R8 Collet End Mill Creep

I made a drawbar "nut". Just a lump of round steel to get my hand around. 2" round three or four inches long dimensions not important. Bored to fit the drawbar. It just sits loose on top the drawtube. You'll have to make a new drawbar. Getting the thread temper just right was a bit tricky. The new drawbar goes through the new nut then into the drawtube. Once the draw bar is snugged down the draw nut will not slip and you can grab it to get that last final tug on the wrench.

The nut may starts to woble with the spindle going; a tap with the malet usually straightens it up.

Always use parallels or a sacrificial plate under the work piece.

Bud

That must have been painful for you, both milling into your table and realizing you'd bought a mill which is missing an essential feature. There have been several articles over the years in the magazines "Home Shop Machinist" and "Projects In Metal" (now "Machinists Workshop") which deal with this subject.

Is there enough spindle at the bottom that you can get a strap wrench on it?

GWE

Pipe wrench.

, how about a strap wrench? Wont take much.

Btw..that happens to every machine that uses collets, which is why endmill holders are prefered for serious cutting.

Gunner

Political Correctness

A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical liberal minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.

There is no hole, no rod and no mention of such in the directions for my H/F mill drill.

Dick

I would if I could. The mill didn't come with a manual (auction item) and I haven't had any luck locating one yet.

It's probably a Harbor Freight that was originally sold by another distributor.

On mine, there is a hole (rectangle actually) that exposes the spindle shaft on the left-hand side of the mill. But I've turned the spindle all the way around and found no corresponding hole in it. If it was there, this would be absolutely the right way to snug the collet.

Gary

Central Machinery is Harbor Freight's house brand. What model or item number is it? Many of their manuals are available on their site.

Best Regards, Keith Marshall snipped-for-privacy@progressivelogic.com

"I'm not grown up enough to be so old!"

Grasp the pulley with one hand, tighten the drawbar with the wrench as best you can. Then give the wrench a few jerks (still holding the pulley). So far I've never had anything loosen up or move on me.

Wayne D.

I used to have a Central Machinery mill-drill. I never had a problem tightening the drawbar by holding the wrench with one hand and the belt with the other. But, I did have a problem something like yours... No matter how tight I tightened it, the end mill might slip. (You said it was an "auction item," so I assume you have a used machine.) What happened was that the drawbar had stretched a little and the end of the drawbar was bottoming out in the collett. I removed the drawbar, slipped a couple washers on it and dropped it back in. Problem solved! (Took me a while to figure that out...)

Jerry

I looked at every inch of the mill but found no model number or item number. The only markings on it at all are:

1) an RPM chart 2) a "don't use this machine until you know what you're doing..." warning 3) 1-1/2 HP Single phase hi/lo voltage label

I also visited the HF web site but couldn't find any reference or link to their instruction manuals.

As for the suggestions about tightening the collet by holding the pulley - well THAT is how I did it and got into my current predicament.

Gary

The HF manual links are at the bottom of the relevant product pages. Search their site for mills, find the one that looks like what you have and then select the product manual link at the bottom of the page. Alternately post a pic of what you have in the drop box and someone will identify it.

Their curent offerings don't look like my mill very much.

Take a look at ebay auction ID 270073675792 for a picture. This is the auction I won and the machine I now have.

Gary

I don't recognize it, perhaps someone else will. It would appear it's fairly old. I'd contact Harbor Freight (corporate) since it is clearly something they sold previously (their brand) and see if they can provide a copy of a manual.

I don't recognize it either and it's obviously a pretty old model. As someone else suggested, you might contact HF to see if they have anything available.

Best Regards, Keith Marshall snipped-for-privacy@progressivelogic.com

"I'm not grown up enough to be so old!"

Take a look into where the collet seats. Make sure it is absolutely clean. Bits of aluminum could have been pressed on and gotten stuck there, causing the collet to not seat properly. Check the collet also. Always wipe out the tube prior to tightening a collet.

Wayne D.