job on the rest of the drill also.
Allen


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

@Nickp and I flipped @schnewj for that press..
Nick is on his way to get it...
can ya at least meet him half way???


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Stick apparently has way too much spare time!  (Resurrecting very old threads...)


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

DaninVan said:


> Stick apparently has way too much spare time!  (Resurrecting very old threads...)


was looking for something and Herb kept rising to the top...


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

"Herb kept rising to the top..."

Creme de la creme?


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

was thinking something else...


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

one problem that showed up was every time @Nickp and I flipped @schnewj no matter how he landed (face up or down) he'd roll over...


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## Nickp (Dec 4, 2012)

Time to consider a higher elevation drop...


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

That's just cruel! LOL


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Nickp said:


> Time to consider a higher elevation drop...


just high enough for a thud or do we go for a splat...
what will be the rule for the full gainer count..


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## honesttjohn (Feb 17, 2015)

At his age better go with the thud. Don't think he'd survive a splat.


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## Nickp (Dec 4, 2012)

Either one would work...the splat just has wet and gooey stuff where the thud would have been...


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## Old_Tom (Jun 28, 2019)

Hi Herb. Nice job on the restoration and a brilliant idea on the table lift. I like seeing old machinery brought back to life. Well done mate,


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