EXCELSIOR Drill Press Restoration | Heavy Duty Geared-Head Drill

I restore a very cool and useful geared drill press that weights around 250kg (550lbs) made by "Officine Meccaniche Mazzoni" in Milan around 1950 (No date found on the drill press so hard to tell precisely when was actually made). The gearbox allows shift between three speed that combined with two speed of the three phase 1.5hp motor enable six speeds to the quill. It's very easy to run any of the six speed as there are no belts to move, just a cople of knobs to turn. I love this so much!
Other than gearbox the drill press it's very straight forward with the only extra of fine quill downfeed via front wheel.
Luckily this machine was in great mechanical condition to start with, not a single broken tooth on gears and not much wear either. Only had to swap table, front wheel and some knobs here and there if too damaged. I had all those parts already so with some turning it has been very easy to adapt things. Of couse the table I swapped is not in perfect condition, I would have loved to turn the front face flat and smooth as there is more than enough material to do so, but my metal lathe it's too small, not enough room to chuck up the table from the other side. I'll have it done if I end up setting up a pump for work cooling as the lip of the table it's also not as thick as the table itself so I guess it would make it harder to catch all cooling fuild. We will see! I'd like to do it as the drill press it's designed to use one with cooling fluid tank in the base and 80mm pump recesses.
If you wonder about cost to get and fix this here are some costs:
- Drill press 250€
- VFD 50€
- Iso32 oil 15€
- Switches and light 30€
- Consumables 50€ more or less
- Paint I had from a previous restoration but it's another 20€ if I had to buy
So all in all we are looking at around 400€. It's not cheap, I know, but it's definetly worth this beauty of cast iron that will serve me well for time to come!
As for how long it took I'd say around 130-150hrs. I started six months ago but did 90% of the work over the last two weeks. Takes long time just because it's so big. Nothing complicated at all!
I usually write a detailed list of product and operations, but for this kind of super long project I have my doubt is useful. So instead I'll list chapters below.
Anyway, in general I did my best to scrape off old paint and de-grease everything before painting with dark green hammered finish paint.
For rust removal I used different methods:
- Steel wire wheel for heavy rust on non critical surfaces like base and work table.
- Scotch brite pads for large machined surfaces like column, quill and meeting surfaces.
- Ultrasonic cleaner with rust removal fluid for small parts like nuts and bolts.
- Citric acid and water for cooling fluid tank and slots on work table and base.
- Some wire wheeling on the bench grinder here and there.
If you have any specific question ask in comments, I'll do my best to reply to frequently asked ones and maybe I'll set a Q&A section below.
0:00 Disassembly
6:11 Base
8:41 Column
9:37 Work Table Support
10:53 Work Table
12:49 Head
13:16 Quill And Quill Feed
16:53 Gearbox
18:49 Motor
21:24 Wiring
23:40 Finishing Touches
24:27 Test
Thanks a lot for watching, I hope you liked the video!
Suggestions and comments are welcome.
Leave a like and share to anyone who might be interested!
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[@HandToolRescue]

This wasn't a restoration, it was a sexual experience.

[@gordonlawton8815]

Tool envy lol. Is it too big?

[@vessmachineen193]

I was thinking the same

[@BlackBeardProjects]

🧜‍♀️

[@kjellski]

Word!

[@user-nc4te8gj2i]

You're right 😂

[@rirkc]

Here we have, ladies and gentlemen, a brutally beautiful, honest piece of equipment that was made to last. And now, with this fine restoration, it will go on for decades doing just what it was designed for. Thanks, BB, for sharing it with us. More, please.

[@DylansDIYWorkshop]

good for another 100,000 holes

[@hanraditaran5719]

OMG good work. People who restore old tools should be proud of this, because there are many people who dream of having old and reliable tools.

[@flyheraxosfly4335]

you're right

[@kuxnitvtun6874]

I have ))

[@user-nc4te8gj2i]

I think my dreams come true 😂

[@karen055033921]

I like your video 👍👍

[@likesounds9461]

👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@SlickManChoux]

Old tools always better ,and stronger than new tools.

[@matspierzyna4563]

To me this drill press looks rather like a DREAM-press... I really appreciate your work, this beast has come out just gorgeous!

[@Nehfarius]

Nice restoration...and the fun thing about restoring tools like this, is that you'll then have another tool to use to restore more things. :)

[@Evolucion7]

Beautiful machine. The workshop is looking good too!

[@BlackBeardProjects]

Thank you very much!

