So damn tired of belt driven drill press!

26237 Views 62 Replies 38 Participants Last post by 770cyfair7, 4 mo ago

Action Fab

Discussion Starter · Sep 26, 2011

YES, IM YELLING IN THIS POST! MY DRILL PRESS IS BELT DRIVEN LIKE MOST AND SLIPS WHEN USING LARGE BITS... LIKE MOST! AND I AM SICK OF IT!

So... Deap breath... whooooo......

Has any one converted their drill press to chain drive? I'll eventualy buy a mill and the drill press will get shit caned. But till then I don't want to spend any money on a new drill press. My problem is that the tention divice on my "black bull" $150 1/2hp drillpress is a joke... and even after I tapped the hole and swaped the plastic T-handle screw out to a 7/16 bolt, and using a cheater pipe to crank on the leaver, I still can't get enough tenssion to keep the NEW belts to stop slipping. The belt on this POS is a tiny V-drive and just does not have the serface area to gain enough traction on the pullies.

SO, Anyone ever converted their drill press to chain drive? Yah it may be a litte dangerous. But hay it's only 1/2hp... It'll stall if things get to out of hand... pun inteded.

41 - 60 of 63 Posts

Joe_88k5

· #41 · Nov 5, 2015

I had the same issues with my drill press. It would slip the belts if I even looked at a 1/2" drill bit. I bought a length of "twist link" v-belt that was long enough to make both belts out of and haven't had a problem since. I typically set it tight enough to stall the motor when using large hole saws, but with twist drills I let it slip just a enough so it doesn't break anything. I snapped off a couple 9/16" drills before learning that lesson.

But anyway... just another option that hadn't been mentioned before in the post. I think I spent about $40 on the link belt, and that was money well spent for significantly reducing frustration.

rugburn

· #42 · Nov 6, 2015

https://www.roguefab.com/category.php?category=DPRKS

[486]

· #43 · Nov 8, 2015

They figured this out in the 1900s. A belt isn't enough for a final reduction on pretty much any machine tool. Even toothed belts don't work too well.

Look at all the old camelbacks, the ones meant for low speed work all had gears up top.

JeepButcher

· #44 · Nov 10, 2015

[486] said:
They figured this out in the 1900s. A belt isn't enough for a final reduction on pretty much any machine tool. Even toothed belts don't work too well.

Look at all the old camelbacks, the ones meant for low speed work all had gears up top.

CNC Machining centers, lathes, drill presses, and mills all still use belts.

[486]

· #45 · Nov 10, 2015

JeepButcher said:
CNC Machining centers, lathes, drill presses, and mills all still use belts.

Cute little stuff, yeah.

Also, even a monarch 30" NN will have belts, but they're nowhere near the final reduction to the spindle.

JeepButcher

· #46 · Nov 10, 2015

Even big shit has belts. The Fadal 8030 I used to run had drive belts. Maybe not final drive but they're still used. Granted that fadal is an older machine but it's still a large CNC vert.

[486]

· #47 · Nov 10, 2015

JeepButcher said:
Maybe not final drive but they're still used. .

[486] said:
A belt isn't enough for a final reduction ...

Another torque vs horsepower thing from me, what a surprise.
Belts will throw horsepower around with proper surface speed (around 600 yards/min iirc). Reduce the surface speed and the amount of HP you can put through them comes down quite a bit.

Add to that the tiny little drive pulley you see on most belt drive drill press' low speed position and you've got a recipe for transmitting next to no torque compared to what you'd get through the belt at a more normal surface speed and pulley diameter.

RockRogue

· #48 · Nov 10, 2015

rugburn said:
https://www.roguefab.com/category.php?category=DPRKS

^This

If you still have slipping, run a segmented belt. If you still have slipping after that, there is likely an issue with your tensioning system not maintaining tension.

We have a customer running 6" diameter hole saws in stainless sheet, and plenty of others running bits over 1 inch in steel plate.

speedfreak78

· #49 · Nov 11, 2015

I was going to say sandblast. We had one in my last shop we would pull and sandblast every couple months when it started slipping. The last time i put a smear of super glue on the contact surfaces and sprinkled sand on it, i don't think it was ever touched after i did that. Might cause quicker belt wear. Maybe hit it with a needle scaler to get a rougher surface?

RockRogue

· #50 · Nov 11, 2015

speedfreak78 said:
I was going to say sandblast. We had one in my last shop we would pull and sandblast every couple months when it started slipping. The last time i put a smear of super glue on the contact surfaces and sprinkled sand on it, i don't think it was ever touched after i did that. Might cause quicker belt wear. Maybe hit it with a needle scaler to get a rougher surface?

This violates my policy of gluing sand near induction motors and ball bearings...

m715

· #51 · Nov 18, 2015

2

Some of you might get a laugh out of this one...

Toss on a bigger pulley and slow things down.
Number of year ago we had to punch a bunch of 3/4" holes through 3/8" plate, and only had a cheap 39.99 HF drill press, it wouldn't do it. Fitted a big pulley, sharp bit, go slow w/oil and it will cut an 1" hole in 1/2" plate. Oh and its not fast :laughing:

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usmcdoc14

· #52 · Nov 19, 2015

After converting my HF mill using a treadmill brushless and speed controller, I plan on doing the same to my drill press when i get back.
uses typical ribbed flat automotive belt and does not slip.

_ogre

· #53 · Nov 19, 2015

m715 said:
Some of you might get a laugh out of this one...

Toss on a bigger pulley and slow things down.
Number of year ago we had to punch a bunch of 3/4" holes through 3/8" plate, and only had a cheap 39.99 HF drill press, it wouldn't do it. Fitted a big pulley, sharp bit, go slow w/oil and it will cut an 1" hole in 1/2" plate. Oh and its not fast :laughing:

i'm not laughing...
i have a 50s rockwell drill press that has 3 speeds: fast, faster and fastest
i'll probably add a jack shaft to it, but yours worked in a pinch

arse_sidewards

· #54 · Nov 19, 2015

m715 said:
Some of you might get a laugh out of this one...

Toss on a bigger pulley and slow things down.
Number of year ago we had to punch a bunch of 3/4" holes through 3/8" plate, and only had a cheap 39.99 HF drill press, it wouldn't do it. Fitted a big pulley, sharp bit, go slow w/oil and it will cut an 1" hole in 1/2" plate. Oh and its not fast :laughing:

Is that the pulley from the bottom of a washing machine?

mj

· #55 · Nov 22, 2015

i did a 3ph motor and VFD to slow mine down

m715

· #56 · Nov 23, 2015

arse_sidewards said:
Is that the pulley from the bottom of a washing machine?

If I remember correctly it was a pulley off an old large vacuum pump. You just have to be careful turning the switch off and on with that pulley on the front...

thedonn007

· #57 · Jun 15, 2018

Action Fab said:
Years later, the belts still don't slip and instead the motor just stalls.

Is your drill press still working? I did a Google search for how to fix a slipping drill press belt and your thread popped up.

Weevil

· #58 · Jun 16, 2018

Milling machines use a belt but have a back gear or reduction box . The problem is you probably cant turn it slow enough or if you do there is no torque . I won't try to talk you out of a chain but I wouldn't do it

Weevil

· #59 · Jun 16, 2018

Gilmer Belt

[486]

· #60 · Jun 16, 2018

Weevil said:
Gilmer Belt

still not enough, see bridgeports, the toothed belt will slip well before the motor stalls

41 - 60 of 63 Posts