Good Score on a drill press

admin

I buy this General 34-01 drill press from the "crown" (Canadian federal gobernement) Here the story about my purchase.......The discription said this: "Condition: Does not start, unknown repairs required" So funny..Tell me what can happen to a simple design like that?  A Square D Manual starter switch (2510FS2) and a Baldor 3/4 hp electric motor...You can read on the front stanless steel plate "Push futher down firmly  to reset". I push futher nothing happen hum....I open the plate test the fuse then I bypass the switch just to verify if the problem is the motor or wiring, the drill start and run very smouth and quiet...Humm...Must be the breaker switch then..I screw back the switch and try to reset again but maintain pressure this time...Then I ear the breaker "clic" in place...Bingo! Cost of the repair 10 minutes of my time!  Pay $307 for a almost new $2000 Canadian build drill press...(I wait confirmation from General International for production year but I got a good feeling..) They close the Canadian factory last November 2012... Long story, easy repair, cheap price, It's time to do the victory dance....Watch me    Last edited by OldSkull; 01-15-2013 at 06:19 PM.Miller MM211Esab Mini Arc 161LTSEsab Handy Plasma 380Duck tapeTy- rapKool-aid
Reply:Great find...keep up the good work..
Reply:I have the same drill press, bought it used, same money, came from a school shop.  Excellent drill press, tall enough for NA size people and the only thing missing on it is a rack and pinion crank to raise and lower the table, I find it easier and faster to move it by hand anyway.  When this drill press came to be for sale, I already had an adequate drill press, made in Taiwan but bought the General because the quality on the General is just obvious.  Didn't want to spend the money at the time, which was enough to buy any asian import press but now I am glad I did it, these old machines will probably start to go up in price now.General made some of the best woodworking shop equipment available, bar none.  My 8" woodworking jointer is made by them.  I have a Delta unisaw table saw and my brother has a General 350 table saw and I would trade him if he would go for it.  It was explained to me that the reason General had such excellent castings was they would pour the casting, break it out of the mold and put it outside in the sun, rain and snow to "season" for at least a year.  After many heat, freeze, thaw cycles, they would bring them in the factory, clean them up and machine them to spec. and they would hold their flatness, unlike the chicom factories that would cast their iron and machine it just as soon as it cooled and  warp from the internal stresses that the "seasoning" would have eliminated.  Same principle as a NASCAR race team using a used engine block with 30K on it rather than a freshly cast block when they build a race engine.  Same principle as a cheap chicom brake rotor on your car which is unlikely to be perfectly flat which you can feel when you step on the brake pedal.Since they have shut down production in Quebec, that is truly a great loss.  General International is one of their brand names which was started when they started selling chicom imports in addition to their traditional line which was made in Quebec, now the quality tools that made their name are gone.Sorry to hear that General is no more."The reason we are here is that we are not all there"SA 200Idealarc TM 300 300MM 200MM 25130a SpoolgunPrecision Tig 375Invertec V350 ProSC-32 CS 12 Wire FeederOxweld/Purox O/AArcAirHypertherm Powermax 85LN25
Reply:Agree 200% with you! Now you just reveal our iron casting secret to the chinese! General is a great lost; now they only got an office in Montréal, QC and Murfreesboro, TN. They still use the name on their internet site but General is dead. General International is the name left but as you said all build overseas. They even remove all references on Wikipedia and put back the name "Poitras" on their internet site trying to fool the customer....Here what's left on the internet about it...They can erase that one..http://www.vintagemachinery.org/mfgi...il.aspx?id=363Now if you want to resolved your table rising problem you can use Roman empire technology "Counterweight", It's dirt cheap to duplicate and work perfectly with 90% of DP on the market, here one example to give you a idea:http://www.onlinetoolreviews.com/reviews/easyriser.htmDid you know you can buy a head raising mechanism (#34-21) or a table raising mechanism (#34-18) for your 34-01 (340) ??? You can even get a MT2 female adaptor (#34-28) and a slow speed attachment system (#34-17-6V) and get 20 speed from 139 to 6048 rpm.Last edited by OldSkull; 01-16-2013 at 07:53 AM.Miller MM211Esab Mini Arc 161LTSEsab Handy Plasma 380Duck tapeTy- rapKool-aid
Reply:Great score!
Reply:Originally Posted by OldSkull... Long story, easy repair, cheap price, It's time to do the victory dance....Watch me
Reply:Originally Posted by OldSkullNow if you want to resolved your table rising problem you can use Roman empire technology "Counterweight", It's dirt cheap to duplicate and work perfectly with 90% of DP on the market, here one example to give you a idea:http://www.onlinetoolreviews.com/reviews/easyriser.htmDid you know you can buy a head raising mechanism (#34-21) or a table raising mechanism (#34-18) for your 34-01 (340) ??? You can even get a MT2 female adaptor (#34-28) and a slow speed attachment system (#34-17-6V) and get 20 speed from 139 to 6048 rpm.
Reply:Awsome! Great score and good work!!! I hate being bi-polar it's awsomeMy Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys
Reply:The description on the tag is generally used for an asset that is deamed surplus by the crown, working or not, the tripped breaker may have been a coincidence. likely a department was closing down and someone in Ottawa said that drill is 20 years old, it has no value left send it to crown assets.Either way its a nice score i've seen them in lesser condition sell for twice the price on the cgs.Briggs weldnpower 225/210/cvLn-25 suitcaseMillermatic 130
Reply:Thank you all guys!  @ Mondo; I try but I have to remove all that dirty wax they left on the base and post! @Winmac; this one is not 20 years old, thrust me I have seen many and this one was by far the closer to showroom condition I ever seen, she's wearing the new modern Logo and a late series serial number (I'm still waiting for the confirmation from General service) if I got no answer I call them ASAP. I talk with the militairy at the base and those guys use to work on F18, C130 and helicopter, they got no budget to loose time to investigate defective small tools...They let go any product no more in production...same thing for the Mitsubishi gas generator I bought few clic ago from them...@ Norite; You can see all optional accessories on the site in the lower left corner of this page:http://www.general.ca/products/1_gen...ill/34-01.htmlI can't waranty you this work on 340 with 1/2hp motor since I don't have both on hands to compare but the casting mold date from 1950 and they never change it! I came back with more info soonSee ya!.Last edited by OldSkull; 01-16-2013 at 09:39 PM.Miller MM211Esab Mini Arc 161LTSEsab Handy Plasma 380Duck tapeTy- rapKool-aid
Reply:Ok back with good and bad news.....The good news is every optional accessories for the 34-01 fit on the 340!The bad news is....they are so freaking expensive it's almost insane! (All retail price)The table raising mechanism (#34-18) $605The slow speed attachment system (#34-17-6V) $535The MT2 female adaptor (#34-28) $121You can buy a Taiwanese Jet J-2550  for about $1050 and they're not bad one..So in "general" you must do-it-yourself any mod you want or been rub buying it! Last edited by OldSkull; 01-17-2013 at 05:00 PM.Miller MM211Esab Mini Arc 161LTSEsab Handy Plasma 380Duck tapeTy- rapKool-aid
Reply:Thanks, I guess I'll be going DIY if I want to mod this press.  For the price they charged for these new, those "options" should have been included."The reason we are here is that we are not all there"SA 200Idealarc TM 300 300MM 200MM 25130a SpoolgunPrecision Tig 375Invertec V350 ProSC-32 CS 12 Wire FeederOxweld/Purox O/AArcAirHypertherm Powermax 85LN25