pishta
I know I'm right....
HF 5 speed drill press, nice and cheap...and cheap. I had mine for about 5 years and found it couldnt hold an accurate bore anymore. Not knowing anything about drill presses, I just went at it and found out what made it tick. Seems they are pretty easy to rehab if the spindle is wobbly. If yours has any perceptible side to side movement at full extension, It is most likely the quill (telescoping piece) that is loose and it could be as simple as taking out and modding the adjuster screw and locknut on the side next to the quill handle. Just unscrew the nut and then unscrew the slotted adjuster. The adjuster is made so it only interfaces with the slotted quill in a vertical orientation. The end is rectangular and wont fit in the slot if the screw slot is horizontal. Now this is a bad design, but its shared by many presses. You cant accurately take the play out of the quill unless you can run this down snug into the quill and that is impossible if it only fits in the slot in a vertical manner. So I took it out and ground the rectangular end round so it can barely rotate in the slot 360 degrees and achieve a snug fit against the quill. Screw it back in snug enough to barely allow the spring to bring it back up and then lock it down. It took all the play out of my press. If it needs bearings, the chuck is on a morse taper and can be removed by a pickle fork between the chuck and the quill end, just give it a whack and itll pop off. The quill can be removed by taking the 2 nuts off the quill return spring (dont remove yet, just loosen to end of shaft) then pry the spring can off the drill body with a screwdriver, itll unwind so keep your fingers clear! Remove the spring can and slide the handle out, now the quill can be removed from the drill press. Remove the snapring on top bearing and drive the shaft out the bottom by supporting the quill edge with a vise and tapping the splined end. The lower bearing (same size) can be removed in the same manner. The bearings are pretty beefy so they are probably still good. If the quill is so loose in the cast bushings, you can (supposedly) peen the rack gears lightly with a hammer and then tap the handle back in. The interference you created with the buggered splines will tighten up the quill in the bushing. To reassemble, tap shaft and bearings back into quill and place snap ring in position, slide quill into drill, put handle gear back into side hole, place spring can back onto quill handle shaft and turn one turn CCW and push against cast in stop on drill case, hold and run nuts back on to secure. screw in modified set screw until quill is snug and lock down. Turn quill handle a few cycles and set screw again and spring locknuts. Clean taper on chuck and shaft and put back on. you can strike OPEN chuck with a hammer to set, or run base plate up and use quill handle to force shaft into chuck. Hopefully it is now better than what it was...If not, they are still $49 new.....
