Refurbished Startrite bench drill mercury mark11 5 speed

I initially did this refurbishment back in 2012, since then it became unattached in my blogger for some strange reason and went walkabout somewhere in the internet world.   I found a forum with a lot of help, it was recovered but with all of its photographs missing.  

I knew it was going to be challenging to rebuild it and replace all the photograph in all the right places after two years gap I kept putting it off, BUT, I decided to bit the bullet and have a go.

I have been at it now for three nights, phew finally got the bugs out.   It is as near as I can remember the original post, I'll leave it now at this stage.  If you have any problems seeing the photographs, please E-Mail me but in the meantime enjoy. 

I won this one bay a few days ago, it was to be a project to do over the winter months,  but I decided I could really do  with it in operation now, today I decided to start stripping it to remove that ugly iron bracket which bolted it to a wall.

What is seen in the first photo is how it was in use the foot on the upside down the column also in upside down and the bracket welded to the bottom of the column which is now the top  fixing, once I started stripping I soon found it was crammed full of MDF dust including the motor it's lucky it never caught fire so that will be fully stripped also. Belt so slack it nearly touched in the middle, wiring all faded and perished so colour cannot be distinguished.

 

The next few photos show the foot having been removed with rubber column end cap and what I assume to be a support bracket of some kind which I suppose it will become clearer at a later date, I have started to grind away the weld to try and remove the column in one piece rather than cut through the column and lose a few inches off of the working height of drill head.

OK so now to remove that ugly bracket, thought about for a while and decided seeing it was only welded on one side, (thank goodness,) first I ground off as much of the weld as I could then attacked it with a hacksaw and hammer. The photos will explain.

Next, I stripped the entire body apart, as seen here.

When I removed the inner quill section I found two problems, one was a vertical movement which can be adjusted the locking collar was slack and needs to be pushed down the shaft tightening the vertical movement before locking the grub screws, the second when the splined the cylinder was removed from the pulley wheel but with the Quill still, in its shaft there was a sideways movement on the top bearing, but the bottom bearing fine replaced the spline back in it place pulley spline and no change, hmm it could left and reassembled but as it's stripped down this far its time to replace all the bearings and drive, I'll get an order off some time next week when the nations back to work.

In the meantime tomorrow I'll grind the rest of the remaining weld off and clean the rust and tarnish off the central column then reassemble that, clean up the main body frame and respray that with a grey primer.

To clean all that grim away I I decided it would be best done on my lathe. Before I could mount the column to the lath I had to turn a very quick wooden bung from an offcut of 100mm x100mm softwood to fit the ID of the column, I mounted the column to my M950 lath and used 1" stripped roll sandpaper, got a brilliant result, I'm well chuffed.

I had meant to wax the column while It was mounted to help stop any future rust and completely forgot, wooden head what am I.

 Column mounted in the lathe

.

Here it is now the base finally the right way up, with the column back in its place, the column also the right way up now with end cap fitted now in its the right place.

The base has also had the rust cleaned away but still needs painting when it is all been reassembled and fired up, last job yesterday was a quick first coat of spray paint to the main framework body, later today if it stops raining pop down to Halfords to some grey primer and give it another couple of coats.

First thing today ordered new bearings, new drive belt but couldn't get the cogged type, I did manage to get a second-hand rise and fall table from the same company, I don't know yet what sort of condition it's in till it arrives tomorrow. Now it time to pay a visit to Euro fasteners, picked up a couple of new grub screw's to anchor the stem to the old base ones missing. Then went to Brewers my paint suppliers and ordered the paint as close as I could get to match the colour that will also be in tomorrow, later on to Halfords to get the grey primer.

Back in the workshop applied two more coats of primer to the main framework as can be seen in one of the following photos, spent the rest of the day cleaning, things like the centre Bose, quill outer shaft and its main drive shaft, cogs jammed with hardened MDF dust, I then  puff polished all the rust off the chrome handles and buffed up the black hand knobs as well.

Finished off today by taking off the nameplate etc., ready to start rubbing down in preparation for primer tomorrow to the main body panels etc.

 

Quill shaft cleaned and now waiting for new bearings tomorrow.

cleaned Bose

 

Driveshaft waiting to have cogs cleaned

Stem back in now locked, showing mainframe thoroughly sprayed and reassembly beginning to take shape.

