Antique Drill Press Identification (HEAVY DUTY)

So it looks like I just acquired a "new" drill press. I still have to get it over to my garage, but the deal is in place. It came from the farm my brother-in-law works on, so he has used it and told me it works, just could use some clean-up and lubricating to be ideal. And I got a smoking deal on it. I am just curious about what is known about these because so far I have not found anything online.

Here is the main picture I have so far:

This thing is about 7' tall, and the work surface is probably 3' x 2'. Was originally 3-phase, but has been converted to 220v. The thing is VERY heavy. I can barely tip it by pushing on it. The walls of the main "arm" are a good 1/2" thick steel. This thing is a beast.

And a picture of the model number is guess: CRI & P TOOL no. 265

I hope to get it over to my garage in the next few days, then do some cleanup, paint, and maintenance before shoving it into the space I picked out for it. 

I know ive seen a similar one in the mill we converted back in college. Only in not nearly as good as shape. 

Im interested in this. Love bringing opd equipment back to life.

In reply to Dusterbd13 :

One one at college was not in as good of shape, or this one is not in as good of shape? 

This one definitely has some rough edges so to speak, but overall I don't think it'll be too hard to refresh it for my use. 

The one at the college was a lot worse. 

that dosen't look like a manufacturer tag..

looks like an asset tag for.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago,_Rock_Island_and_Pacific_Railroad

Fueled by Caffeine said:

that dosen't look like a manufacturer tag..

 

looks like an asset tag for.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago,_Rock_Island_and_Pacific_Railroad

Yeah, that's an old Rock Island piece of equipment. There's some history there.

This thing is AWESOME. 

That makes me want to turn my living room into a machine shop. 

The only thing I can identify about this is that I am jealous. 

Do you use that pedal for doing the drilling? I don't see any hand cranks...

In reply to Robbie :

Pretty sure the pedal raises the table, and the head stays stationary. 

Is that a drill press, or a vertical boring machine?  Looks like a boring machine. 

It appears to be single speed. May want to install step down pulleys. 

I don’t think that is a drill press. 

I’m pretty sure it is a foot powered mortising machine that has been modified. 

Instead of step-down pulleys, you might see if you could install an electronic motor speed controller. I had a surplus one I gave to my brother and he put it on his old drill press and it made a very, very nice addition - you could choose the motor speed through button press, and you could even do simple milling with it since you could make the tool move so slowly.

Also, try to put a guard around those pulleys. Yes they're high up, but with that much mass and power, a finger in one of those belts is going to be lost. Something like this should be easy to modify to fit your machine:

Maybe use wire shelving (like, from a closet) modified into a cage?

For those who don’t know, a mortiser is designed to “drill” square holes in wood. 

A mortiser that big would be something someone like Frenchy could use building his timber frame house!

If I’m right, it’s gonna be limited as drill press. The table won’t tilt or swing out of the way, the motor will be single speed, and neither the head nor the table will swing to either side. 

But it is a cool old piece!

In reply to SVreX :

That would have been a useful tool on railroads years ago. I bet this thing is older than it looks. 

And for those interested, here’s what a mortising bit looks like:

Its basically an auger bit with spurs on the corners for precise cutting, that fits inside a 4 sided box-like chisel. The auger drills out the meat in the center, but the chisel edges cut the corners out, making a square hole. The chisel is forced down with pressure only, which is why the arm and table need to be stout.  The waste is pushed into the center, where the auger can pull the shavings out of the hole. 

Completely useless for metal. 

In reply to Pete Gossett :

I’m not sure why railroads would need square holes. 

I’ve done railroad work. It’s backbreaking, and completely manual (and portable). You would never be able to carry a mortiser 150 miles into a remote mountainous area. 

It was most likely used for production heavy furniture making, like trestle tables. 

SVreX said:

In reply to Robbie :

Pretty sure the pedal raises the table, and the head stays stationary. 

Is that a drill press, or a vertical boring machine?  Looks like a boring machine. 

The foot pedal actually lowers the drill bit, the table stays stationary. 

The table has a crank to move it up and down which work pretty well, needs some lube and a better handle. Underneath has a spot that the table can tilt front to back, but that is a bit gummed up right now. The table will not move out of the way completely, but has a good bit of adjustment.

To be honest I don't know what differentiates a drill press from a boring machine, so I couldn't really say.

NickD said:

Fueled by Caffeine said:

that dosen't look like a manufacturer tag..

 

looks like an asset tag for.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago,_Rock_Island_and_Pacific_Railroad

Yeah, that's an old Rock Island piece of equipment. There's some history there.

Thank you both. When searching, I did find that CRI&P was the railroad, but nothing about a tool brand. Asset tag makes sense. Makes me curious as to who actually made the machine itself.

SVreX said:

It appears to be single speed. May want to install step down pulleys. 

It is single speed currently. If anything I plan to do like mentioned farther down and put an electric motor with variable speed control on. 

Looks like I was wrong about the railroad!

dculberson said:

Instead of step-down pulleys, you might see if you could install an electronic motor speed controller. I had a surplus one I gave to my brother and he put it on his old drill press and it made a very, very nice addition - you could choose the motor speed through button press, and you could even do simple milling with it since you could make the tool move so slowly.

Also, try to put a guard around those pulleys. Yes they're high up, but with that much mass and power, a finger in one of those belts is going to be lost. Something like this should be easy to modify to fit your machine:

Maybe use wire shelving (like, from a closet) modified into a cage?

Agreed, the open pulleys are a bit dangerous. Before putting it into use I plan to clean it up and make it a bit nicer, part of that being the electric motor mounting, making the switch nicer, etc. I will probably try to figure something out for a safety cage there. It's also got a work light on the other side that you can't really see. It's pretty janky, so I'll probably figure out a nice LED setup so it's got lights. 

Also, since the work surface is pretty solid, I think I'm going to figure out where to put some holes so I have a spot I can bolt a vice or bench grinder to as needed, and I would think it would work pretty well as a welding table too. 

SVreX said:

I’ve done railroad work. It’s backbreaking, and completely manual (and portable).

It sure isn't manual any more! I work next to a rail line, and they have machines that set and remove ties, machines that level ties and drive stone under them, machines that grind the rails off, all with high precision leveling powered by lasers and scads of money. I've sat and watched an operator eating lunch as the machine went from tie to tie, grabbing it, pulling it up, stuffing stone under it, and proceeding to the next one. The variety, specialization, and accuracy of their machines is amazing.

My favorite was probably the "spike" driving machine. It has an enormous magazine of square head threaded spikes and it loads them, locates the hole to put them in, drives them with a hydraulic power head, and moves on to the next tie. It was hypnotizing to watch. And very, very noisy.

In reply to dculberson :

Repairs and maintenance are still manual.