DIY Power Drawbar for a Bridgeport Style Mill
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- Опубликовано: 18 сен 2024
- #bridgeport #powerdrawbar #millingmachine
In this video I discuss how to make a pneumatically operated power drawbar for my Bridgeport mill. I have used three aluminium castings and some off the shelf parts for the build but it could just as easily be made using fabricated assemblies or the major components could be machined from solid stock. This style of build is not unique but I will be showing a method for machining the critical bores that ensure alignment between the two most important parts. (In part 2). 
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Who else sees "there's a video by Preso" and clicks "thumbs-up" immediately? Have a great Christmas, Preso.
Merry Christmas.
No fair, you teased us with how to get them accurately drilled then showed the finished product.!!!!
Wishing you the best.
Yeah, sorry about that but once the video edit goes over 30 minutes I have to stop. That is now my self enforced limit. The follow up should be out in a week or two.
Regards,
Mark
Love the mix of old school manual work, the use of modern tools (CAD, laser etc) to make everything a lot faster/easier along with the odd clever tips and tricks no one can have to many of.
Great! 👍
Thanks for that. You can never have enough tools!
Regards,
Mark
i love how overengineered this power drawbar is. subscribed!
Hi Preso - this is great. I can't wait to catch up on the other episodes. Love the trick drilling jig. :)
I forgot to say, I have that exact same book. They are a brilliant resource 👍
Thanks for that. I am working on a power drawbar for my mill, an 80's era Taiwanese universal mill, about 4000 pounds and even taller than a bridgeport with 40 taper tooling. I have a very similar impact gun with the same mounting, just not powdercoated. Your idea of grub screw at an angle solves all the mounting problems nicely.
There was a sort of rubber bumper fitted on the nose of the driver. I levered it off and found the perfect mounting solution hiding underneath it. That single grub screw still has to contend with the hammering action and the torque and some people are not convinced it will do the job without slipping. I haven't yet tried it but by the time I get around to the next video I should know if it's going to work.
Regards,
Mark
Really nice project. It's turning out as nice as store bought.
Thanks for that. Let's hope it works!
Regards,
Mark
You do the most interesting modification projects. Thanks, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Amazing. I am contemplating this exact project right now. After seeing how meticulous you are I have to raise my game. Great video.
Go for it!
Regards,
Mark
Merry Christmas to you, Mark. And thanks for all the videos, I‘m certainly looking forward to more of them.
OMG how many hours to completely tear down, clean, finish removal, body fill, paint, & reassemble & damage repair?
500 hours or more? It is stunning.
Not really that long but I can't help it. I know some people prefer the shop worn look and sometimes that aesthetic is more authentic but it's not for me.
Regards,
Mark
Great start there Mark I will be back for the next part. Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you and yours.
Thanks, you too!
Regards,
Mark
Hello Mark,
Great workmanship as always... Wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year...
Take care
Paul,,
Thanks, you too!
Regards,
Mark
I have made the patterns to cast the aluminum parts but it is too cold to cast now. I'm going ultra cheap with UHMW bushings since I have left over material. Guide rods turned on the lathe from pipe. Alignment of the two parts ensured by fastening them together to bore both at once. Requires making flats on the base bosses to clamp in the vice since the upper plate will have larger holes for the bushings. I had thought that I would have to machine the air motor to get the nose round. Your method seems easier. It snowed yesterday so we are having a white Christmas. Subscribed
Machining both castings at once would absolutely ensure alignment. That was the major consideration for this build. I am probably overthinking and over engineering the assembly but sometimes I enjoy that process. I think it's funny that you are finding it too cold to do any casting. I am having the opposite problem. I have to do two more castings and I have been waiting for a cooler day to do it. We have had some really hot and humid weather recently and it's no fun getting dressed up in leather aprons and long pants to do it.
Regards,
Mark
Great work Mark. Have a great Christmas and New Year. I look forward to seeing more of your work in the new year.
Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Nothing like a home casting, it just has that I created it feeling, looking good.
Cheers
Peter
I agree. I always thought that metal casting at home was an unattainable dream but it turned out to be way more accessible than I imagined. Despite the pain of spending time on a failed casting, it does open up a lot of opportunities to make things that would be impossible or very difficult using traditional machining and fabricating methods.
Regards,
Mark
Thanks for the Christmas Present/Presentation Preso! All the best to you and yours for the Season.
John, Australia.
Hi mark,
Just some observations for discussion.
As you are making a precision sliding mount for the air gun/wrench and the housing nose is quite possibly not concentric to the shaft, may I suggest that you strip the wrench down and machine the nose and then either remake the slider or bush it to suit.
