Champion Drill Press

[GerryinBelleRiver]

About seven weeks ago I was scanning thru some on line ads when I came across one for an "antique " drill press.
The ad was accompanied by this rather poor picture.


What I saw was enough to get my interest as a first blush it looked like a 14" delta. I sent the seller a note telling him I was interested but lived a two hour drive away so could he send more pictures. These are what he sent.




It sure looked Deltaish but I did have some questions. I called him and he told me it had absolutely no identifying marks .It was a 14", column was 2 3/4" , it was the right overall height. Still I had concerns ; the spring return did not look right, the stop rod collar looked odd, the motor mount was different, the collar for the table was different. What was this press?

I searched over on the Vintage Machinery site for a like machine. No luck ,the closest was still a Delta. A review of old Delta catelouges revealed a 1933 floor model which seems to be Delta's first that had some differences from the 220. Could this be one of those.

Another phone call and conversation. Finally I could not stand it any longer and made an offer conditional on there being a front pulley cover. He insisted it did not have one but I told him the pictures gave a clue to it's existence and would he remove the metal shroud and check. He was amazed, as he said "one magically appeared". Okay sold said I and arranged for a payment via the web.

So now I owned what might be an early 1930's Delta two hours away. As it happens my daughter lives in the same city as the seller so I contacted her husband to pick it up.  A couple of Saturdays later we made or monthly trip to visit my grand daughter and loaded it up.

When I got it home the close examination began. It really was a close cousin to my 1930's Delta 220 but no marks could be found.
First ,off came that metal wrap around the pullies. Voila, a pulley cover. close to delta but not quite.


Note the odd pointer and stop rod collar

I then started disassembly, more to clear up some floor space them start the refurbishing. After all I already had two disassembled macines on the bench, one was the 15" General I picked up the week before. Decided to remove motor and as the switch box was taken off what should appear but this decal. I quick cleaning reveal the rest of the decal

It's a Champion Blower and Forge from Lancaster PA. I would have never guessed. I know Champion made a lot of post drills but a check of the ones on the VM site showed nothing similar so maybe I got an uncommon machine after all.

 

As I completed disassembly I decided I might as well start the restoration now. Afterall when you are already cleaning up two machines whats one more.

 

My major concern was the Champion decal. As the machine had no other identification whatsoever, including no foundry casting numbers preserving this was necessary. In the end it proved impossible but a member from another forum sent me the artwork so I could make this one.

 

Anyway , this is how it looks today.

 

 

My 1936 delta DP220 stares across the shop as if seeing its own reflection

[Larry Buskirk]

Gerry,

 

I've got to wonder who copied who on this one.

Whichever way, It's a Champ of a Champion now. 

[GerryinBelleRiver]

I telling you it had me fooled. It did look a lot like the one from the 1932-33 Delta catelogue which I believe was their first floor model. See page 48 here  http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/1141/458.pdf   

 

Even now their is nothing like it on the VM site other than Delta's. The Champions shown are mostly post drills and the one or two that are not are nothing like the one I have.

Edited December 1, 2015 by GerryinBelleRiver

[Larry Buskirk]

Gerry,

I think I would have been scratching my head wondering if I might have found a pre-production Delta DP myself with this one.

[Courtland]

Not being as knowing as you guys here, but it is similar to Walker Turner as well isn't it? I have an old bench top Walker Turner that some day will be finished and remodeled. Looking at this Champion it sure is close cousin. I love that label too, beautiful colors and artwork.

[ALWMach1]

Does anyone know what  was the last year of production for the self feed hand post drills by Champion blower & Forge co. ?

[Juanito]

I just picked up one without the gear cover, but I’m sure that could be fabricated.

[Grandpadave52]

On 7/26/2025 at 11:48 AM, Juanito said:

I just picked up one without the gear cover, but I’m sure that could be fabricated.

Welcome John to The Patriot Woodworker. Although inactive for some time, happy this thread brought you here.

 

Congrats on your drill press score and thanks for rescuing it from an ill fate in the scrap yard.

 

Hope you hang around and share restoration progress updates. Pictures are always appreciated too.

 

Looking forward to your participation with us.

[Juanito]

 Here’s the one I picked up yesterday. It’s a model 1600, but I have no idea of the age. It is still working, but I’d appreciate any information the community has to share. I’d like to fit it with a belt cover. Thanks in advance.

[Grandpadave52]

Very cool. Thanks for proving all the pictures John. Pretty good shape for it's age. Certainly better than me

 

That table sure has experience.Looks like over the years, users thought they had a radial table vs head.

 

@Larry Buskirk...your thoughts, experience, insight, archived info.

 

I don't think @GerryinBelleRiverhas been around for some time. He used to do some amazing restorations and shared here.

[Juanito]

I think it’s amazing that a machine of this age is still working. They certainly don’t build them like this anymore. The table is actually what caught my eye first. Apparently it came out of a local machine shop. I’ll definitely keep it in service for many years to come.

[Larry Buskirk]

5 hours ago, Grandpadave52 said:

@Larry Buskirk...your thoughts, experience, insight, archived info.

 

Dave, there's not a whole lot of information available on my usual sites.