Awl --
First, it's still not fixed yet, but there is another piece of info some may find interesting.
Some of you expressed surprise that the r8 nut ditty should be tight on the draw bar to begin with. I initially did not grok this, but now I think I do, and I ran it by my buddy, the victim of all this.
Well, here's possibly more surprise:
He said, the nut/thread did not dislodge from the r8 until he tried to
*loosen* or remove the r8 collet!!! IOW, the nut was apparently *already* tight on the drawbar, tight enough that when attempting to remove the r8 collet, the nut/thread spun out from collet.The Q in my mind is then, Why would the nut/thread of the r8 have bottomed out on the draw bar to begin with?
He thinks someone may have removed the drawbar and forgot to put the top washer back, letting the drawbar insert too far, bottoming out on the back of the r8. He did mention that just prior to all this, the endmill in the collet was not suff'ly tight, which suggests this.
Inyway, if the r8 nut was sunk down suff'ly on the drawbar to then have it spin out of the collet upon trying to change collets, it must be pretty tight on the drawbar.
Today, he/we will tilt the head for a good looksee, and try to implement some of the strats from the initial thread. We are armed with some thick-wall tubing to guide a long drill, to perhaps just drill it out, sacrificing the drawbar, but he has another.
Thanks for all the suggestions/insights.