how to address wobble in a drill press

Joined
Jan 5, 2014
Messages
1,495
I don't know how to check it to be sure, but the bits in my drill press seem to wobble to my eye. The holes the bits are drilling seem to be to spec however...I'm looking for advise on how to check to see if my drill press is true/square, and also where would the problem likely be, it is a Powermatic 2800B 18" drill press and it is only about 10 months old.
 
It could be that the chuck is not properly seated. Go back to your manual and perhaps redo the procedure for seating the chuck and see if that helps. I know the chuck on my 17" Jet is finicky as all get out. I'm thinking of replacing it with a Jacobs one of these days.
 
Assuming it's not just a bent drill bit or two, it could be as simple as some chips in the chuck jaws, or a slightly skewed chuck. Make sure everything is clean, then tighten the chuck all the way to make sure closes evenly. You can check run out with a dial indicator easily enough. I'd check the shaft that the chuck is pressed onto first. If that's ok, then check the chuck (on a smooth part obviously), and if that's good, chuck in a piece of drill rod, or something that's ground truly round, and indicate that. This will give you an idea of run out. If shaft and chuck run mostly true, but the rod is dancing all over the place, then you've got some bad jaws. If the rod AND the chuck have run out, but the shaft is true, then you may want to pull the chuck off, clean it really well, and re-mount it. If the run out starts at the shaft, you may be out of luck, short of rebuilding or replacing.

Powermatic is a top level brand though, and being only 10 months old, I doubt it's the shaft, unless the thing tipped over or something.
 
Thanks for the input folks, I honestly don't know if I can put my hands on the manual for this press, but I think I can look it up online--it actually came with a keyless chuck, which I don't really care for, so I might be willing to replace the chuck regardless. I will do the checking and let ya'll know what is up.


Thanks again--Don
 
Back
Top