Busy Bee CT129N drawbar replacement

[Dunc1]

Wondering if anyone has removed the drawbar from this machine? It is apparently captive in the spindle. I would like to replace it. I spoke with a BB rep and he seemed to think it could be removed once the tooling it holds is released. No go.
Does it come out upwards or downwards (dropping out thru the MT3 spindle)?
I don't see anything directly holding it in place; however, it neither drops down nor can it be removed upwards - at least, not without some trick(s). It must be more than just a long bolt; otherwise, why can I not remove it?

 

[wagnmkr]

On mine it is just a long bolt. Remove mandrel and tool ... at the top end, remove the large chrome nut/drawbar lock ... pull straight up. It just lifted out ... no tricks.

Hope this helps,

Cheers,

Tom

 

[Dunc1]

"...remove the large chrome nut/drawbar lock... "

There is a photo of the top of my spindle in the Photo section (Category=Tools; Album=Dunc). I have removed the plastic spindle cap & the yellow motor shroud. The metal plate surrounding the gear wheel (part of the speed readout) is the base that the motor is mounted on. I removed the motor for additional access but it made no difference.
Both the top of the spindle and the drawbar have wrench flats visible (spindle is the larger). Immediately below the wrench flats on the spindle there is a close-fitting metal sleeve that surrounds an E-clip. This sleeve rotates independently of the spindle. Without removing this sleeve it is impossible to remove the E-clip. That said, I have no idea what I might achieve by removing it (E-clip). I have no chrome nut or drawbar lock. I have tried lifting, unscrewing etc the drawbar w/o success. Ditto the spindle.

 

[wagnmkr]

On my machine, that piece in your pic that has the two flats on it, just unscrews, releasing the drawbar.

Mine was a store demo so who knows what has been done in the past, but that is how it works now.

Cheers,

Tom

 

[Dunc1]

Got it. Thanks for the help

 

[wagnmkr]

You are welcome ... glad it worked for you.

Just curious ... what happened that you need to replace the drawbar?

Cheers,

Tom

 

[Dunc1]

I purchased the machine, installed it & ran it thru the break-in period but - long story - did not actually use it. When I went to use it the installed drawbar would not engage my tooling which was 3/8-16. I had a look inside the MT3 taper and the drawbar thread looked too large. Strange, as the manual said the thread was 3/8-16 & only 1 drawbar was included. I suspected a metric thread (european version of these mills) but once I removed it the extra drawbar is 7/16-20. Sooner or later, it will be useful.

 

[wagnmkr]

Yup, you never know when it will be useful.

Cheers,

Tom