Picked this up for roll crimping today!

Hopefully it will work good enough to get a good crimp. The vintage craftsman press was $9. There was a crash man drill laying next to it marked $3. Figured they were assembled and the resale shop disassembled them. Took them home. Disassembled and cleaned both. Press operation is smooth and the drill works fine. I'm guessing I have the drill clamped correctly from the photos I googled. I've been running over to a buddies house with my 4 pin roller to borrow his press. Hopefully I can get the job done all at my house now. My plan. Is to put a hose clamp around the drill handle and trigger. I'll snug the clamp up just enough for the correct RPM. The more or less of a trigger pull on this old drill varies the RPMs up and down. I'll plug the cord into a powerstrip so I can turn it on and off. Anyone have one of these? Figured for a total of $12 it should work pretty good. Had to get the drill since it was probably about the same age so they looked like match.




https://i.imgur.com/V2CL2yk.jpg

Great idea, better than me using the big drill press.good price if it works and don't overheat??

It’s small enough that I might just mount it to my reloading bench. I own quite a few corded and cordless drills if it this burns out. The drill does have a trigger lock. I’ll have to test the speed for crimping before I try to “custom calibrate” the speed with a clamp.

you got it assembled right & you made a great score my friend!!! it will work great for roll crimping paper & plastic hulls! and the drill was made back in the day when they were made of metal, not plastic! let me know how you make out.

The drill worked but I of course had to mess with it and take it apart to clean it. Blew all the dust out of it, cleaned the connections, brass wires, removed old grease, and added new. The little O ring connection points weren’t touching when I reassembled it so it wouldn’t power on. I disassembled it again and eventually figured it out. It makes a pretty blue spark when running where the points touch. They don’t make them like that any more. Pretty cool old craftsman drill. I’m guessing the set up is older than me. I’ll have to use a square to make sure it’s straight up and down when I make my final adjustments.

I’m going to call it a loss with the drill.I can’t get the points to line up properly to get it to run at an even speed. There are springs with a round electrical connector that keeps moving around causing erratic speeds and to the point it shuts off. I’ll stick one of my modern drills in the press and call it a day. I’m sure a modern drill will probably work better for plastic hulls being they are a little higher in RPMs.

3B: My dad gave me his Craftsman Hand Drill Press about 30 years ago. He had used it to drill and tap a zillion holes in some aluminum castings he had made for his 100 mpg Carburetor that got 15 MPG in the real world. He was limited in space living in an 1 room apartment in Van Nuys CA while working for Alan Paulson at Gulfstream American.

I have used it for a variety of repetitious jobs over the years from removing primer crimps (drill upside down with countersink sticking up thru the hole in the table.) I used the same configuration for countersinking a zillion holes in some aluminum blocks. The depth was set so that just putting the block down on the table gave the correct size csk. in the hole.

I always used my Milwaukee 1/2" Drill Motor on that Fixture and it works great. The cool thing about that tool is that it can be set up to do many different things just by flipping the parts around on the vertical column.

It also works pretty well as a Light Duty Drill Press? You done good for $12 and you can probably use that old drill motor for something down the road.

I've been thinking about using mine for Roll Crimping too.

Randy

Nice! I do notice I have a little side to side slop
It seems to be comming from where the measurement rod is. I figured I could make a schim to glue to the back or side of it to remove any play.

I finally had a chance to play with the press today. First I loosened the bottom bolt that holds the throw measure with stopper. I was able to twist it sideways a little when tightening back up. It was enough to remove the littlle side to side slop I was feeling. I tried a craftsman drill I had laying around
It seems to fit fine. I will end up putting some zip ties around the drill and the bracket that pushes it out. Because the drill is rubber and plastic it wants to kick itself at an angle and cause the drill head to rub on the bracket it rests in. A zip tie or two will hold it in place and take care of the issue.



Got a zip tie around it to lock it from working itself from side to side. It’s good to go now.

https://i.imgur.com/ynUWUWO.jpg

I’ve got a Craftsman bench drill press that perhaps twenty years old that had belonged to my grandfather . I load more now at the shop than I do at home and would haul it back and forth . A friend stopped by one day and told me he had a match to it he would sell . So I bought it for $40 and now there’s a bench drill press on the bench at home and another on the table by my desk in the gun shop ! And to be honest just about the only thing the shop press is used for , is to roll crimp .