Drill Press Hot Up Options

[neevo]

I bought a cheap drill press a while ago when I was fitting out my shed and I've used it loads of times, however there are a few issues with it:

1) The pulley above the chuck has a broken spindle mount at the bottom, meaning when I use the full travel of the press, the pulley jumps off the spindle
2) The motor is feable
3) The on switch is damaged and probably a little dangerous

I was looking for replacement pulleys but cannot seem to find anything with the same pattern so I was thinking of ways to overcome all I have and end up with a solid tool that works well.

I wan thining of replacing the motor with a variable DC motor which I assume I could attach directly to the chuck spindle, this would remove the pulleys, and also replace the switch with a variable one. Thoughts?

What else should I consider when looking to hot up my drill press?

 

[SONICJK]

Find an older used floor model drill press and forget about modifying the one you've got.

 

[neevo]

Find an older used floor model drill press and forget about modifying the one you've got.

Poop

 

[neevo]

OK, so direct drives and variable motors may not be the option but I'm still keen to fix the pulley and look for a more torquey motor if possible.

Here is the broken pulley, you can see where the metal bit has broken off, limiting how far down you can use the drill press:

Here is the spindle:

I've tried looking for a replacement pulley but not had much luck, I would be prepared to replace the chuck if required but assume I would then need to replace both pulleys.

I'm also looking for a motor with more go. This works fine for small bits (6mm) but anything 9mm or over really struggles, even when I drill in stages. What sort of motor should I be looking for? Here is the original: