Pillar Drill Spindle Bearings

My cheapo pillar drill is a project in itself also I've had it for quite a few years now and it's had a few modifications to improve its performance .

I probably should have bought a better one in the first place!

This blog post was useful guide to what to expect when pulling the drill apart:

http://sealeypillardrill.blogspot.com/2017/04/sealey-pillar-drill-strip-gdm30a.html

It's got a bit of run-out on the spindle and in this picture the run-out doesn't look like much. However the main problem is the quill itself which wobbles around in its bearings.

The pulleys are a bit loose too, but this is down to burrs and a loose grub screw

This is the return spring - simple, but appears to work adequately:

The three handles on the quill pinion constantly come loose and are now held in with Loctite:

I made this bracket to support the end of the depth stop and as a place to hold the chuck key. The bracket replaces a crappy plastic one that came with the drill and broke quite quickly:

Here's the top spindle bearing in the quill. There's no play here.

The play is here, in the body of the drill. There's not a great deal I can do to improve this...

What I've done is to put a screw into the body which pushes on the quill, taking out some of the play.

Another area of weakness is in the table which bends as it is only made of rather flexible sheet metal.

It can be stiffened up quite easily with the welder:

The next thing we might do is stiffen up the base of the drill as well, as again this is quite flexible. However this is only affecting accuracy if your work is standing on the base.