It would also be prudent to get a proper 12 point impact socket and cross drill the drive square and use a hard pin to retain the socket.
This will allow the socket to self align to the drawbar hex.
Good project and I look forward to the next episode.
Stay safe.
I have actually had the assembly in place on the mill and the socket has enough play on the shaft to align quite easily with the drawbar hex. I did consider dismantling the impact wrench to machine the nose casting but I am always hesitant to mess with cheap tools. They have a tendency to not go back together very well. I do agree that the 12 sided standard socket is preferable though. I have been putting off the casting for the handle due to the hot days we have been having. Maybe next week!
Regards,
Mark
Glad you have taken the odd factors into consideration.
As a prototyper some times a chat session is a head banging idea fest.
Take care, and play safe.
@@Preso58 Better enjoy that heat, it was -19C here this morning and 40 cm of fresh snow 2 days ago. You don't have to shovel sun shine. :-)
Nice work. Good looking casting. Surprised you didn’t anodize the part, maybe later? Thanks for the wildlife pictures and sparing us the HUGE crocs, spiders, snakes, everyone knows run rampant in Australia. Good looking industrial bird bath looks to weigh about 200 kilos.
I almost got some footage of a giant huntsman spider that was in our dining room this morning. I wanted to show it at some point so Joe Pieczynski could see what a truly large spider looks like! The only issue would be that you would have to pick it up in your hand to show the relative size. They aren't venomous though. It scuttled behind some furniture before I could find my camera. It's still there though so who knows, it might show up on a future video. Thanks for the kind comments.
Regards,
Mark
All i use is a spanner with a 3/4 socket on a pivot on the end , it's a 2 second piece of piss job . But when i fit a riser to the mill i will not be able to reach it ! I will be very interested in the final outcome & plans when you complete the project . Have a great Christmas Mark . Cheers .
I was wondering how people with a riser on their mill get around the problem of tool changes. Built in ladder perhaps?
Regards,
Mark
Gday Preso, Merry Christmas and happy new year. Thanks for all the great content throughout the year, let’s hope that 2021 is a whole lot better than 2020, Cheers Matty
Thanks for that Matty. Surely we deserve a break in '21!
Regards,
Mark
Very nice job, can’t wait for the next video. Merry Christmas to all.
Loved the video. Especially all the detailed explanations.
Funny you should mention the height issue...I was 6'1" for about 67 yrs, now 7 yrs later I'm just shy of 5'11"! (Gravity and spinal issues). I always look forward to you releasing new videos and the addition of the bird moments! Here in Seattle, my public radio station has a segment called "Bird Notes" which each week features information about a different bird. Merry Christmas...Happy New Year, Thanks for your videos, Rich.
We have a science broadcaster on our public radio station called Karl Kruszelnicki. (Doctor Karl). He commented on the fact that most adults start out the day taller than they are at the end of the day. Just 8 hours is enough gravity to compress all the major joints in your body. We recover somewhat after a nights sleep but the process repeats itself each day although we never quite fully recover the compression of the day before! We were in Seattle two years ago and absolutely loved it. Particularly Mt. Rainier and Port Townsend. Two of the cleanest and most beautiful places we had been in the USA.
Regards,
Mark
Merry Christmas Mark. Watching your casting projects really makes me want to step up my casting game. So far all I have done is get the furnace up and running and cast some aluminum muffins.
I'm looking forward to seeing how the rest of this project comes together.
Metal casting at home is one of the deepest rabbit holes there is. Having said that, it's so rewarding when you dig something out the mould and it's pristine and useable. One bit of advice though.... buy or beg for some quality aluminium ingots from a local foundry. I began by melting scrap and after a few spectacular machining failures I purchased about 20 ingots of good quality 601 alloy. They cost me $10 each but the improvement in the castings was worth it. I get hardly any porosity and the surface finish after machining is way better.
Regards,
Mark
Right on, Mark! Now that I know what those castings are for I may actually get some sleep 🤣. Hope you had a Merry Christmas and all the best in 2021! Cheers 😁
Thanks for that. How's the balmy weather in Canadaland?
Regards,
Mark
@@Preso58 oh it was a sweltering +4°C today 🥵
Great T shirt. Now I have “mind the gap” ringing in my ears for the rest of the day 🥴😂
Good job so far Mark.. have Merry Christmas lets hope the bad weather stays away for awhile. .. thanks for sharing.
Nick
Arguably, the best video show for the end of the year :) Very Merry Christmas, Mark.
