Thread: NT 30 spindle spanner

I thought I would post this up for Ray, Eskimo, Mark and others with this type of mill without a spindle lock.

I have never seen a NT30 spanner commercially so I came up with my own idea.
It is a bit beat up in the pictures because it is about 4 year old now.
I turned the round section on the lathe, then hacksawed the piece out of the end. To get the notches I mill what I could the file it. I cut the handle out of a bit of flat bar then welded them together with the mig. You can see in the pictures I milled a little spot and stamped it 30int to give it that factory look.
When it was new, I showed it to a few mates that know what I do in the shed, but they would not believe I made it until I showed them the piece I cut out of the end of it.

If I was to make another one I would make the round section thicker in height because it has slipped off the collar a few times.
A power draw bar is in the making so I wont need a spanner in the future.

Dave

Originally Posted by Dave J

A power draw bar is in the making so I wont need a spanner in the future.

Dave

Just be careful whenever you buy arbors the thread fits your power drawbar... One thing to be wary of is the ISO30 to 1 1/2" thread arbor that is used to fit boring heads uses a metric fine thread....

Thanks RC, are you talking about commercial draw bars?
I am making the power draw bar up myself, and plan on making it to slide aside to be able use different draw bars when needed.

Dave

Edit
I was going to by a power draw bar but want to put one on the horizontal as well. I am not sure if the commercial one's work on there side and it would be to expensive for me to buy 2.
Also my boring head arbor dosn't have metric fine threads.

Ahhh OK, I thought all power drawbars were bolted into position thus not easy to be moved...

Have you seen the youtube video of the home made power drawbar?

Thanks, I have seen those ones on you tube.
I have researched these over the last 4 years and bought all the parts, just haven't got around to building it yet.
I picked up 3 new 3/8 butterfly impact wrenches off ebay Aus and a few new Bimba air cylinders off ebay US around 2 years ago. 1 to use and the others for the 2 draw bars.

I will post it up when I build it, I will be using 16mm shaft with 16mm linear bearings for trouble free running both vertical and horizontal.

Dave

Dave - love ya work! I can understand your mates doubts - I have seen a lot worse come out of "factories"! I was about to start designing one myself - you have saved me lots of time/effort and head scratching.

When you say "I would make the round section thicker in height" - do you mean increase the overall height of the outer "tube" and/or the inner "ring" that has the slots cut out of it? I guess I am asking whether you are trying to increase the amount of engagement between the spanner and the dogs, or the amount the spanner extends up the side of the spindle. Am I correct in thinking that you use the spanner with the "tube" extending up the side of the spindle? Or the other way around?

Thanks again Dave!

Hi Mark,
You are right in that the tube part goes upward onto the spindle and thats the part I would extend if I made another one. I just found it slipped off the spindle some times if you weren't exactly 90 deg to it. The slots get a good hold of the drive lugs, no problems there.
Also check the end and centre opening with all your tools, I know one drill chuck arbor I bought was wider than the others and wouldn't fit. Once you have cut the end out and welded the handle, it is a bit hard going back on it in the lathe to open it up more.

This spanner makes tightening the horizontal spindle draw bar a lot easier as well

Dave

Hi Dave,

Very nice, I like the stamped mark, I think that sort of touch finishes it off nicely, makes it look "manufactured".

One of these is on my list of things to make. At the moment I am just using an open ender.

I hope the flu doesn't get you too badly, and the neck recovers. Take it easy.

Regards
Ray

Thanks again Dave
gee i am glad you live over there...you'd cost me a fortune in buying you a beer every time you assisted me

I blame Dave for this, I really should be doing other jobs, but since he posted a picture of his NT30 spanner, I can't get back to what I really should be doing without making one....

The largest round mild steel I could find was 75mm, which is just a little too small, I need at least 80mm preferable more, so I turned down a bit of 75mm to 70mm and wrapped a piece of 10x20 bar around it.



Then mig welded the outer ring to the 70mm center. Then off to the lathe to clean it up.



After all that mucking around, I get a thing that looks like this......



Then it's off to the bandsaw and cut out the slots for the tabs on the NT30, and pretty much that's when it all went wrong, I had machined too deep into the welds, which didn't have much penetration to begin with and the whole thing fell apart. Next time I would do the welds properly with chamfers.. I rewelded it back together with the TIG and smoothed out the welds with a flap disk.

The handle is cut from some 6mm flat, and cut on the bandsaw.



Finally after welding the handle on and some clean up with files, I finally get to paint the finished spanner.. No, the paint's still wet.



Thanks Dave for the inspiration.....

Regards
Ray

Thanks Ray
If it was you wifes jobs you were supposed to be doing, I am not taking the blame.
I get the same way with jobs myself, it's like an addiction, lol

That spanner came up good for the troubles you went through with the weld, and I like the action pictures I have had a few welding jobs myself that have come apart after machining. It's not as much fun having to do it twice.
I realized that I didn't post and dimensions in my first post. I never had any round bar that big either, all I had laying around at the time was some 16mm plate. So I cut a piece out of it for the end, that is why it ended up a bit thin. My handle is also 6mm thick and my handle is 200mm long for anybody making one in the future.

Your vice in the 2nd last photo looks near identical to mine that was made in Sydney.

Dave

Originally Posted by Dave J

Your vice in the 2nd last photo looks near identical to mine that was made in Sydney.

Dave

I had a look and it's branded "Swordfish" with some chinese writing, I would have bought it in the mid 1970's when the old workshop was set up.

So, it's been belted and abused for about 30+ years! Still does the job!

I've got a 5" leg vise now for heavy duty bashing, that thing is as solid as a rock. You can see it in the first picture.

Regards
Ray

Hi,
After Stuart wrote in the other tread that he misunderstood what this spanner is for, I thought I would add a bit more and a few more pictures of what it's for for anyone else.
Looking over the original post I can see I didn't give all the details I should have

The spanner fits the NT30 spindle nose of a milling machine, and because these mills don't come with a brake, it is impossible to hold it for doing up or loosening the draw bar or collets that are in there. One could be made to suit a NT40 etc as well to suit other spindles.

The machined out collar in the spanner goes around the spindle and the two cut outs in the spanner engage with the drive dogs on the NT30 spindle.

Here are a few more pictures.

Originally Posted by Dave J

Hi,
After Stuart wrote in the other tread that he misunderstood what this spanner is for, I thought I would add a bit more and a few more pictures of what it's for for anyone else.
Looking over the original post I can see I didn't give all the details I should have

The spanner fits the NT30 spindle nose of a milling machine, and because these mills don't come with a brake, it is impossible to hold it for doing up or loosening the draw bar or collets that are in there. One could be made to suit a NT40 etc as well to suit other spindles.

The machined out collar in the spanner goes around the spindle and the two cut outs in the spanner engage with the drive dogs on the NT30 spindle.

Here are a few more pictures.

glad Stuart asked that question...i didnt want to look dumb....again
thanks Dave, now to measure it up and make one......mmm but can it be made without me having to get the lathe out of the box...lol

Well I fianilly got "around to it" (after having a cutter work its way out of my ER32 chuck). As I only need to use the spanner for the ER chuck(my mill has a brake), I tossed around a few ideas and ended up with this..... I think I may have spent a few hours thinking only to reinvented the wheel lol

Sorry about the picture

Stuart