a photoblog of what i did today.....

[glatt]

The hand crank that lifts the table on my drill press got a crack in it. I thought it was a cast iron hand crank, but on further inspection, it's cheap ass plastic. Craftsman quality.



It felt like it was going to break off completely any day now, so I looked for a replacement. The replacement part was $20 or so (with shipping) from Sears. It would be the exact replacement part. In other words, another cheap plastic handle.

So I measured the shaft with my calipers, and then the bore of the existing handle to see how much slop there was in the handle. Turns out I needed a 9/16th bore.

Not a lot of those, but finally I found this, and for the same price as the new plastic one.


It fits perfectly.

But it wants a keyed shaft. My shaft has a flat spot, not a key. So I think I'll try to drill a hole in the handle and tap it to accept a set screw that can press against that flat spot.