I’ve been very lucky in acquiring equipment for my home shop.  The company that I worked for back in Texas had a 1961 Delta wood/metal cutting bandsaw in their scrap equipment pile, along with a 1959 Delta floor stand drill press with power feed.

What I found on the scrap heap were two incredibly rusted hulks.  I recovered what parts I could, sandblasted those down to bare metal and refinished them.  There were quite a few missing pieces that needed to be fabricated, including a new spindle for the drillpress, and jackshaft for the bandsaw.

Both machines were missing motors and electrics, but the guys in the maintenance shop helped me out there.  The power feed was completely rebuilt as well.

These machines are far better than any “hobby” machine you can buy today.  The head on the drill press weighs in at over 80lbs with the motor attached, and the foot casting alone weight over 40lbs.  This is a substantial drill press.

I made a riser block and some ballbearing blade guides for the bandsaw, rebuilt the transmission, and added new tires.

Twenty five years later, three cross-county moves, 4-years in storage, and I still have these great machines in my shop.  It took a lot of work to repair the neglect, but these machines will last for another 100 years.