The Franken-Drill

[the penguin]

As the owner of the infamous Franken-Mill (1936 Bridgeport/1986 Mill/Drill head), I done some unconventional modifications to some of my machinery, the latest follows that train of thought. I bought an Atlas/Clausing (Johansson of Skokie, Ill) small vertical knee mill. The original head assembly was missing parts and some of those there were trashed, I bought it for the base, knee/table/column assembly, which was in excellent condition. I proceed to clean it up, also putting on new handles and a one shot oiling system.

I removed the column head and the spacer block, and adapted a 12" diameter x 3/4" thick steel disc to the column, then drilled the disc to accept a column off of a 20", 12 speed, Jet floor standing drill press. When all bolted to gether, I then spent a good deal of time tramming the drill press head front to back and side to side. The end product is a very handy drill press with a built in X and Y table and a ability to raise and lower the table.

Since The change over, I have used the Franken-Drill, on numerous occasions with excellent results. All of the changes are bolt on and if I ever find a workable R8 head assembly, I might change this back to a mill, as I have 3 other mills, that's not a front burner to do item. For the time being, I'm very happy with the results.

1 - as it arrived
2 - after drill press head modification
3 - new handles
4 - new handles
5 - old handles
6 - part of the oiling system

[the penguin]

a few better pictures

[vtsteam]

It must be very handy to have a heavy tabled dedicated XYZ drill!

I like your Frankenmachines.

[PixMan]

I like those fold-in handles, Jack. Nice work!

[Arbalest]

Nice job!

[AR1911]

What are the odds?

I also have a Clausing mill - lacking a head. I have been looking for a suitable head for several years now, but nothing has turned up at a reasonable price.

Recently a friend offered a drilling head - HD Jet 20" - for $75, disassembled, no motor. Now I am reconsidering that.

Thanks for the post!

[the penguin]

A have 3 drill presses in the shop, a Jet, JDP 20EVS/230, a 20" variable speed head (65-2000 rpm) with a build in tapping head and 1" chuck, a 20" Harbor Freight, with a 5/8" chuck, and  the Franken-Drill with a 1/2" chuck. All set at different rpms and meant for different uses.

The Franken-Drill is the go to drill press, it satisfies about 65% of the DP needs in the shop. I love the X-Y feature of the DP, I've only had it for about 6-8 months and would now be hard pressed to do without it. I used it last week with the newly acquired Buck Versatapper, to tap about (400) #10-32 holes in 3/16" aluminum plates. It worked great.