SPRUNGER RD33 Radial Drill Press Refurbish

I’ve always wanted to add a Radial Drill Press to the shop. But any that I looked at were either too expensive or “boat anchor” junk. Perusing FaceBook Marketplace I saw what looked like a reasonable condition radial drill press and only $125….and close by.

A phone call confirmed it was still available so without a minutes hesitation I was in the truck and on my way.

When I arrived at the sellers house I was blown away by the condition. Everything was tight and zero holes drilled into the table…

It turned out to be a “Sprunger RD33”. I’m guessing about 50 years old. If anyone knows the age, please let me know in the comments below

It was ready to run as it was. Needed nothing…..But I was bored and needed a project.

So I took it totally apart, cleaned everything and painted. The two steel tubes had surface rust. I chucked them up in the metal lathe and sanded with 200 and then 400 wet/dry paper.

Put it all back together and added a few slight modifications

I didn’t like where the power switch was located. It was on the right side of the head about an inch from the spinning belt! I relocated it to the base and replced the switch with one I had hanging around.

A few of the knobs were missing so I made a couple up out of Aluminum on the lathe

The drive belt was a bit worn and I like to run all my tools with segmented belts anyways. They cut down on vibration dramatically and slip much less than standard belts

So now I have a completed Radial Drill Press that weighs a bit over 150 pounds and is ungainly as all get out, sitting on the floor.

I went to Home Depot and bought a tool cabinet for it to sit on.

But how do I get 150# of steel up on the new cart?

Easy…Lag Screw a piece of 5/4 to the joists in the ceiling in the shop and use a Come-A-Long

A poor man’s gantry crane! I’m sure it will come in handy for other projects down the road.

It now sits in the backroom of the shop where all the cutting, grinding and general mess is created

Looking forward to some real “boring” times with this new toy!

Be sure to check out more stuff here

http://rvbprecision.com/

Share this Article:

Leave A Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.