Oregon rock crusher
Well-known member
I owe a major thank you to crguy for allowing me the privilege of acquiring and caretaking this United States Electrical Company friction drill. A very generous gesture on his part. Since picking it up several weeks ago I have been leisurely working at getting it cleaned up and back in operating condition. It was already broken down into parts except for removing the spindle. That old Skinner chuck body would not let loose from its taper, even with heat and significant persuasion, and with the chuck on the spindle could not be removed from the drill frame.Friction Drive U. S. Electrical Tool Co. drill press. Just acquired this and haven't been able to find much online. Vintage machinery has some company information, but only one 1906 ad for the drill press. Seems to be pretty original except for the repaint. Going to check/lube things before I plug it in. Anybody have any info on this one? I've owned 3 other friction drill press and saved pics of everything I have found online for years, but haven't seen this one before.
I ended up just armoring the spindle in place and got on with stripping off that god awful red paint. I tried to leave the “patina” under the paint unmolested. I considered painting the drill as there was a layer of dark green below the red under the table. After getting it stripped and liking the look I ended up just going with a couple coats of BLO. Also I made a small silver braze repair to one side of the table support where the casting was broken.
The single phase 120v gear motor needed some internal wiring but I was very relieved when it sparked up and ran nice and smooth. This specialty framed gear motor would be very difficult to replace. No data tag on the motor but I assume it was made by the US Elect tool co. No load rpm was about 525.
Fully stripped and soaking in some BLO on a sunny day. Also showing the braze repair line to the table mount casting.
The maker of the very cool rotary snap switch was revealed on clean up. Hart & Hegeman mfg co. They were making electrical switches from the 1800’s through the early 20’s. This switch breaks both legs.
The badge on this drill was interesting as well. On the manufacturer tag in small print it states the company was a gold medal winner, not necessarily for this drill design, at the Panama Pacific Exposition of 1915. This was the Worlds fair held in San Fransisco in 1915 shortly after completion of the Panama canal. The dealer tag names Harrow Rickman & McCone with branches in SF and LA.
The second coat of BLO took much longer to cure and everything was set around the wood stove for several days at steady heat until finally dry enough to handle. Ed.