Great project! I have to do the same thing in the next month to a bigger 40 taper machine. I am interested to see the outcome! Thanks for the great vids
To you and yours from me and mine all the very best and a prosperous New year
Good work Mark. Loved the AEG drill attachment you made for your lathe tool post. I know exactly what you mean. We have 2 large mills at the school and I need a step to reach that drawbar bolt. Cheers 🍻 Aaron
I pity the guys that have a riser block on their Bridgeports!
Regards,
Mark
Nice build Mark, thanks for sharing.
Happy holidays to you and yours.
Cheers
Hi Mark -- the Bridgeport has made you an old hand with those imperial terms like 1/4-20. You're even using decimal millimeters and imperial sockets. Be careful or Queensland might turn rightside up. 😎 Season's cheer to all down under, and especially to one of my favorite RUclipsrs. 🎄
I am old enough to have worked with both imperial and metric. Right up until the time I left high school we were still using imperial units and I learned all my technical drawing in inches. The day I started at college we had transitioned to metric and we just got on with it and never looked back. That was back in 1975 but to this day we can still go to the hardware store and buy "legacy" imperial fasteners.
Regards,
Mark
Happy New Year Preso. Thanks to you.
To this day it is amazing how many shops, both large and small, you can go into here in the states that have manual knee type milling machines that are still paying machinists and toolmakers per hour to spend time cranking a knee up or down and fiddling with wrenches overhead to change tooling. I think I would rather give up my digital readouts before I would give up my power knees and power draw bars. The time they save is incredible.
I agree. I am pretty much over cranking the Bridgeport knee up and down. Such a long handle and such a long way to crank it!
Regards,
Mark
Great video Mark. I’m looking forward to the next one. Have a great Christmas and a healthy happy new year
Nice job as always, merry Christmas from Yorkshire, England.
Great video. Merry Christmas, Mark.
Gret project Mark and a really nice pillar tool assembly you have there. Man you have a variety of birds around your place. Where I am one place has this huge frame around the gate and a fake 3-d crow on top. Gets me every time how realistic it looks at first view every time I go by. Merry Christmas and cheers!
I think our brains are hard wired to notice and react to familiar shapes even if we know they aren't real. I also had three kangaroo silhouettes made at the same time as the magpies and every time I go out the front door I do a double take.
Regards,
Mark
What??? 🤔 If Mark is doing it, it has to be exciting. 😜. Nice design and approach. Merry Christmas 🎄🎁
I like your fake birds at the beginning, we call ours holy birds. The Bridgeport is really taking shape. Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Merry Christmas Preso. 🌲🇦🇺
Nice project mate, can't help thinking the linear bearings are somewhat overkill! Taller Al casting on the top and a sliding fit directly in the Al on smooth steel would work fine. All the best! Matthew
Yes, overkill it is, but man, it's satisfying to see it bounce up and down on it's springs.
Regards,
Mark
@@Preso58 I get it, I like what make and do, but talk about the overkill. A couple of bits of hot rolled turned or a couple of Shock absorbs rods running in an Al casting. Don't get me wrong, I apreciate your work, maybe talk about alteratives! Cheers, Matthew
Bit of a high frequency white noise happening on the video Presso (too much gain?) might need to run a highish frequency filter on the audio, not sure if you can hear it.
OK, I hadn't noticed it. I will get the headphones out and have a proper listen.
Regards,
Mark
Nice work! Inspirational as usual. 🤔
Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Very nice job! You have a Merry Christmas also.
Mark, what a little ripper. I've been wanting to do this to my BP clone for some time. I definitely want a copy of your plans please.
I'm happy to share once I get rid of all the bugs.
Regards,
Mark
@@Preso58 Thanks Mark, I'll look forward to it. Cheers and have safe and happy Christmas.
Merry Christmas Mark
Merry Christmas Presso. Happy New Year to you and your family.
Excellent stuff!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.
In regards to the universal pillar tool castings for your viewers they are available from Hemingway Kits in the UK (www.hemingwaykits.com/acatalog/Universal_Pillar_Tool.html) as is the book "Workshop Techniques".
I got my set of castings from a company in Brisbane but I think they are no longer in business.
Regards,
Mark
Merry Christmas M. P. Happy New Year to you and yours as well.
great work as always .. thanks Mark .. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and yours :)
jenny callipers are great still using a set I inherited from my grandfather
I must say I get really cranky when I see people marking out using their digital calipers!
Regards,
Mark
@@Preso58 I know this is a really random question, do you recommend any particular laser?
Fake birds lol, I was waiting for a part with the bin chicken, (Ibis)!
Ha ha the good old dirty bin chicken 🤣
Merry Xmas mate. Thanks for your vids.
