Restoration Completed: Craftsman King-Seeley 103.23141 Drill Press Restoration, Pt. 21

Let's put the motor and a belt on and get this puppy going, shall we?

Here's the cleaned-up motor mounting bracket. It's oriented so it can be adjusted as needed to have the motor align properly depending on its size. I mounted mine with the narrower gap between the adjustment slots and the mounts at the top.

The original bolts, now cleaned up and ready for action.

Mounting the motor. It's pretty hefty; I put it on the bracket on the bench rather than attached to the press.

Its height can be fine-tuned once it's mounted.

The two mounting posts just slide into the press head. You can see the two 1/2 inch bolts that hold it in place.

Here's the motor pulley installed.

Note the allen screw that holds it tight to the motor shaft. I snugged it up a bit, then adjusted the motor and pulley up and down until they were aligned as needed with the belt on. Then I took the belt off and tightened up the allen screw.

In the process of adjusting the motor, I discovered that the slot I devised on the start capacitor box wasn't a solid enough mount to hold it on. It kept popping off.

So I fastened it to the motor housing with some zip ties.

The manual has a diagram with pulley settings to achieve the desired spindle speed. Right now I have it set to 771 rpm.

Here's the press with a new Gates belt installed.

I'm using a 43 inch belt. Originally I had sourced a 47 inch belt - the same size as the one that was previously installed. But that length put the motor bracket further out from the head, and caused a lot of extra vibration. So a shorter belt it is.

The manual doesn't specify a belt length, since the type of motor installed might vary the belt needed.

I cooked up a wedge made of 2x4s to slide between the bracket and the head to tension the belt. I tried a pry bar at first, but it wanted to pop out. The wedge can be hammered (note my mallet) into place from the bottom and will stay put until the belt is tensioned.

Here's one of the adjustment bolt on the side of the head.

My "duh" moment. I didn't have the head in the right place on the column...the belt could contact the column when running.

I used a length of 2x4 to prop the head up while raising it on the column.

Now there's plenty of clearance.

Tightening up the quill retaining collar. The depth adjustment also passes through this collar - you can see its threads protruding through the bottom.

This is the bolt that locates the feed pinion shaft. There's a slot in the shaft that the bolt fits into. If the bolt isn't there, the pinion will come out of the right side of the head under tension from the feed return spring.

Here's the feed return tension adjustment. Turning it counter clockwise puts tension on the spring inside the pinion shaft, thus adjusting the return speed of the quill/feed. The small thumbscrew holds the tension.

It took me a while to suss out how that pinion retaining screw worked. I kept putting tension on the spring, and the pinion kept sliding out on the other side! Then I realized how it worked. Duh moment number two.

The feed handles just screw into the hub.

One of the last things to do - put the rebuilt chuck back on the quill.

And use my homebrew collar to tighten it up - the reverse of removal.

The table protractor goes back on the underside of the table.

And a new chuck key goes into its storage hole on the table.

I followed the exploded diagram in the manual as I reassembled everything. One part I notice in the diagram that I didn't have was a column cap.

Did some measurements, then off to McMaster-Carr to procure something that would work. You want caps? They got 'em.

Here it is - there are two arms of thin metal that can be bent as needed.

The final touch to...ahem...cap off the restoration.

I wonder how many of these are missing.

It runs great.

This was an early test - with the longer drive belt. I had 99% confidence it would work, since I had fired up the motor months ago after installing the new bearings.

The business end spinning around.

I sprung for a new drill press vise too - still need to rig up a secure mounting for it.

The press runs smoothly and quietly. Considering I got it in separate pieces (head off the column and base), it turned out well.

Here's the completed press.

My friend's Uncle Bill, who was the original owner, would be proud, I think.

Nameplate and fabricated aluminum trim.

Everything is nice and clean and polished.

I'm looking forward to putting it to work!

The complete restoration saga

Part 1 - Beginning

Part 2 - Electrolysis to Remove Rust

Part 3 - Grinding to Remove Rust

Part 4 - Leveling Base Table

Part 5 - Recreating Model Number Label

Part 6 - Refinishing Base

Part 7 - Removing Motor

Part 8 - Motor Disassembly

Part 9 - Motor Bearing Replacement

Part 10 - Start Capacitor and Motor Reassembly

Part 11 - Removing Threaded Jacobs Chuck

Part 12 - Spindle Removal

Part 13 - Quill Disassembly

Part 14 - New Quill and Spindle Bearings

Part 15 - Engine Turned Aluminum Trim Proof of Concept

Part 16 - Engine Turned Aluminum Trim

Part 17 - Cleaning and Polishing Hardware

Part 18 - Jacobs 633C Drill Chuck Restoration

Part 19 - Cleaning and Polishing Column

Part 20 - Reassembly Begins

Part 21 - Restoration Completed