Today finished priming all parts to be painted then set about rebuilding the quill not difficult at all, bearings and thrust bearing all fitted nicely, I have also reassembled the Quillback into the head mainframe and reinstalled the return springs as well, the entire strip down has been well worth it. I have succeeded in removing the vertical movement in the Quill and most definitely by replacing the bearing has removed all sideways action from the entire Quill operations are now stable. I'm well chuffed.






 

All priming now completed.

REASSEMBLING THE QUILL.




 

top bearing tapped into the quill outer casing, but also showing the lower bearing on the quill shaft itself ready to be fitted.



 

the lower end of the outer quill casing showing the thrust bearing fitted into position with the spacer collar fitted as well, the lower bearing on the Quill will sit on top of this when installed shown in the photo already.



 

I fit the upper locking collar through the side of the out quill housing, make sure you have pushed this collar down as tight as you can this when locking with the two grub screws this will stop any vertical movements on the inner quill shaft.




Now the quill shaft is completely reassembled. I then re-fitted the quill return springs cleaned and fitted the old chuck hmm not sure I 'll use that one it's a bit past its sell-by date, think I'll provide a keyless chuck instead.


 

main framework assembled with the Quill, quill return spring and chuck all fitted












Now it's time to start putting it all back together temporarily for now.

Hi all, The first photo shown here today was meant to be shown yesterday but, for some reason the forum would not allow me to add this photo, it's happened before I seem to get five pictures and it won't allow me to add any more to the post, hmm is it me or a strange rule we have on the number of images per post?. anyway here it is partly assembled ready for stripping and then to apply the topcoat of paint.







 

All parts have now had their topcoats. When I was at brewers looking through there colour chart the colour I chose was the nearest I could find to the piece of drill cover I took Their with me. Hmm, not so sure now a bit pale, never mind too late now, when it dry and the satin finish will show better.



















Now to allow for the paint to start to harden before handling over the coming week, In
A few days start to strip the motor and give that a really good




OK the paint dried really well overnight after a couple of visits to Euro fasteners for all new nuts and bolts plus a few self tappers and hey presto all rebuilt. 

















Next to strip apart the beast.










Right motor stripped apart, OMG. This is what I cleaned out for inside of it, this is only part of it since I have had the drill I have moved the motor about from time to time and large quantities of dust kept falling out hence the reason why I decided to strip it as I was concerned by the amount that kept falling out.



 

Here is just a reminder of what I found when I removed the cover remember it travelled on a pallet board via courier from Yorkshire and this was still covering everything when it arrived, Hmm I wonder if the company it came from has heard of dust extractors?.






Anyway onwards and upwards now stripped and cleaned. This morning primer sprayed and now drying.












One possible problem has come to light, The main shaft seems to have a vertical movement when assembled of about 1-2 mm Don't know if this is meant to be there or not.




In the following photos it shows what appear to be spacer washer I can't see they could be therefor any other reason, There are two sets of these one top of motor the other at the bottom seems like they are there sandwiched between internal upper and lower casing to stop any vertical movement, Do you know differently? now the 1-2mm vertical movement is that because these are worn, do you know the answer to this question?






Next to the wiring but I need to speak with Bob on that first.




by 9fingers » Wed Jun 13, 2012, 11:31 am




No need to worry about the end float Martin. Often there is a weak spring washer in with the spacers but not always.


However it does indicate that the bearings are quite loose in the end castings, which can be the start of a problem where the bearing spins in the the cast wears that away to a really sloppy fit and is irreparable.

So add a tiny drop of bearing retainer/nut lock or even super-glue as you reassemble the motor. this will stop any tendency for the bearing outer to spin and yet with a sharp knock, will release should the bearing ever need to replaced.
Only use a little and keep it out of the working parts of the bearing.

When you are ready, send me a beautiful sharp photo of the connections under that plate and I'll assist with the star delta changeover.







Bob thanks for the info above, OK bear in mind I am not an electrician and certainly not an electrical engineer so be gentle with me, please. I have posted this here for others to follow this thread at a later date if they wish

First I Have taken requested photos for you but before we start that, having taken a good look at the inner core cables and outer casings on both the thin black a wire from the starter on/off switch to the motor and the thicker white cable from the starter on/off switch to the I assume the power supply box that was, they both are perished and have some damage to them.

I think it's best to renew them both, this brings me to colours both of the present cables have three brown inner wires and the green and yellow earth.



New four core cables I assume will have new colours codes? if they do what are the colours likely to be, and what colours go where.



 

by 9fingers » Wed Jun 13, 2012, 4:21 pm

For reassembly wiring, please re-read my earlier post on the subject.

Then follow the instructions on the underside of the cover and fit the straps in the delta position.