Mark, isn't the critical part the bore on the mounting plate and the linear bearings? as such the through holes in the pneumatic driver could be slightly oversize and a little bit of wriggle room in the mounting bolts for the linear bearings or am I missing something?
Regards from Melbourne (no longer the pariahs of Australia)
Hopefully it will all become clear as the build progresses. I was aiming to get near perfect alignment on all the moving parts. I realise now that any slop in the mechanism will be exacerbated by the torque and the hammering action from the impact wrench. So, without actually trying a setup with loose-ish bushes could lead to the mechanism binding. However, having some play in the bores for the bearings would allow you to tune the alignment.
Regards,
Mark
Merry Christmas Presto and a happy new year
Hey Mark I’ve seen this model of power drawbar before (NYC CNC) but there’s something that I still don’t understand. The impact just “unbolt”/loosen the draw bar but what makes it release the collet!?
Wouldn’t you still need to tap the top of the drawbar down like usual to release? How are you doing this with an impact in the way!? Do you just yank on the activation handle down or does the hammering/shocking properties of the impact is enough to release the collet?
Max, I have tried the impact wrench on the drawbar and you are correct that sometimes the collet or tool won't release from the R8 taper inside the spindle. According to Wikipedia, an R8 taper is supposed to be self releasing unlike a morse taper. Having said that I do sometimes need to tap the end of the drawbar with a hammer to release some tools. I believe the hammering action of the impact wrench and some downward force on the mechanism helps to dislodge stubborn tools. I am also going to have to inspect and clean the interior of the spindle bore to ensure it isn't gummed up with old oil and dirt. I hope to have the tool finished by the end of the week and then I can try it out properly.
Regards,
Mark
Hi Mark is that a 1/2 inch drive or 3/8 ? Think I’m going to make one.
Regards Al.
Al, its a 3/8" drive impact wrench.
Regards,
Mark
Thanks Mark, is quite powerfull i was thinking 1/2 inch drivel but not if its not needed.
Cheers Al.
Great video. Clear explanations and coverage. Is a pneumatic driver better than an electric? Mahalo for sharing! : ) 🐒
I would think that electric would be fine. I already have an air outlet above the mill so I went that way with it, but if you didn't have a compressor then cordless drivers would be an option.
Regards,
Mark
@@Preso58 Mahalo!
Very good project for the home workshop. Do you think you could publish some specs for the butterfly impact wrench, please? I tried to find one but none of the home hardware type shops have even heard of them. Thanks in advance.
Robert, this is the one that I purchased. www.tradetools.com/product-range/air-tools/air-impact-wrenches/renegade-industrial-3-8-dr-butterfly-air-impact-wrench Renegade is the in house brand sold by Trade Tools here in Australia but this is the one that Harbour Freight sell in the USA www.harborfreight.com/3-8-eighth-inch-drive-75-ft-lbs-torque-compact-air-impact-wrench-93100.html?_br_psugg_q=butterfly+impact. Interesting that I paid $69 but the same thing in the USA is $20. They are pretty much the same tool, just different colours.
Regards,
Mark
@@Preso58 Thanks for the quick reply, I am also in Oz. Not sure if this was apparent to you. I got myself an Optimum lathe and mill recently for a hobby and it looks like the only things I will be making on them are more things to make them work better. But we all need a hobby and it keeps me off the streets I suppose. Thanks again, stay safe.
'Jenny' caliper have not heard that saying for years when I did my apprenticeship many years ago they were known as Jenny odd legs. Merry Christmas
I have also heard them called hermaphrodite calipers and odd leg calipers.
Regards,
Mark
@@Preso58 Yes we generally called them odd leg's and on a rear occasion hermaphrodite but that's a bit posh from where I come from :-)
Merry Christmas
Brilliant.
Happy holidays everybody from the winter wonderland of Colorado :)
Thanks, a few cool nights would be welcome here at this time of the year.
Regards,
Mark
Merry Christmas to you too and young man
Good project, why won't you add another secrew on the opposite side ?
I can do that if it's necessary.
Regards,
Mark
@@Preso58 But yea overall i'm excited to see the next part :)
I use my Dewalt impact adapted to a socket
I may just build this
Mark ... after 72 years of study.. I am sure the world is getting taller ... I am not getting shorter ....
Evidently the Dutch are now the tallest people in the world!
Regards,
Mark
No 7 the larch.
I'm nervous about how that one grub screw is going to stand up to all of the torque in the long run.
Me too! If it works loose I will increase the size of the grub screw and cut a pocket in the nose of the impact wrench to allow the screw to seat positively. I have also considered some sort of key arrangement if the screw fails. I won't know until I give it a proper workout.
