Comments on: Changing the speed on an old drill press

Question: Changing the speed on an old drill press

drezdn — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 10:17:44 -0800

How do you change the speed on an old belt driven drill press?

I bought a really cool old Black and Decker Drill Press at a flea market. The only problem is, I can't figure out how to move the belt from setting to setting.

The press reveals no obvious way to loosen the tension, so I'm guessing there's some secret trick they taught people in shop class. Any ideas?

By: drezdn

drezdn — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 10:18:05 -0800

If the model number is necessary, I can post it later tonight.

By: ssg

ssg — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 10:24:55 -0800

I don't know anything about your drill press, but on mine you can loosen the motor and rotate it towards you to decrease the distance between the two spindles and thus loosen the belt. Does yours have any way to loosen the motor?

By: drezdn

drezdn — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 10:26:58 -0800

It does have a way to loosen the motor, it looked to me like it would only end up tightening the belt if I did that, but I'll give it a shot.

By: Brockles

Brockles — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 10:38:20 -0800

Yeah, usually there is a screw that you undo that allows the motor to pivot (often spring loaded in the tension direction) and you push it in to loosen the belts enough to move them, then do it back up after changing it.

By: Kadin2048

Kadin2048 — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 10:40:36 -0800

Tough to tell without a photo but I concur with others that usually the trick involves removing some screw, allowing the motor to pivot a little and remove some of the tension from the belt. I've seen some where it's multiple screws involved.

By: TedW

TedW — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 10:48:09 -0800

On my drill press there is a lever that allows you to do it without tools, so you may find something other than a screw.

By: Baby_Balrog

Baby_Balrog — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 11:36:39 -0800

Seconding what TedW said - on mine there's a small metal lever in back, just above the power cord that you pivot to loosen the motor mount.

By: davey_darling

davey_darling — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 12:48:07 -0800

You shouldn't have to loosen anything.

Just roll the edge of the belt onto the smaller diameter pulley, turn the belt by hand until it rolls onto the smaller pulley, and then roll the other end up onto the larger diameter.

By: davey_darling

davey_darling — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 13:19:27 -0800

Here, I shot a quick video showing you how to do it. Unfortunately my hand obscures the belt going onto the back pulley, but you should get the idea.

The belt shouldn't be super tight, by the way - you want to allow for some slippage if your bit gets bound up in something.

Of course, this is all moot if your drill press doesn't have the same sort of pulley arrangement.

By: drezdn

drezdn — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 18:20:43 -0800

It turns out that I wasn't thinking the problem through enough and that davey_darling's video helped me get another perspective on the problem. By tugging the belt on the left side for the pulley in the front, the pulley pulls the belt up on its own.