[Tom King]

Does it have a rack and pinion for raising and lowering the table? A lot of old drill presses don't, and that's a deal breaker for me not to have one. I have one drill press without, and that's one too many.

 

[Tom King]

This got me to thinking about putting some sort of lift on my old Powermatic. I found this: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?131065-Drill-press-crank-table-retrofit

I think I'm going with trailer tongue jack idea. I believe we even have some old ones laying around.

My Powermatic, I believe, is a little older than that one, and is not variable speed other than the easy swap of the belt pulleys.

The best thing about them is that they have the best depth stop there has ever been made. It's easy to lock and unlock, and stays exactly where you put it.