Easy lift drill press table

[tonyfoale]

I had already added an external counterweight to a Craftsman drill press, which I think that I posted here some years back.

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Although that improved the lifting it was still difficult to lower the table.
Motivated by the success of the Startrite modifications I added a handle to the rear of the table. That made the Craftsman as easy to raise and lower as the lighter Startrite. Sometime in the future I may re-cast the counterweight to fit in the column as per the Startrite. The long travel of the floor mounted Craftsman means that the external weight hits the floor when the table is right up and fouls with the clamp handle when the table is lowered too much. The high 30s temperatures here at the moment means that I will wait for winter to do any re-casting.