Regards,
Mark
Merry Christmas! I got a feeling your going to need more grub screws..... and maybe some JB Weld epoxy JMHO....
We'll see.....I have a bad habit of publishing videos before the project is finally up and running. I should avoid bold predictions of success too early in the game.
Regards,
Mark
@@Preso58 I am sure it will work with 1 but with constant hammering from the impacts over time....
Nice....turntable the next project?
The truly sad thing is that I had one of those geared motor drives that was capable of driving a very large disc at around 20 rpm. I loaned it to someone and never got it back!
Regards,
Mark
Er, you left out how you did the precision drilling of the two holes. I can see you made them, but how?
Pat, all will be revealed in the follow up video coming out shortly. I have the job done but the first video was going to be too long so it's going to be a two or three part video series.
Regards,
Mark
Could you drill n pin the socket on?
It's all fixed now. I bought a new short socket with 12 points and it stays locked on the impact wrench spindle just fine.
Regards,
Mark
Do you have the drawing for the drw bar?
Try this link www.dropbox.com/s/jnmadgjp95y4lzu/pdb%20bridgeport.pdf?dl=0
Regards,
Mark
Where you buy the pneumatic driver?
I got mine from a local tool supplier but they can be purchased on Amazon or Ebay quite easily.
Regards,
Mark
But how is the correct name? Because I only found the tool for removing the wheels of the cars
@@nicolopolidoro1568 It's called a butterfly impact wrench. Like this one www.ebay.com.au/itm/155451520783?epid=7022013144&hash=item2431a1f70f:g:vwoAAOSwsmZkDq~W&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA8Ls1UjSwRcX649bC3p2RQ2voqj7%2B2aIYUIGD1h12372ZN8AmYGSWeBAFRgkYtIsbWeAaLyoxORmHv9ogD7KdnMGWW%2BW2bVr76wovezr99x3IQOnStn%2FgS9CHwCqnycyVz90Zaz9B29eh3WOk5x%2Fm%2FyzKr1ipQzz7xqsubPG5WdksY3%2FwAMnckbh8SVOoW8dL5yHXo2r8OEIzpY2sh01O34NT2WRvUURxLOZmiXEin6yBuIwfQ7zNnTUduR0L0bySBV9WIpUZrlgX%2FXffLWb1a%2Fo%2FOVBfOwxEV96VDLtbyZE2JcA9wY5zEG9%2FTcuVUWGq1Q%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABFBMiviv_J5i
Regards,
Mark
Thank you very much!
Nice to be precise but there is no need to go crazy to get linear bearings lined up. Your DRO would have been quite adequate. The linear bearings are Chinese! Chinese, get it? Slop is the name of the game. I have a far more complex power drawbar for a BP clone and it didn't need much to work over a 5" travel.
As you will see in the next episode, I ended up having to move the spindle with the DRO to two different locations to bore some holes for the fixture anyway. This was precisely what I was wanting to avoid but as it turned out the result was ideal. I had this noble intention of showing how you could achieve precision without having a DRO and in a way it's still possible.
Regards,
Mark
Well done, Mark. I always enjoy your videos--especially this one, since I made a pretty similar unit a while back. You can see it here:
bullfire.net/Power_Drawbar/Power_Drawbar.html
That's really a nice build. I like that you have anodised the parts. That's always a professional touch. Now that I have most of my build done I am worried that the collets and tooling don't always want to drop out when I am using the spanner to loosen the drawbar. Something is sticking in the spindle nose. Maybe it just needs a good clean and some oil but once the impact wrench is sitting over the drawbar nut you can't really get at it with a mallet.
Thanks for the link.
Regards,
Mark
@@Preso58 I found that the repeated impacts tends to shake the collets out, so I haven't seen the problem. Before installing the unit, I had to whack the drawbar with a mallet.
Next project - motorize a lazy susan.
HI MARK, THANK YOU, I AM GEOING TO ENJOY FOLLOWING THIS ONE, WHAT IS THE SEARIAL NUMBER ON YOUR COLCHESTER LATH ? ...HAAPPY X MAS TO ALL, REGARDS RICHARD.
Richard,
I had to go and check but it's FG56082 so according to the lathes.co.uk website it's 1971-72. That makes it just a year older than my Bridgeport mill which is September 1973.
Regards,
Mark
@@Preso58 HI MARK, THANK YOU, MINE IS 29952 B WHICH MAKS IT A 1952 TOOL ROOM MACHINE, DONE A LOT OF WORK, BUT STILL GOOD. REGARDS RICHARD.