Excelsior 20" drill press.

[Carpenter84]

I'll start here, fresh.

First item, bearings are indeed Babbitt.

[Carpenter84]

Top shaft.
A little bit of rust and pitting along two sides, and surprisingly little wear. But should clean up well. Babbitt bearings look pretty decent too. Some scoring, but don't seem overly worn. I'm not sure I'd feel horrible about cleaning up the surfaces and using them. So far that bearings are sticky with oil or grease, so not dried out. Good signs. Quill is still frozen.

[Carpenter84]

Well, I know why the quill is frozen...

Mouse pee, absolutely decimated the quill gear and housing.
However, after a WD wash of the spindle and the upper Babbitt bearing under the bevel gear, it spins really nicely. And in the second picture... That's a roller bearing on the lower spindle... hmmm...

So, as a result of that frozen quill, someone's put the beat on to try and free it. That's probably why the quill handles on both sides are busted.
I'm gonna soak it with as much wd as I have here, but I don't have high hopes of it all coming out pleasantly.
But it seems as long as I don't have to move the quill, it's a major clean up away from running... 

[woodchucker]

that gear looks way to rusted and gone.
try the wd, pour it in, clean it up.
Can you seal everything and get evapo rust in there?


if you can you might have a chance. But I'm betting once done, you will probably need a new gear to drive the quill up and down.
but if I'm wrong, it cost you evapo rust.  use plumber putty to seal up as much as possible so you can soak the part while together.

[Carpenter84]

Oh that gear is toast. I'm just hoping the mouse piss didn't destroy the casting as well. I can make a new gear and shaft if necessary, and I guess I could bore out the casting and sleeve if necessary as well. Sometimes discoveries aren't good. Lol.
But that shaft and gear are totally frozen. Like, hitting with a 5lb ledge won't budge, frozen... Its soaked in WD at the moment, I'll try heating it next time I'm at the shop, see if I can start pulling the handles off. Cause they're all peened on from the last person who likely tried to work on it.

[Carpenter84]

What I did find interesting is the Babbitt bearings are 2 piece and the parts are shimmed with slices of wood. I assume built in wear take ups. And none of the bolts were tight. The bearing surfaces are not machined, they're poured and were ran as poured. The only bearing that isn't shimmed is the upper poured bearing, which has lateral play. And I can see a roller bearing in the bottom, that also has play. I can replace the roller bearing, but the upper poured bearing could be an issue. But lots of casting. I could manufacture some kind of angular contact bearing pack for the spindle to replace the poured Babbitt, and obviously replace the lower roller bearing.

Oh, I guess angular bearings wouldn't be necessary as the quill rack takes up the axial pressure... So I guess just a decent pack of roller bearings.

[f350ca]

I've never scrapped babbitt bearings, just run them as poured and remove shims as they wear, Never saw wood shims but maybe you could squash them down as a fine adjustment.
Try a mixture of 1/2 automatic transmission fluid and acetone as a penetrant. Best I've found, WD40 seams to only be good as a cutting fluid for aluminum.

Greg