Poor Man's Power Drawbar

[TomG]

I got tired of wrenching tools in and out of my mill a while back and put together a quick and dirty power drawbar, based on a cheap Harbor Freight butterfly impact wrench. This is sort of a first step to prove the concept and to see if the cheapo impact wrench had enough guts to get the job done. Eventually the plan is to make the thing more compact and possibly add a pneumatic actuator to engage the socket. As it turns out, the impact wrench does have adequate torque, but unfortunately it failed two weeks after I got it, in typical Harbor Freight fashion. Guess I should have spent the extra $7 for the extended warranty. That sort of ticked me off and I let the project collect dust for a while (it was in fact doing so when Darren visited a while back), but I finally got busy and fixed the wrench (broken ring that holds the socket on) and added a handle.

The device is basically just two plates with a couple of ground rods and some brass bushings, separated by a couple of compression springs. One of the plates mounts to the top of the mill with existing holes, and the other attaches to the impact wrench with the screws that hold the valve body on.

Tom

[Mayhem]

Glad to see you finished it off Tom - nice work. Yes, I do remember seeing the dust on it

I have to make some adaptors for my NTMB30 tooling as I have 3 different drawbar threads: 1/2-12, 1/2-13 and M12x1.75.

[Rickabilly]

Nice job Tom,

I've got to put one of those on my mill, as it so tall that I need a step to reach the draw bar on a good day let alone when I'm having a cripple day

Best Regards
Rick

[EdK]

Here we go again. Another one added to the list.

Ed

[sasquatch]

Nice project TomG, very practical, thanks for posting this.

[Rickabilly]

I do have to say that this design looks a whole lot simpler than the others I've seen, it really is just a one or two day job vs some of the others that look like a week's worth.

Regards
Rick

[Highpower]

(12-01-2012, 08:27 PM)TomG Wrote: One of the plates mounts to the top of the mill with existing holes, and the other attaches to the impact wrench with the screws that hold the valve body on.

Tom

That's half the battle right there, having the holes already in place.
I wasn't so lucky.

Looks good as usual Tom.

[TomG]

Thanks guys.

I've been doing quite a bit of work at home lately so the mill has been getting quite a workout, with its new power drawbar. The gadget has definitely proven itself to be a worthwhile addition and well worth the time to make it.

Tom

[stevec]

Finally a project I DON'T have to add to "the list". My TREE mill has no drawbar.

[DaveH]

Tom,
Very nice

DaveH