Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Drawbar wrench

Since I got my new machine, I've been attacking the scrap like never before.  So far most of the things are to help make using the machine easier like this drawbar wrench.  The spindle has a 6 spline pattern on the top and since there's no spindle brake this is the way to grip it so the drawbar bolt can be loosened or tightened.  At first I used a crescent wrench but that was just until I could build this.

The pattern of the spline was scribed onto a piece of 1/4" aluminum and I colored in the parts that needed to be milled out.

First I had to mill the sides square so it would fit in the vise correctly.  Then, I plunged the endmill into the center of the pattern and did some "freestyle milling" ie: milling it out with no regard to the dial readings and moving both axes at the same time to cut diagonally.
I then milled off the piece to keep and drilled and tapped 2 #10-32 holes to accept the handle
The handle is made of 1" galvanized steel strip with the corresponding holes drilled in it.
The handle is bent so the wrench will be stopped by the knob on the top of the pulley cover.  This way I can use one hand to unscrew the drawbar and one hand the hold the endmill so it doesn't fall on the floor
Here's a diagram to show how it works:

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