21" Royersford Excelsior Restoration

[The Metal Butcher Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close The Metal Butcher]

Hi all.

I've started in on restoring one of these drill presses and thought I might document the process. You see a lot of these restored but not many documented. If you're interested, come along for the ride. I'm sure I'll have some questions as well.

More pictures at the end of the video.

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Looks very compact and portable. Does it come with any accessories like a fork lift?

[jmm03 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jmm03]

Welcome, great post. These restoration posts are my favorite, looking forward to seeing it progress. Jim

[Fasttrack Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Fasttrack]

Welcome to the forum! You should find some good information on Babbitt bearings here: https://play.google.com/store/books/...QAAMAAJ&rdot=1

Tapered Babbitt bearings are discussed as an "alternative" means of wear compensation (compared to split bearings where shims would be removed). In the vertical orientation, the adjustment is automatic.

[Royldean Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Royldean]

tried to find info on Royersford. Are they out of Royersford, PA? That town is only a few miles from me.

[ken Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ken]

Royersford made the 21" drill press into the 1970's the later ones had had ball bearing on all the shafts. and they were still around 5 or so years ago. Ken

[wdtom44 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wdtom44]

Welcome,
You are lucky to have found such a nice old machine. Am enjoying the video as I type.
' Tom

[Royldean Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Royldean]

tried to find info on Royersford. Are they out of Royersford, PA? That town is only a few miles from me.

Answering my own question. I actually used the google machine on the internet box and concluded that yes, they are indeed out of "Rofo", and have a foundry in Phoenixville, PA (a little farther down the road).

[The Metal Butcher Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close The Metal Butcher]

Looks very compact and portable. Does it come with any accessories like a fork lift?

Ha no, but do notice the backhoe in the background. It was very well needed for getting it off the truck.

Welcome to the forum! You should find some good information on Babbitt bearings here: https://play.google.com/store/books/...QAAMAAJ&rdot=1

Tapered Babbitt bearings are discussed as an "alternative" means of wear compensation (compared to split bearings where shims would be removed). In the vertical orientation, the adjustment is automatic.

Ah thank you. I'll definitely give that a look! This is the first time I've touched a machine with babbitts, so they are very new to me. I'm studying mechanical engineering right now, and seeing all these old mechanisms is just awesome. An automatic wear compensating bearing... I dunno that I would have ever come up with that. Much like the stuff I learn in class, I tuck things away in my "toolbox" so to speak, and I'm sure in the future the knowledge gained from fixing old machinery will come in handy designing new machinery.

The split babbitt bearings used wooden shims and were not tightened down. Should I look into replacing these with a metal shim stack, or just run them?

Royersford made the 21" drill press into the 1970's the later ones had had ball bearing on all the shafts. and they were still around 5 or so years ago. Ken

I knew they made them for a while, but I didn't know they lived that long. They switched to V belts as opposed the flat belts in the early 50s, so I assume this is before then.

Welcome,
You are lucky to have found such a nice old machine. Am enjoying the video as I type.
' Tom

Thanks. I had part two uploading overnight, but something caused it to fail. I'm reuploading right now. Should be out tonight.

[Ohio Mike Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ohio Mike]

That's a very nice restoration candidate you have. I have one that I went thru a few years ago and it was much more work. Mine came direct from military surplus and pretty sad off. It had broken handles, teeth missing on gears and the bracket that holds the table to the column was broken too.

[The Metal Butcher Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close The Metal Butcher]

That's a very nice restoration candidate you have. I have one that I went thru a few years ago and it was much more work. Mine came direct from military surplus and pretty sad off. It had broken handles, teeth missing on gears and the bracket that holds the table to the column was broken too.

That's a shame. At least you were able to do it proper. Any pictures of the restoration? I can see the table one, if you don't clamp the upper clamp it could be easily broken. We got some drills with ours and multiple of the drills had been removed with pipe wrenches, resulting in one having it's tang snapped off. It seems like people have no common sense sometimes.

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[wdtom44 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wdtom44]

" It seems like people have no common sense sometimes."


I have determined that there are some people who should not be allowed to operate or be around machines. They can't "understand" them or "make friends" with them.

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[J Tiers Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close J Tiers]

" It seems like people have no common sense sometimes."


I have determined that there are some people who should not be allowed to operate or be around machines. They can't "understand" them or "make friends" with them.

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Some just have no decent sense of mechanical stuff.... the "if I push this, it will move like that" sort of thing.

[Ohio Mike Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ohio Mike]

That's a shame. At least you were able to do it proper. Any pictures of the restoration? I can see the table one, if you don't clamp the upper clamp it could be easily broken. We got some drills with ours and multiple of the drills had been removed with pipe wrenches, resulting in one having it's tang snapped off. It seems like people have no common sense sometimes.

I do have a few, I never got around to posting them here. Pretty sure they're over on the PM site. The power feed was a mess too.

[Ohio Mike Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ohio Mike]

Two common things with these drills are missing or broken quill stop and a missing or broken elevation handle. Here's a photo I snapped of the proper handle on a drill that was for sale.