How to hold the quill still

[Inferno]

I finally broke down and bought a collet wrench. Before that I would use a pipe wrench on the collet collar and a crescent wrench on the top of the quill. It's not designed for a crescent wrench.

My mill head doesn't have a lock pin to hold the quill steady when changing collets or even when switching out the draw bar for that matter.

What would be a better way to hold the quill in place?

 

[Shotgun]

Dunno. What kind of mill ya' got?
I just fixed the brake on my Bridgeport clone last week, but before that I'd just grab and hold the belt. When I had my ER-32 collet adapter in, I'd use one hand on the collet nut, and another on the drawbar.

 

[davidpbest]

You didn't say what kind of mill you have, but most mills have a way to lock the spindle from rotating, or you can add a gizmo that accomplishes the same thing. Such as . . . . . .

Bridgeport J-head:



Add-on accessory for a benchtop mill:



With the spindle rotation locked, you can use a box, crescent, or specialized drawbar wrench/hammer to loosen the drawbar and hit the top of the drawbar to release the collet, etc. One like this:

 

[Asm109]

When I put my mill in back gear, there is enough friction to work with the R8 collet without the spindle rotating.
Mill is a Hedwick, also sold as a Logan or Rockford mill.

 

[Inferno]

You didn't say what kind of mill you have, but most mills have a way to lock the spindle from rotating, or you can add a gizmo that accomplishes the same thing. Such as . . . . . .

Bridgeport J-head:

View attachment 445122

Add-on accessory for a benchtop mill:

View attachment 445123

With the spindle rotation locked, you can use a box, crescent, or specialized drawbar wrench/hammer to loosen the drawbar and hit the top of the drawbar to release the collet, etc. One like this:

View attachment 445124

I have a bench top. I can't do what's done in the second picture because I have a really flimsy belt guard. It did give me an idea though. I can add a locking mechanism directly to the pulley somehow.

 

[mattthemuppet2]

I just hold onto the pulley on my 6x26, though to be honest I rarely ever touch the drawbar as I have an R8>ER25 collet chuck

 

[Parlo]

Is the problem that you don't have a third hand to hold the drawbar spanner + the collet locknut + the tool?

 

[Inferno]

Is the problem that you don't have a third hand to hold the drawbar spanner + the collet locknut + the tool?

No, it's a two hand job. That sounds bad.

The problem is I don't like using a crescent wrench on the quill. I don't have a convenient spot for the crescent wrench but, part of it is I just don't like crescent wrenches.

 

[darkzero]

Add-on accessory for a benchtop mill:

Those pics look very familiar.

Unfortunately that company went out of business & aren't available anymore.

Another method for small mill/drills that don't have a spindle lock, you can see in the pics that I'm using a double nut drawbar. The top nut is fixed which allows you to hold the drawbar/spindle from spinning while loosening the bottom nut. The bottom nut also makes the draw bar length adjustable for R8 collets & arbors that have inconsistent length threads.






And for mill/drills that have splines, can use a spline wrench. LittleMachineShop sells the Luminar wrench.

 

[Inferno]

Spline wrench. I'll look it up for my machine