Photo Index - Powermatic Machine Co. - 1150

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Manufactured/Badged by:
Powermatic Machine Co.
McMinnville, TN; La Vergne, TN

Machine Specifications
Machine Class:	Wood Working Machinery
Machine Type:	Drill Press
Machine Size:	15"
Submitted By:	Eric Patterson

Machine Specifications
Description/Model:	1150
Date of Manufacturer:	1969
Serial Number:	915V697
Last Updated	2/13/2009 12:29:01 AM

Comments:

I spotted a PM 1150 drill press in an ebay store for $75. It had the production table which jumped out at me as a nice feature. Jeff Smith just happened to be going to Chicago with an empty truck and agreed to pick it up for me. I think he said "if you don't buy it I WILL." Knowing from pics alone there was at least $75 in parts I bought it and Jeff ruckered it home for me.

Once out of Jeff's pickup I saw there was the making of a drill press but it was going to take some work. First order of business was find a motor pulley. Not sure I could come up with an original motor pulley, I investigated substitutes. I ended up buying several old Reeves pulleys off ebay and cleaned them up for possible duty. Needing more parts than just the pulleys meant taking the pilgramage to Powermatic Holy Grounds, aka Redmonds. Scott was in a generous mood that day and sold me an almost complete 1150 for $150. The plan was obvious, combine the two and come up with the best from both. I now had two front spindle pulleys and a motor pulley, plus the ebay Reeves pulley finds.

At this point I'm in the market for an 1140 RPM motor. The Redmond 1150 had a nice Century 1725 rpm motor but the low end spindle rpms are just a tad too fast for larger forstner bits so the 1140 is a better fit for my shop needs. The scarcity of single phase 1140 rpm motors was making the search tough. The good folks here suggested I look for a three phase motor and use a VFD for a wide range of speeds. Okay, these guys are smart I'll consider doing that. At some point I hit upon a Baldor three phase 1140 rpm for $40. Now wait a second, I recognize that pulley! I had found the exact motor I needed and it had the elusive motor pulley as a bonus! I clicked "buy it now" fast and hard. I now had two original motor pulleys plus some others. An ebay VFD soon followed.

Tear down, clean-up, and reassembly went well. Some sandblasting, primer, and paint had the castings looking new. After some experimentation by running the pulleys the best ones were identified.

One feature of the restoration I'm really pleased with is the speed control of the VFD. Powermatic sold these drill presses with three different speed motors. An 1140 RPM motor corresponds to the middle band on the speed dial. I preprogrammed the VFD to run the motor at each of the RPMs indicated on the speed dial. This is controlled by a simple rotary selector switch on the front of the VFD enclosure. Just set the VFD with the rotary selector to produce the desired RPM and use the drill press speed dial to create the needed spindle RPM. The best of both worlds. I also added a toggle switch to the VFD that lets me reverse directions. The drill press and VFD are powered up by the Cutler Hammer push button on the front of the drill press via relay. In other words it turns on and off just like it always has. This is one of my favorite restorations and shop tools.

Photo 1:

Comments: It has the production table
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Photo 2:

Comments: but is a real trainwreck in other respects.
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Photo 3:

Comments: The completed restoration.
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Photo 4:

Comments: A VFD combined with variable speed pulleys offers a lot of capability.
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Photo 5:

Comments: Variable spped drives run true.
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Photo 6:

Comments: VFD programmed to match the three motor RPMs on the speed dial.
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