Home-Built Drill Press

Home-Built Drill Press FARM SHOP Tools 21-1-30 W.A. Gibbs, Elmwood, Tenn.: "Here are a few shop-built tools I can't do with-out. "This is the slickest way ever to easily and safely remove pulleys. Works better than conventional two and three-jaw pullers. The tool consists of a hydraulic jack, two chains, a piece of round stock steel, and a couple of pieces of flat steel - one with a hole drilled in the center and each end. You bolt the pulley to the holes drilled in the ends of the flat steel, matching up the crank-shaft to run through the hole drilled in the center. You put the piece of round stock between the end of the crankshaft and the bottom of the jack. Then run chains around the piece of steel attached to the pulley. Ends of the chains attach to a heavy piece of flat steel plate welded to the ram on the jack. This set-up allows you to pull the pulley while staying clear of any potential flying parts. "I used this method to pop the pulley off a crankshaft on a 2-ton truck equipped with 6-cyl. engine by removing the radiator and grille. This tool can be adapted to many other jobs by modifying the steel plate and chains to fit the job. "I also built this drill press out of scrap steel, using a jack with a bad shaft. I mounted it in a channel iron and flat steel frame about 5 ft. tall. I use it for many small jobs, such as pressing bearings onto shafts. Press height is adjustable from about 1 ft. to 4-ft. It only cost about $20 to build and works great."

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