Manual Drill Press

lyle11

501 Club
I have a hand crank drill press mounted in a shed. No idea where it came from. The only marking I see is PD20 in the casting. Mounted on a wall so manufacturer’s name might be hidden. Lighting is poor. It is in very good condition. Just some light surface rust on the movable vertical shaft.

I’m trying to determine a value if I decide to sell it. Asking if anybody has seen one of these before. If I have a manufacturer name, I could search and get a more accurate value. Might have to take it down and look it over better. Seems odd that it has no name in the casting. I don’t see anywhere a name plate was removed.

Photos are poor due to poor lighting and background.

Thanks
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Thanks. This is located in Wisconsin and a lot of the old stuff I find is from more local manufacturers. Saw one on EBay from a place called BUFFALO FORGE that looks very similar but like many things the basic design was probably copied with minor variations. Guessing it might be worth $150-$200 based on EBay listings.
 
Lyle, are you in Wisconsin? Your zip code shows northeast Ohio about an hour from Bill Hudson.
 
I live in Hudson, OH but have an 80 acre farm in NW Wisconsin 54757 that I visit 5-6 times per year. Kind of like those rich people who spend summers in The Hampton’s.
 
lyle11":77m8kjfu said:
Lots of Amish around here but I don’t know any of them or how to advertise to them.
Place an ad in the local news paper and the free advertising flyers found in the grocery, auto parts, and gas stations.
 
I might just hang on to it. Since I’m only here for a week at a time, I don’t have a lot of time for print ads, etc. I’ve had good success selling using my wife’s Facebook Marketplace. If that doesn’t work I can resort to other methods. I just sold a manual well pump body today to a guy who fixes them for the Amish.
 
I'm amazed Barnyard nailed it so quickly. These are cool things when they aren't rusted up. See it has the power down feed and the pawl teeth look good. I have a couple of different make. The earlier had equally large flywheels without the belt groove. My dear grand dad had one mounted in the basement with a motor mounted at the floor joists.
 
I have one that was my Grandfather's that he used in his garage. He wired a pulley to it so he could run it with an electric motor. I also have a couple coffee cans of bits for it. I plan to mount it in my shop as a "decoration".

Funny how the value fluctuates and likely has a real specific following. About 25 years ago I bought one for around $100, what was the going price then (or so I thought). A few years later I decided I didn't need two, so took it to an auction at a large tractor show in Nebraska. Barely got a $5 bid and the buyer left it there. Auctioneer told me to take it, so I did. Put it on another auction a few years later, same general area and it sold for around $100!
 
It is market fluctuation like you said. The reasons are dreary- Dear old timers have passed away in droves. The population continues to expand and eventually anyone with a whit of historical reverence wants to have something speaking of earlier times.
This isn't to mock or never use it. If the grid goes down long enough or just know how it operates, it tells stories.
 
I think I’ll keep it. This is not something that I ever saw used. I suspect my father bought it later in life just to hang on the wall. Looks like I have to clean up the threads these two holes in the “chuck”.

Was the bit secured with 2 pointed set screws? (The hole doesn’t appear to be threaded all the way through)

And the bit had a flat side on the shank?


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That looks about right for drill bits of that shank dia. People put actual chucks on them, along the way. Yours and one of mine probably had a set of bits which fit. Instead of socket head set screws they used small square headed bolts. If the inside thread wasn't tapped through, the bolts were turned at the ends presenting a flat surface to the shank and still passing through the "chuck".
There is a certain chuck which was made for our low speed drilling/ boring. It isn't a 3-jaw, 2-jaw tapered Irwin type. It is made to clamp regular straight shank drill bits. It isn't a lathe chuck either because it isn't balanced right. It is a two jaw with Vee shaped jaws which adjust by one square head bolt ( rht one side lht other)
 
My Dad had one exactly like that. --He rigged a 1/4 horse motor to it. I think its still in the shed here under other stuff. When we moved I never got much set up again. Now use a 16-speed floor cheapie that dose my needs.
 
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