Removing Clarkson chuck

Hi there, i have recently bought a Raglan vertical miller,

 

I'm in the process of cleaning and setting it up and i would like to remove the chuck from the spindle,

 

Anyhow, i can't, after loosening drawbar, i have inserted a c spanner and the Clarkson wrench, and pull all you like, nothing happens,

 

Any ideas, i'm assuming the collar around the chuck is for screwing upwards thus pulling the chuck down out of the spindle, or am i wrong?

 

I spoke to the guy i bought it off and he said it had never been removed.

 

Please help!!!!

 

Thanks again for all your help so far!!

 

Thanks

 

Nic

I've never come across this style of securing a milling chuck in over 45 years in the trade! All I can suggest is the screwed ring may be a way of breaking the taper, as its got tommy bar holes, can you move this ring in any direction? The complete assembly might be held on an international or moorse taper, to find out give the loosened draw bar a sharp crack with a copper mallet, which should break any holding taper. If that doesn't have any any effect I'd proberly leave well alone.

The spindle is 2MT,

 

I have given the drawbar a good hit,

 

The ring will not move in any direction,

 

Thanks

 

 

Hi Nic

The normal way is to loosen the draw bar about 2 turns only then firmly tap the top of the drawbar squarely with a hammer ideally a copper hammer to protect the drawbar nut. One or two firm taps should do it. I am assuming the spindle has a Morse taper. Take care not to undo more than 2 turns. The objective is to leave a small gap that allows the chuck to be driven down while keeping as many threads engaged as possible to transfer the hammer blows when the chuck is being driven out.

You mentioned a C spanner, if this means that the particular Clarkson chuck you have has a locking collar to lock the body of the chuck against the face of the spindle for stability as well as a Morse taper socket you may be in luck. This collar may help to apply pressure while you are tapping.

I acquired one of these chucks in a job lot a while back. The Morse taper was broken off. Maybe it was a crash or maybe it was over tightening the collar, I will never know. However it is worth bearing in mind when you go to work on it.

There may be a complication? If the Clarkson chuck has been in place for a very long time; is it months or years? You may have a more difficult job ahead of you. The taper shank may be very firmly attached.

If you strike the drawbar too firmly the spindle bearings may be compromised. If a few firm taps do not shift the chuck in the first instance it may help if you remove the drawbar, liberally coat it in oil and quickly replace it. The oil should run down the bar and into the taper socket area. It would be a good idea to let it soak overnight.

I you may find this chuck uses the older two part collets not the one piece new type.
They can be a little hard to find.

Cheers
John

There is an ad on Ebay for a Raglan Mill user handbook.

If its a Morse taper soak it for a bit and try warming it very locally on the ring and try again.

Perhaps a harder wack with a copper hammer.

Perhaps make a long handled 'C' spanner to try and move the ring?

There is a cross section of a Raglan head on Google, its the first one that comes up.

 

Clive

Hi John,

 

Yes the chuck has been in there since new, i will try some oil.

 

Thanks for the advice.

Hi Clive,

 

I have the user handbook, thanks.

 

Ok, i was wondering about heat.

 

Thanks again, greatly appreciated!

Hi Nic

Beware: I just checked the broken chuck I have. There is a hole in the centre of the 2 Morse taper to accommodate the centering pin. The metal is only 5mm thick around the pin and it is hardened; clearly a weak point.

Cheers
John

Okay John,

 

Thanks for that, I have applied oil, so hopefully i will get a bit further tomorrow!

Hi There

I believe the ring is designed to screw against the face of the mill to make the cutter more rigid.

I don't think it is a removing device.

regards David

David is quite right,the ring mentioned,Clarkson's refer to as the 'damping' ring.Their leaflet reads:

"The purpose of this ring is to give added stability to chucks which have relatively small tapers ad a relatively long overhang..."

 

Also note that the damping ring has a left hand thread!

I had a similar problem removing a morse taper from an old mill some years ago. The quill was first treated to a liberal dose of a release agent, left to soak in over a day or so. I loosened the drawbar a couple of turns and applied an impact drill in the non rotating setting (i.e impact only) this was sufficient over several minutes to free off the taper.

 

This is preferable to whacking the drawbar with a large hammer as the effect on the bearings is minimised, although there is no guarantee that the bearings will not need replacing.

 

Graeme

Impacting the shaft with a hammer you need to rotate the shaft as you do it.

The act of hammering with the shaft in one position will 'Brinell' the bearings and forever afterwards will make a bonking noise! (No puns please)

This happened to my car once as I slid on the snow and hit the kerb with the wheel turned, whenever I went around a long sweeping bend I could feel and hear the ball bearings bouncing over the dents made by that impact!

When I changed the bearings and examined it it was very evident that the ball bearings had dented the outer ring.

The impact hammer sounds a good method but still rotate the shaft.

Clive

On my Rexon mill the spindle nose is threaded, and has a ring on it, I think its called a damping ring (I have no hand book, or any info on this machine), what I do when I have the collet chuck or similar in the mill, I nip up the draw bar, then tighten down the damping ring, then to remove, loosen the drawbar two turns, then tighten the damping ring further, and the chuck drops, its then just a case of undoing the draw bar while I hang on to the chuck. on't try this way with a Jacobs chuck, you stand a good chance of taking the chuck off its Jacobs taper, and leaving the morse taper in the mandrel. I used to whack the draw bar, but using the above method I'v not needed to for many years. The damping ring also holde in place the three to two MT adapter. Ian S C

Hi,

 

IT'S OUT!!!

 

Left it for the night soaking, gave it a tug this morning and out it came,

 

The taper looks in good condition too!

 

Thanks so much again for the advice,

 

Cheers

 

Nic