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- Jun 4, 2008
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My Bridgeport came with a clone of the Kurt pneumatic drawbar closer, and I've find it very useful over the past 3-4 years since I've owned it. Last week I noticed that the collets were not being secured properly, so I unbolted the closer and pulled out the drawbar:
A glance at the end of the bar showed that the threads had been stripped:
I mounted it in the lathe and turned down the stripped part to 1/4" and then tried to line up some threaded pieces I turned with the good threads, using a 7/16-20 nut to "synchronize the threads. First I tried Loctite 620, and then JB Weld, but in both cases it was not strong enough to stand the necessary torque. So today I mounted a SHCS in the lathe using the rubberflex collets to spare the threads, and parted off the head.
Then I drilled and reamed the remaining bolt 1/4" (bolt was quite hard, so I needed to use a carbide endmill as a drill).
Then I turned off the good threads from the bar and replaced them with the hollow bold body:
Then I had a friend of mine weld the upper end of the bolt to the bar, and thereafter cleaned up the welds using the lathe.
Good as new it appears. Now I can get back to the loco buld.
A glance at the end of the bar showed that the threads had been stripped:
I mounted it in the lathe and turned down the stripped part to 1/4" and then tried to line up some threaded pieces I turned with the good threads, using a 7/16-20 nut to "synchronize the threads. First I tried Loctite 620, and then JB Weld, but in both cases it was not strong enough to stand the necessary torque. So today I mounted a SHCS in the lathe using the rubberflex collets to spare the threads, and parted off the head.
Then I drilled and reamed the remaining bolt 1/4" (bolt was quite hard, so I needed to use a carbide endmill as a drill).
Then I turned off the good threads from the bar and replaced them with the hollow bold body:
Then I had a friend of mine weld the upper end of the bolt to the bar, and thereafter cleaned up the welds using the lathe.
Good as new it appears. Now I can get back to the loco buld.