[@pizzachief2379]

There’s something therapeutic about watching you clean and restore old machinery

[@davedunn4285]

Wow what a transformation from old to probably better than new

[@chrisperry7963]

Outstanding renovation, love how it towers into the air, quite the beast!

[@Nickword1]

Damn that's a big ass machine to restore! I usually see people do little drills and stuff..

[@CopperBurrito1]

Never seen a drill press with runout that good 😍

[@jimmccorison]

It's great to see somebody resurrect such a wonderful tool. Unfortunately most people would have junked it and paid as much money for a comparatively lightly built machine which wouldn't last anywhere near what this machine will. Thank you for doing such a great job in documenting your efforts.

[@pipersall6761]

Your restorations are always top shelf. Great job.

[@elfowl6873]

GREAT RESTORATION!!!!. A master restorer you are!!!.

[@billfear1]

The smile on your face once you completed this fantastic restore says it all. Like a kid with a new toy!

[@heru-deshet359]

What a beautiful monster of a drill press.

[@sperber-knives]

5:55 I would know, I would lose 30 % of the pieces 😂😂 looks rellay good mate! Well done!

[@sperber-knives]

@@Thomas.Wright that's a good idea

[@BlackBeardProjects]

😅 No way! Thanks brother

[@jasonsaleen1925]

That’s crazy, I would have 20 parts left over at the end

[@js8039]

You must be a professional, the rest of us would have 100.

[@mickleblade]

I serviced my wife's yamaha r6 and had a couple of fairing fasteners left over, no idea. Never found where they went even over the following 2 years. I admitted my oopsie the day after she sold it!

[@weets69]

I took a part a bench grinder that had 10 parts but I had 20 left over. Ugh!!😜

[@mousemade1]

It's all right to have bits left over at the end, it's running out of parts during the rebuild that's a problem!

[@joanschwanz7970]

Mickleblade o

[@thomasthompson6799]

Exceptional job restoring that old press and bringing it back for another lifetime of service.

[@zekecorder8226]

What a wonderful project. All the work will pay off in using this and what a valuable asset to restore! I am always glad to see something as valuable as this saved from oblivion. Great job, have fun using it. Should be a very valuable asset to your shop!!

[@bazwillrun]

"You should buy a new drill press this one has had its day"... Black Beard "Hold my beer"...

[@DeviloftheHelll]

never buy a new made in germany etc tool its a chinese made overpriced piece of garbage, there is no material in it craftmanship is sloppy and they charge a premium price for it

[@heru-deshet359]

"Hold my beard".

[@michaelvollmer9491]

@@DeviloftheHelll I don’t know where you buy German tools, and if you buy in the internet it is often fake made in Germany. But when you buy at an official licensed dealer you get „ made in Germany 🇩🇪 „ and I agree, it is not! cheap but worth it. And why do you think, Chinese are crazy to copy German products? Produce cheap, messy quality and find all those i..... who think they could make a bargain all the time.

[@DeviloftheHelll]

@@michaelvollmer9491 its a local distributor from that brand, and all of their products are clearly made in china with shitty workmanship and non existent quality control, you can tell from a machine tool where is it made from the quality, and tolerances

[@michaelvollmer9491]

@@DeviloftheHelll That is really bad and sure i would be pissed too. I hope that you have an alternative Distributor for your needs. Some time ago i want to buy a snap-on wrench and was also in problems to find a local dealer. It took me a lot of time because snap-on is an american brand with a franchise system wich make it a little bit complecated to find a dealer. Good luck for your next 🛍

[@abvgd82]

Was I the only one waiting for some sand blasting action!

[@carlmcgee1623]

Persistence wears down resistance. Your skill and effort desrves a gold medal !

[@MR619Can]

absolutely fantastic! these are my favourite types of videos. Taking someone's "garbage/scrap" and returning it to something useful. The stories of life that could be told by that machine if it was able to. Well Done!

[@vaughanchapman2930]

I’ve watched this a few times and it really is a magnificent restoration. I had a question relating to the VFD. I wanted to ask if you had any resources for learning about this? I see it’s used for converting single phase to 3 phase for the motor? Great work, really inspiring.

[@robertmanley7556]

The time to disassemble, clean, paint, reassemble, rewire, what a labor of love and what excellent job you have done as well !!! And I love the color as well very very nice work !! Put back into perfect working order !!👍👍👏👏

[@asadsiddiqui4776]

that is one huge drill press. I never knew they were like this, I used to believe they were just some sort of stand on which one can mount drill machines.