Cut the white cable backs a bit, and you should find suitable clean cable and wire directly to the three motor terminals. It does not matter which is which at this stage.

Can I have a photo of the other side of that rotary switch please Martin?

I may need you to prove that with a resistance meter or indeed a continuity tester. Do you have one?

Bob, here you go photo of the other side of the switch set in the vertical off position.

My meters.

I tested for breaks in all four inner core cables on the white wire; this was the reading on all four.

 

It's now set in delta while I was doing this I forgot to test the black cable for any breaks so will do that tomorrow.

You mentioned that you might want me to probe the switch. I'm not sure how that's done can you talk me through that if it's necessary.

Shown from both side with all the bling reattached waiting for the motor to be fixed back in position. Adjustable vice still to be bolted to rise and fall table. one small problem I have is I have two missing rubber stops that the lid when closed rest on but I don't know where to find these items, nor do I know what they look like. Can anyone supply a photo of what there like? see the hole above the lever locking bar there about 16mm across.

Not a lot to report today, I've just been fiddling with a couple of bits of bling to go back on the drill body things, like the backplate to the drill switch, Plus two new rubber stoppers to support the lid at the correct level and then I added the drill tidy from my other pillar drill. I'm as far as I can go for now till Bob works his magic on the inverter for me and then I will continue with the thread.

I have not remounted the motor until after I have tested it with the inverter just in case, it was a dud, Then I will apply the finish coat of paint and then remount it, set it to its correct working level and adjusts the tension on the belts, till then guys that's al

Day off tomorrow as it's my birthday and I'm going to pop into Axminster tools to pick up a keyless chuck for the drill and then visit some friends in Devon.

Walking stick rubber ends with a nut glued into them, then bolted through an elongated slot cut into the backplate to allow for any adjustment if the belts stretch over time.

Finished drill waiting for motor and a few touch-ups

Motor ready and waiting.

Hi Bob carrier pigeon arrived this morning, what a dainty little thing this inverter is, I can't wait to wire it all up temporarily and try it out, but I have Developed over the weekend a real snorter of a cold, confined me to barracks for a while, I'll update asap.

Off t to the workshop to do a temporary wire up of the inverter to test the motor and switch, as I had no idea if they worked. Bob instructions were spot on it all fired up the first time.
I do have a squeak when the motor reaches around the 60.6 hertz for some the reason, it then disappears when the speed is adjusted higher, top the bearing I think, it may go when the motor is reattached to the drill and belts are fitted, and under tension, maybe, I don't know how long since this motor was used, so, for now, I have stood the electric motor on its bottom end and oiled the shaft with some 3in1 oil.

Left it overnight, for now, to see if that might help, if not then it an entire strip-down of the motor and source some new bearings before reattaching the motor to the main body. I hope not.

Seen here the entire system temporarily wired together with the motor running

running at a 65. 6 hertz with a squeak coming from the motor increases the speed, and it stops squeaking

running at top speed while not attached to the pulley system

by 9fingers » Wed Jun 20, 2012, 6:01 pm

Glad it is all running OK. I expect the squeak will succumb to some oil and/or go away when the belt is on.
They are an excellent neat little 1 HP inverter. I'm thinking of stocking them for just this sort of application. They can be programmed for smaller motors such as your 0.5HP one.
I still like Siemens models they are starting to get expensive, even second-hand as people are beginning to latch on to them.

If anyone has a similar requirement, just drop me a PM, and we can take it from there.

As you know a few days ago I wired it all together on the bench only to find it had a squeal coming from the motor, I had hoped I would not have to strip the motor entirely apart, but, I had to. The bottom bearing was red hot, so I decided to bit the bullet this morning after I PMd Bob last night, he explains what sort of bearing would be in there and roughly how they came out

Bob Wrote.
Just knock out the old ones and buy replacements based on the dimensions. Could well be imperial sizes but these are still readily available. I'd get rubber shielded ones for choice or metal shield as a second choice.
I expect they will be something like this R 12 2RS 3/4x1 5/8x7/16 which is £2.50 from ebay item 350356237073.
The outer bearing covers are normally thin sheet steel just pressed in. Normally the bearings come out from the inside and stay captive on the shaft.

Take care with pulling off the cone pulley, it is easy to break off a bit of the rim.

The problem you might well have if you go down the replacement motor route is that the shaft sizes on modern motors differ and so the pulley won't fit the new motor so the shaft will have to be turned/modified to fit.

