Vfd?

 

variac?

or a pully change...

 

Sell it and pop for a new drill press that can get even slower. A good rheostat/variable speed controller would probably cost as much.

I bought one of the Chinese made Tradesman 12" drill press from Lowes, that can go down to 250rpm. Only $119, and it's does pretty good.

 

Sell it and pop for a new drill press that can get even slower. A good rheostat/variable speed controller would probably cost as much.

I bought one of the Chinese made Tradesman 12" drill press from Lowes, that can go down to 250rpm. Only $119, and it's does pretty good.

Thanks, but I think I'll just hang onto my old 350+ LB drill press, in lieu of getting a "better" Chinese-made one. I'll figure out some way to make that thing run slower.

 

You need to fab a new pully setup. Someone here has done this, it's not rocket science. I would think an extra idler would be all you need. Variable pulleys are available at Grainger, surpluscenter.com etc.

You don't want to mess with your motor anyway. Let it run at it's normal speed, it's designed for that. Use pullies to do it. Especially if you have a big ol drill press.

This would be a great little project and one I am thinking of doing myself, but I have no time anymore. Mine goes down to 240 and that's ok, but I like slow slow slow. I'd like to have 80rpm available.

One thing is my cheap ass chuck isn't capable of handling a strong feed at low rpms on big drills. But it sounds like you have a big quality unit. Something to think about though.

 

IMO a VFD is not a good idea... its a good way to wreck a perfectly good motor. It needs to be rated for drive use because of the extra stress it puts the windings through.

A variac is fine for power hand-tools and certain fans because of the motors they use... not for a split-phase/capacitor motor.

Many drill presses use a 4-pole motor... that yield slightly under 1800rpm. You could try to find a used 6-pole motor - <1200rpm, or an 8-pole motor - <900rpm.

Meesing with the pulleys is probably the cheapest if you like to tinker. Most presses just have two, but some have 3 (a middle stepped idler) for more speed range.

EDIT: its easy to post redundant info when it takes me over 2 hours to complete a post

 

The right way to do this by adding a jack shaft to your drill press.

Here is an example of how....

http://www.frugalmachinist.com/jackshaft.html




.

 

does adding a VFD lower the HP, you said you want to turn larger drills i would not want to lower my HP and try to turn larger drills, kinda counter productive, but if it does not rob any HP then i say try it, but dont burn out a good motor eather, jason.

 

Note: Variable frequency drives are for 3 phase motors.

 

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=311507

I want to do this!!!