Moving the arm on the support column

CAUTION

NEVER swing the drill press arm using the support column unless you are absolutely certain the drill press base is firmly attached to the shop floor. You can tell if the base is bolted to the floor by checking the mounting pads at the four corners of the base. There should be a securing bolt through each mounting pad.

If the arm is moved off of its position directly above the base and the base is not bolted to the floor, THE DRILL MAY TIP OVER AND CAUSE SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH TO THE DRILL PRESS OPERATOR (YOU!!) and will certainly result in serious damage to the drill press, itself. Don't take chances. Always look for bolts at the mounting pads before swinging the drill press arm.

Moving the arm on the support column

1.Power to the drill press must be ON -- then release the machine locks by pushing the UNLOCK push button.

2.Use the handle at the end of the arm (see Fig. 1) to move the column (and, therefore, to swing the arm) as necessary to the required spindle position.

3.When the spindle is positioned correctly and no other adjustments are quired, push the LOCK push button to re-lock all machine locks.

Setting spindle speed

Spindle speeds are established using the gear change levers on the upper right-hand side of the drill head. (See Fig. 1.) The shorter of the two levers operates a two-speed mechanism which puts the gearbox in either high gear or low gear. There is a "HI/LOW" readout on the upper left hand side of the drill head which tells you which speed range is selected.

The longer gear change lever operates a three speed gearbox mechanism. The lowest gear and spindle speed is selected by pushing the lever away from you -- that is, by rotating the change shaft counterclockwise. The highest gear and spindle speed is selected by pulling the lever toward you -- rotating the shaft clockwise. There is a detent in the middle of the lever travel to tell you when the lever is in the intermediate gear position.

This gearbox set-up gives you a total of six spindle speeds which may be selected. The two- speed spindle drive motor, therefore, increases the number of available spindle speeds to 12. The specific spindle speed selected clearly depends on the position of both gear change levers and whether the motor switch on the top front of the drill head is

on LOW or HI speed. There is a chart on the front of the drill head which shows you the spindle speeds available and the gear change lever and motor switch values required to select each speed. See Fig. 1.

On the gear change table you will also find the recommended drill sizes for the various speeds which are selectable. THESE RECOMMENDATIONS ARE ONLY APPROXIMATE. With the wide variety of drill types and coatings available, the variety of cutting fluids which might be used, and the even wider variety of work piece materials which you might be machining -- you need to consult with your tooling, coolant and/or work piece suppliers to determine the best spindle speed to use for any specific drilling operation.

Caution

Do not try to change gears while the spindle is turning. This may cause serious damage to the spindle drive system.

Allow the spindle to come to a complete stop before attempting to change gears. If the gear change lever you want to move does not slip easily into the new position you require, jog the motor for a second using the control lever. Then allow the spindle to come to a stop again before attempting to change gears, again. Repeat this jogging process, as necessary, until the gears match up properly for changing.

Setting feed rate and depth of cut

The Model 1230 has limit switches on the quill which cuts off electric power to the drive motor when the quill has reached either the upper or lower limit of its travel. This system is designed to prevent gearbox damage if the power feed mechanism is engaged -- damage which would occur if the quill were to bottom out against the upper or lower limit of quill travel. In the event of failure of either limit switch there is also a safety clutch mechanism which will slip when the limits of travel are reached.

However, while you are able to use virtually the full travel of the quill for drilling or other operations, the drill press operator typically sets both the rate of feed -- travel-per-revolution of the spindle -- and the depth of cut -- that is, the total distance the quill moves to make the required depth of cut.

These two operations are described, here:

Setting feed rate

The feed rate is set using the knob and dial on the front of the drill head. See Fig. 1. The knob on the dial can be rotated to select any of three different