So after it was in three sections, I knock out the bottom outer bearing cover off from the inside and to my surprise no bearings, well, at least, not the type I was expecting as Bob had shown me above. The main shaft fitted into a collet which has a large hole cut in the side of it, the collet, in turn, was very tightly fitted into housing the strangest I have ever seen again with a hole cut in the side of it that surrounded by foam filling with a particular piece of foam acting like a wick hanging down into the outer bearing cover.

Now on the side of the main casing, is a ball bearing oil nipple feed, to feed the oil in, The oil drains down through the foam and into the outer bearing housing cover submerging the wick into the oil, then the oils are soaking up against it short length and is sucked in through the foam and the hole in the side of the collet and lubricates the shaft, and yea you guessed it as dry as an empty bottle. I reassemble it all cleared the paint off the nipples and pressure fed in as much oil as I could, not sure my old the oil can is up to much so I, ll buy a new can tomorrow and pressure feed it

In the meantime remounted the motor and temporarily wired it all again and switched on yes, though I might have to buy a new one for a while there, YES BRILLIANT.

I ran the motor on and off over the next hour trying various speed testing then left off for a couple of hrs and went out for lunch feeling really chuffed, later this afternoon I did another test run, this time left it running for approximately 10 mins on about 60 hertz which under normal operating conditions is far more than you would generally use it for in one continuous run, it was just beginning to get warm when I switch it off and packed up for the day, feeling really good.

Shown here fitted to it mounting board on its final test run later this afternoon on 59.5 hertz running for about ten mins.

 

by 9fingers » Fri Jun 22, 2012, 8:33 pm

Oops - I got that wrong, didn't I!

It is a long time since I've come across one of those types of motor. Hopefully,  with your oil treatment, it will be fine. It is quite essential to run the belt at the minimum tension such that it just does not slip to avoid bearing wear.

Happy drilling.

Bob, it's no problem, it's the first time I've ever seen one,s like this when I tapped out the bearing cover and looked in I thought what the bloody hell is that, bearings I thought where the hell are they, that Bob must have been at the whisky bottle, but when you really look at the design, as long as it kept fed regularly with oil, the shaft is kept moist in oil all the time, there's undoubtedly no play in it, the reason for squealing and why it was so hot, totally dry, neglect.

An early start today in the workshop at 7:30 ish, All this wiring is now completed, as seen.

Completed wiring, with the drill tidy, when not in use is tuck centrally to the rear directly under the motor out of the way. 

 

I purchase a new pump-action oil can today as my old can only dribble nowadays and gave the motor shaft a really good oiling under pressure, that really quietened down the motor considerable, so all is well there.

Hears the final photo ( at last ) all finished with just a few minor I's and  T's to dot and cross, simple things like paint the motor and guard, and a small touch up here and there. It's now ready for use.

It's finally finished shown working with the drill tidy swung out and in use.

 

Here it is now fitted into it final working position, it is forming the corner post to the dirty end of my workshop everything to the left of the band saw Is the clean end for woodworking only. I had to sacrifice my bench to get this up and running, but I think it's worth it. I am now bench-less.

In the meantime, I am now slowly separating all my metal working tools, stuff and compacting them into boxes and drawers to fit into that corner for ease of use while working on that the bench or at the metalworking vice, which is now in storage, , Plus I'm sorting boxes of bolts, washers split-pins etc. and moving it all into that area. That will keep me busy for a few days.

IN CONCLUSION.

Would I do it all again? Well, maybe definitely yes, ( I'm already looking). Did I learn from doing it myself yes, it was the right learning curve especially the rebuild side of it, next time, I will make sure make it is a complete drill with nothing missing at all, condition-wise cosmetically not essential but, missing parts are expensive, things like the rise and fall table which I assumed was under the wooden work area show in the photos when it was for sale, the cost of couriers, which has taken any profit away from this drill, so next to the time I will only buy if I Can pick up myself close to home, bearings that sort of thing I glass as replaceable parts that I would do anyway regardless of condition.

What sort of drill would I buy depends on price condition, depth of quill travel, whereabouts, any extras etc., would I buy another 3 phase and us a converter, without any hesitation at all, yes.

This now leaves me to thank two people first and foremost our very own Bob (9fingers) for all of his help, last but not least again our very own Chris (old) who surprised me he donated as can been seen in the bottom of the previous photo a drill guard which arrived yesterday, thanks, guys.

I hope you all have enjoyed following this thread as I enjoyed doing the refurbishment for me it was a learning curve hope some of you decide to have a go. Enjoy.