To start the shipper gave me a delivery window of basically all day, anywhere from 8am to 6pm.
OK, I know how it goes, I drove a truck and made deliveries in a 400 mile radius of
home many moons ago but it has not changed much. The sooner you can make that
first stop, the sooner you'll be back home.
Luckily I was awake early on Wednesday because at 0630 the driver is out front getting
ready to drop the thing off the lift gate at the end of my driveway. It was no signature
required and he was going to leave it in the driveway and go on his merry way. That
would have created more work for me to get it up on a dolly and into the shop 100 feet
away. Bottom of the box is flat (not on a pallet and no skids) so not easy to get something
under it.
But I happened to see him and went outside and we got it up to the garage where we
transferred it onto a dolly from his pallet jack. I'm looking at this thing as we move it
and the box is pretty beat up, lots of gashes and dents in the cardboard which is a 1"
thick honeycomb not your standard corrugated stuff. Bottom of the box is a piece of
plywood about 1/2".
Shipping weight was 310#, I'd guess 275 of that is the DP itself and the rest is the
packaging.
I was to find out very soon how close this machine came to disaster. When I opened the
box I saw that the display on the front of the head was facing out to the side and the box
had been crushed in that area to within 1/4" of the face of the display. But no damage that
I can see so for now OK. A few other parts jostled around and some cracked Styrofoam
indicating a few drops along the way but no damage to the drill press itself so I signed
for it and proceeded to unpack the beast.
Took about an hour to clean all the oil off the cast parts with some mineral spirits and then
wipe them down with a clean rag. Then I gave all the bare CI a first coat of wax while all
surfaces were accessible before assembly.
The base is much larger than my old Craftsman DP, twice as wide and about 6 inches
greater in depth. I figured where I wanted to place the DP and marked out the floor so I
could cut the Dricore with my tracksaw. It ended up in roughly the same spot my old DP
has occupied for the last 15 years. It's proven to be a good spot so I decided to keep it.
I didn't put any anchors in yet and level the base, that will probably happen this weekend.
Out of order I know but I didn't have my Hilti drill with me. So I proceeded to mount the
column on the base then installed the table support arm on the column and engaged the rack.
Then it was time to put the head on top the column. The head with all the electronics and the
motor I'd say is better than 100#. More than I want to lift over my head and slip onto the top
of the column which is about 5.5 feet high. That puts most of the weight over 6 feet above the
floor. Not a good plan for a one man operation so I setup my small chain hoist over head and
that made it easy. I lagged a 3 foot length of Unistrut into three joists and hung the chain hoist
from there. If I had an open ceiling I would have just laid a 4x4 across three joists and hung
the hoist from there but such is not the case for me. The ceiling is insulated and the space above
the DP location is at an outside wall so in the attic space very little room to maneuver for an old
fart like me.
Rigging I can do so that was the smart way to go for me. It also meant there was no time pressure
putting the thing together because I was not holding 100# over my head. I could take my time and
get the head aligned with the column and slide it down on there easy as pie. One of the pics below
shows how I rigged it up. One 6 foot sling was all I needed and I had a nice level pick so nothing to
fight on the way down when I dropped it on the column. I want to add that the sling is not wrapped
around like that just to take up excess length. I had shorter slings but I _wanted_ this one so I could
rig it just this way. I did that to ensure it could not slip if the head should rotate. This pick was made
in one lift with the head on the floor and laying on it's side. It had to be rigged such that when it was
upright it would be level and could not slip. Working alone as I was meant I had to double check
everything to ensure I did not get hurt or damage the drill press or anything else in the shop.
I probably should have made a spreader out of a piece of wood to keep the sling from crushing the
top of the head since it is plastic. A piece of 3/4 play about 2 inches wide and slightly longer than
the width of the head is what is needed. A slight notch in each end for the sling to rest in or some
other way to keep it from slipping off should be used.
Once I had the head mounted there were just a few bits left to go and I had all that done in a few
minutes. I had to reinstall the depth gauge that I took off so I didn't have to worry about damaging
it during the rigging operation, the quill handles, and the arbor and chuck to install. Only other piece
was the table and that just dropped right in.
The last couple photos are my old DP alongside the Voyager.
