Power Drawbar

[wvnitroman]

Hi All,
New to the forum and thanks for allowing me to join. I have been looking at both mills and lathes for the last couple months and to be quit honest my head is spinning. Trying to decide on good old used work horses or opt for new Chinese/Taiwan equipment, the list goes on and on and on........ Anyhow, my immediate question is this, can you install a power draw-bar on the PM-835S mill?

Thanks and God Bless,
Kevin

 

[Eddyde]

Hi Kevin, Wellcome abord.
You will get a lot of opinions on the new vs old machine debate... As far as the power drawbar, I don't have any firsthand experience with that mill but it's a Bridgeport clone, so you should be able to mount one, although it may not be a direct bolt on, you may have to do some mods... Call Matt at PM he'll give you the lowdown.

 

[FanMan]

Others may disagree, but I can't see the need for a power drawbar unless you're working in a fast paced production shop.

Where I work (I'm an engineer, not a professional machinist) they recently bought power drawbars for all the Bridgeports. Now the toolroom sounds like a tire shop.

 

[kd4gij]

Others may disagree, but I can't see the need for a power drawbar unless you're working in a fast paced production shop.

Where I work (I'm an engineer, not a professional machinist) they recently bought power drawbars for all the Bridgeports. Now the toolroom sounds like a tire shop.

For some people reaching the draw bar on a knee mill can be challenging. I don't have a problem but I worked with a couple machinist that had to use a step stool to change a tool.

 

[kd4gij]

To the OP you may need to modify the mounting plate for one of the commercial made units. But no reason it wouldn't work

 

[jmarkwolf]

Others may disagree, but I can't see the need for a power drawbar unless you're working in a fast paced production shop. Where I work (I'm an engineer, not a professional machinist) they recently bought power drawbars for all the Bridgeports. Now the toolroom sounds like a tire shop.

I am 5' 11' and had no issue reaching the draw bar on my old Bridgeport, but on my new Acer there is no way I can reach it, with the same cribbing. The ACER machine is a lot taller.

I'm seriously considering a power draw bar, but am using a step stool in the interim. The stool is always underfoot and in the way, and I'm concerned I might trip over or take a mis-step on the step stool in the "heat of battle". So it looks like a power draw bar for me, either DIY or commercial.

I'm not keen on needing to remember to turn on/off the air compressor, but that's preferable to an injured ankle if I were to miss-step on the step stool!

I think, I'll attempt a "home-built" power draw bar, and if I fail miserably I'll purchase.

 

[mksj]

I am 5' 7" and it would be a joke for me to manually operate the draw bar on my knee mill all the time. My last mill that didn't have a draw bar, I used an ER collet system most of the time. You also have the issue of end mills dropping out of the collet when you bang down the draw bar, let alone me falling off a step stool that I would need for mine. I use a Maxi Torque Rite Air Power Draw Bar and it works very well. There are also numerous inexpensive home built pneumatic designs that work great (although I would be too short for those). Once you use one, you will never go back to manual. The issue is sometimes mounting to the top plate, in particular with the stepped belt heads because of the additional mechanisms on top for braking and belt changing. Most commercial units, like the Maxi Torque will make custom draw bars for your machine.

Some examples on the 935TV and TS which should be very similar if not the same for use on the 835.
https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/saunders-power-drawbar-kit-on-a-pm935tv.56209/#post-466708