Broken drill press worm spring

[spinrow]

I have an old 17" variable speed drill press and the worm spring just broke. It broke at the portion that enters the worm shaft. Because of its age I'm not sure a replacement spring is available. Is there any practical way of bending a portion of the remaining spring into the shape I need?
Presently I'm returning the chuck to its normal up position via the spoked handle. Is there any other ways to accomplish this until I get a functional spring? Thanks Paul

[sasquatch]

What brand of drill press???

I have seen recoil springs from small engines cut and used , worked good.

Somewere there is a posting, sorry i cannot remember where right now, the guy mounted a small pulley at the rear of the drill press and used a small aircraft cable and a counter weight at the back- seemed like a very reliable system.

Anyone have a link to who that guy was???

[The Artful Bodger]

I have an old 17" variable speed drill press and the worm spring just broke. It broke at the portion that enters the worm shaft. Because of its age I'm not sure a replacement spring is available. Is there any practical way of bending a portion of the remaining spring into the shape I need?
Presently I'm returning the chuck to its normal up position via the spoked handle. Is there any other ways to accomplish this until I get a functional spring? Thanks Paul

Heat the bit you want to bend and let it slowly cool, re heat and cool quickly to re harden. If it is the same metal as clock springs just air cooling will be quick enough to harden it.

[Fasttrack]

This may be completely impractical, but you might consider something else entirely. Older heavy duty drill presses that had a quill travel of 6" or similar did not use springs. Instead, they had a cable that went into the column and inside the column there was a heavy weight.

I've got an Avey drill press with a weight inside and I've used another one similar to that at work. They have a completely different feel than spring return drill presses and I kind of like it. The return force is constant throughout the motion so you never feel like you're fighting the spring for that last 1/2" and it never stalls out 1/2" away from being all the way retracted.

I often considered converting my tiny drill press to such a configuration...

[J Tiers]

My Atlas commercial 1800 has 6" travel, and a spring.... you have to set it just right to get good feel and full return. A weight would have been good, but much more complex.

[metalmagpie]

My first machine restoration way back in the early '80s was a Champion drill press with a busted clock spring. I just found a pair of springs at the hardware store, shaped like you might see to pull a screen door shut (loops at both ends) and put one on each side to pull the quill back up.