An electric motor scenario

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I have a drill press that I use often in my shop, and the table has about 2’ of travel. I use most of this travel often, but the constant hand cranking got me wondering if there wasn’t a way to mount an electric motor with a variable speed switch, kind of like the two-way switch you see on old-fashioned elevators. The further you push the switch in one direction, the faster the motor runs, and when you let go of the switch, it returns to center and the motor stops. The motor would also have to be able to run in both directions on the fly.

I was thinking of a 3 Nm stepper motor since those can run in either direction and at different speeds, and it should have enough torque to raise and lower the table with a moderate amount of weight on it. However, it seems there’s a lot of components involved - it’s not a simple matter of “mount it and plug it into an outlet.” Do any of you folks have any experience with setting up stepper motors and a switch like I described?

Or is there a better way using an AC motor? I’ve attached a pic of where the motor would be attached to the crank shaft; I’d machine a steel collar to connect the shaft to that on the motor, which would be mounted in line. I thought it was an interesting mental exercise, but if it’s feasible, I’d give it a shot.
 

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I’ve done similar in the past, but it was on a 2x42 belt sander. I needed it to run much slower than the 3600 rpm the motor put out. I was using it to profile and sharpen knives. Anyway, long story short I just put a battery powered drill on it. That would cover the variable speed you are wanting and could change directions on the fly. It worked for me. I believe it would in this instance as well.
 
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Thanks, folks. That Mophorn power feeder would work nicely if it was smaller - there’s not much clearance between the shaft and the back of the table, and the stated dimensions of the feeder lead me to think it would not fit. Plus, the switch would be underneath the table. As for the power drill, I actually thought of trying that, but I’d have to machine an adapter because the shaft on the drill press is 14 mm, and my power drills can only accept up to 1/2”. I’d also like a solution that I could plug in and forget about it, and also have a switch that was mounted separately in a convenient spot where it would not move up and down. I appreciate the comments, though!
 

Ahall

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Sure you can do it
I would not

That style of lift is common on imported presses.
I have seen a number of the racks that lift the table that were bent, broken or damaged from the crank overloading them.

Put on a power feed and you lose the ability to feel the table bind and stop before the rack brakes.
 

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