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1956 Craftsman Benchtop Drill Press Restoration Pt. 6: Reassembly
Finally, after disassembling, cleaning, sanding, cleaning some more, buffing, cleaning even more, and painting, it was finally time to reassemble the drill press.
First, we did some of the minor reassemblies.
Spindle Assembly -- Specifically, I am knocking a bearing down onto the spindle with a PVC pipe to apply equal pressure around the whole bearing.
Next, I seated the bearings on the top pulley, which drives the spindle assembly.
Then, I put the spindle lock, the motor lock, and the bed lock (not pictured) in place.
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1956 Craftsman Benchtop Drill Press Restoration Pt. 5: Motor Repair
Next up was the renovation of the motor.
There were a few reasons we decided to restore the motor. Mainly, the pulley on the motor’s shaft was secured with a set screw. Over time, this set screw just kept getting tightened and tightened, ruining the shaft of the motor. The motor had two shafts, but the other would be going in the wrong direction. To switch the direction, we planned to flip some wires around inside the motor. Also, the motor sounded horrible because the bearings in it were old and ruined. …