[@AaronStorey]

Wow, what a mammoth project! Turned out really nice. Do you ever find it challenging remembering how everything goes back together? I'd imagine after a while you have a really good idea on how mechanical things work in general, but do you refer back to photos and videos a lot? Great video 👍

[@BlackBeardProjects]

Thank you! Sometime I do, this time I watched the video once to see the correct orientation of the quill oil seal. But to be fair this one has very few parts, I'd have to be way more oganized when taking apart something more complicated. Cheers!

[@MRNVCDIY]

Great drill

[@DragonHeart5150]

Excellent job. It's now a great drill press again.

[@jjppres]

That good sir was a serious challenge. Very well done. I would have had all kind of leftover parts.

[@alessandrosilenzi]

21:22 hand tool rescue moment

[@anggelogallardo640]

i thought the same thing 😂😂😂

[@GeoffreyCroker]

Awesome! It looks like a beast. Are you keeping your small precision drill press as well?

[@BlackBeardProjects]

Yes I am! I think they make for a good combo, the small one is actually too short to cover all things I like to make. Hope you can forgive the use of angle grinder on the lathe brother :') the surface finish on that sketchy cut was smooth as a rasp.

[@waldobean7534]

Geoffrey, we need that land rover done... Sincerely, all your subscribers who found your video recommended under Black Beards videos a year ago.

[@screaminlead]

@@waldobean7534 NZ has been under pretty strict quarantine for months and the man has moved house. He'll get to it I'm sure.

[@deathsbane0]

Hey man, how's the rover going?

[@cadenhuffman5526]

Waldo Bea

[@kurtkrause7151]

The gear noise ain't bad. I must say that build of yours brings a satisfaction like a good digestion after that 'big' meal. Bravo.

[@MoondyneJoe]

Hi BB, watching this video has reminded me of of the perfect tool to help you clean the projects you are into. If you have an air compressor look for a NEEDLER it will take all the crud and rust of a lot quicker than doing it by hand. Great to see you reconditioning the pre loved tools back to life again. Tony from Western Australia.

[@GooseGosselin]

Bravo! One of my favorite things about your channel is seeing the tools you restore actually being used in your shop, I'm sure this one will be in many more restorations to come. Curious why you went with 3d printed parts rather than plate metal, I can understand for the logo though.

[@BlackBeardProjects]

Yes!! Thanks a lot. I have a 3d printer set up so for me it's easier to draw a precise plate on cad and print. After I'm sure it fits everything i could use it as tempalte for steel but for something like this plastic is fine I hope.

[@MisterRorschach90]

After watching so many restorations I am actually offended you didn’t strip the paints off before painting.

[@kotofarek88]

It was undercoat anticorossion paint, so there was no need to remove this coat

[@Stelios.Posantzis]

It's nice to see a bit of its history left on. I actually liked this aspect. Nothing special to stripping old paint - it's what half of yt is full of (the other half is about sanding down rusty iron).

[@gordonhood6265]

WOW, just might be the best resto project on you tube thus far! Thanks for sharing.

[@rhouse6898]

Beautiful old drill press

[@percival23]

Clearly, in those days there was a need to drill through a battleship.

[@aserta]

Yes, these were deployed in submarine teams and used to drill through enemy battleships. A great pain in the ass for the allies.

[@notgivennotgiven7776]

You're like the 6 million dollar man, when you get working that chisel

[@lawsonone6015]

Love the reference: we can rebuild him, we have the technology...better, stronger, faster...

[@stromnessboy5171]

Absolutely phenomenal work, Sir! A project of epic scale, increasing the capability of your workshop to an industrial level. Well done, and thanks for sharing your work!

[@scottlandmcc]

Amazing job! Love seeing the old tools get a second life!!

[@miodzio6898]

this was incomplete restoration done backwards ..... ( assembling parts and after that cleaning them ( engine part for example) )

[@mondrota]

Ok, I forgive you for not uploading for a while.

[@henryworkswoodandmetal]

Very nice, vintage machines are the best, great job!👍

[@atinysoftbean1645]

I don't even wanna think about the amount of pre-planning that went into doing this. Was a joy to watch! (Also, that green is stunning.)

[@humbug1]

Impressive, just one thing, stuff the new bearings with grease, they last longer....

[@sahrauisahraui960]

Watch "my mechanics " channel to know what restoration means.

[@richardpalmer6196]

Excellent restoration. I love these older cast iron machines. They were built to last and can be restored, unlike today's sheet metal and plastic trash .

[@d.fresh.750]

Amazing restoration! Now this looks like a proper, industrial drill press!

