Edison Drill Press Knob

I have an old Edison McGraw bench top drill press my father gave me years ago. Somehow the plastic lock knob got busted and this made it very hard to lock the drill into position once it was lined up.

I decided to remake the knob using a 3/8 thread 1 inch long hex bolt purchased at Lowes. The fit in the plastic is tight by design. I heated up the bolt and pressed it in. The original knob had a flared stud with the 3/8 threading so I just replicated that in what I chose for the hex bolt.

The model is situated with the hex hole down so that the visible surface is the finished top rather than the bed bottom which may or may not have marks that telegraph into the final print (mine does from too many bad attempts with the spatula).