[@taranohare2851]

You know it might be unwarranted but it really annoyed the puss out of me when you painted over the old paint instead of taking it down to bare metal and when you did all that scraping instead of skipping to the wire wheel on a grinder it's probably nothing but it really annoyed me

[@tatepishepard]

I'm impressed and of course envy. Great work BBP as always.

[@garyhunter6030]

Great to see you restoring a still good drill press. You will have many years of use out it.

[@Mankan569]

It is so wonderful to see someone take the time and have the knowledge to care for these machines. Built to last for "eternity" And are beautiful to look at.

[@tonywatson987]

Good to see you doing a big project, relly enjoyed seeing this - a very satisfying build. With almost zero runout at the chuck, that is impressive!

[@scarface-39]

Nice restoration!!! That drill press was made when quality counted!!!!👍🇺🇸

[@selfrestoration9564]

Good Restoration Done 👌 Thumbs up 👍 👏 👏

[@manuelmartin8554]

Very good job!. Thanks for using SKF.👍🏻

[@apistosig4173]

A very very very cool drill press - wish I had one.

[@davidcrawford6505]

I'm a fan of vintage machinery. Enjoy videos like this. Great to see these restored to usable condition.

[@cicciograna]

What an absolutely beautiful piece of hardware. Great job as usual, Barba!

[@WOG13B]

Please invest in a sand blaster for future resto's. If your going through this much trouble, getting it blasted and powder coated would come up a treat. Top video.

[@johnmclaurin]

BRAVO! Just a beautiful job! I would have never gotten it back together!

[@jayfromtexas6718]

Absolutely beautiful! You do everything right.

[@codelicious6590]

Ooooh What a beautiful piece of machinery! Aptly named as well!

[@lightning4871]

BB, you did an outstanding job on this project!

[@michaelprah2263]

Very nice. I did an old walker Turner and you’re just come out very nice. Keep the old machines running!

[@ZSupremerulerZ]

Love the idea of a new speed drive

[@gigaphonicon]

Probably the most bad ass drill press I've ever seen

[@matteosattin]

That's beautiful, amazing job.

[@douro20]

In my part of the world geared head drill presses hold their value very well.

[@mohammedamer2968]

Wonderful restoration

[@robvanza]

Nice repaint and bearing change!

[@TommoMix]

You even have your segments timestamped and labeled! That looks really cool. Awesome job on the restoration, very impressive!

[@Lurchstein]

Absolutely amazing restoration!!!! Beautiful.

[@eltaia82]

JAW DROP! Great job! inspiring! beautiful!!! what a machine you got there!

[@lmcbride3355]

Lot of time for a restore. But its an asset to you're shop for years to come. This was great to watch.

[@nikxohs3925]

i like that you restore it like a tool and not like a jewellery,that some do.mirror shinny is their target

[@bradgrozdanich7416]

Great Job!! Nice to see an old tool saved from the scrap heap.

[@TheArtificiallyIntelligent]

That color is beautiful!

[@ako456]

Fun to see new fresh cables, connectors and switches. It is not always seen on such restorations.

[@davidtucker4209]

Great job guys! This was a pleasure to watch.

[@youpattube1]

I liked this video so much I didn't even mind the ads.

[@billie9625]

Awesomeness! Can't wait to see you use in up coming projects.

[@mcseforsale]

That is a beautiful machine. Made back when machines were servicable and well made.

[@AcmeRestorations]

Wow that thing is a beast. I am envious! Great restore job!

[@eddierodriguez419]

Wow that's awesome 😎... SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL

[@gedreillyhomestead6926]

Its great to see a magnificent piece of machinery like this brought back into use rather than dumped on the scrapheap. It will definitely last your lifetime. An excellent restoration. 👍 😎

[@Freakopac]

its always fun watching chipmunks disassembling things

[@Compasscard]

A beautifully engineered machine

[@polduseri909]

An equipment ready for the next 100 years. Great job!

[@incorporeal3793]

A lot of passion, a shit ton of work and elbow grease, and boom! Another piece of what looked like scrap is transformed into a pristine barn find.

[@shamsi672]

Old is gold you are a genius and hard worker person I like it.

[@metalmogul4691]

Wow, enjoyed every step of the rebuild. Something good from something not so good. Drill press good for a lifetime now.

[@MMM_Pizza]

I wish I could thumbs up more times! Great job, an awesome old Excelsior back in service :D

[@tombarlow6176]

What a wonderful restoration and very neat to detail

[@jerryjohnsonii4181]

Stan Lee would love this restored Excelsior Drill Press !!!!!!!!!!! Absolutely awesome restoration , Sir !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@Everythings_Adjustable]

Wow Beautiful looking machine, Great job 👍 👍