My version of the air ratchet drawbar

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10-08-2011, 10:45 PM
skray775

4 Attachment(s)

My version of the air ratchet drawbar

Hi Guys,

I decided last week to go with Tormach TTS tooling so I needed a powered draw bar of some type.

My machine is a round column and I have the ball screws driving the quill directly so any system that put a lot of down force on the draw bar was out.

With suggestions form the group in another thread I decided to use the 3/8" butterfly ratchet from Harbor Freight. It cost $25.00. I had to mount it to the belt cover so I could still open the top when needed. I used 3/8" id bushings and some old R/C car springs I had laying around. It works great, thanks for the suggestions guys.
10-08-2011, 11:42 PM
eartaker

Wow that was quick. Glad you got it solved and that it worked out. =]
10-11-2011, 01:28 PM
Fastest1

The pictures wont enlarge for me. All I get is a black screen once a picture is selected. I would like to see this bracket in detail, though it looks simple enough. You say you mounted it on the belt cover? I am missing something, isnt the belt cover plastic? OTOH you are using a conventional drawbar and not the belleville washers ala Hoss, right?
10-11-2011, 03:13 PM
Connor

Quote:

Originally Posted by kregan

Hi Guys,

I decided last week to go with Tormach TTS tooling so I needed a powered draw bar of some type.

My machine is a round column and I have the ball screws driving the quill directly so any system that put a lot of down force on the draw bar was out.

With suggestions form the group in another thread I decided to use the 3/8" butterfly ratchet from Harbor Freight. It cost $25.00. I had to mount it to the belt cover so I could still open the top when needed. I used 3/8" id bushings and some old R/C car springs I had laying around. It works great, thanks for the suggestions guys.

Can you shoot a video of it working and how it interfaces with the drawbar itself ?
10-11-2011, 05:57 PM
LUCKY13

It looks pretty simple, appears like he just grabs the gun and pushes the whole assy down by hand ( look at the light springs). So when he pushes it down the socket on the end goes over the draw bar and he hits the trigger.

Cutting angles on the top edge of the draw bar nut would allow the socket to engauge it while spinning with downward pressure was applied so it would automatically slip on when used.

His may not have angles cut this way, and it doesnt have to be but it helps alittle to cut angles in either the drawbar nut or the socket. They dont need much just enough to guide the socket on the nut, and only for one dirrections (loosening).

You can see a second plate on the bottom of his upper plate, this has set screws in it to lock down on the gun. It may be milled out this way instead of a added plate but you can see the raised (lowered in this case) section on the bottom of the upper plate.

His belt cover appears to be stamped steal ( sheet metal). If your cover is plastic you need to guage how strong it is. The springs used to hold up the gun are light, and thats all they need to do is be able to return the gun after pushing it down, no more. With a plastic cover adding a spreader plate under the assy would help. Maybe making it big enough for it to reach out to the outer edges of the cover where there is more support. Of course you would have to judge if your cover has enough strength to hold up, and a spreader plate, with the right size springs would help you get there. Its not like the gun locks onto the drawbar, it just floats on top of it so there is no added stress other than what it takes to push the gun down to the drawbar. This is very little and even plastic should hold up with the right prep and spring size.

The butterfly type gun such as his makes revearsing the dirrection easy. So using this setup would be very simple in practice (and fast).

Jess
10-11-2011, 08:00 PM
skray775

1 Attachment(s)

I can shoot a little iPhone video later and post it.

My belt cover is steel so the mount is bolted to the cover with four 8/32" socket cap screws.

The upper plate is made from two parts of 1/4" aluminum simple because I did not have any 1/2" scrap around. A pair of 6/32" set screws hold the gun in place on the upper mount.

I am attaching the DXF file if anyone wants it.

Operation is simple, grab the gun, push it down, rotate the butterfly lever the direction you want it to spin. My machine is pretty small so it is always easy to reach and there is no enclosure so I did not need a remote air switch to activated it.
10-12-2011, 12:35 AM
Fastest1

Pictures work fine now? Weird. Nice job.:cheers:
10-13-2011, 03:33 AM
skray775

Short video for Connor9220

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5mZa9JklH0]Air Ratchet Power Drawbar - YouTube[/ame]
04-09-2019, 07:54 PM
Arrien

What do you think about modern air-ratchets. If you have Guide 2019 https://mygaragetool.com/best-air-ratchet/ what one would you prefer? We use it to fasten bolts that aren't easy to be reached, but I'm not professional only amateur, so what model shall I buyor maybe I am not in need to buy new one and pre-owned air-ratchets are also good. I'd like to clarify. My truck is nearly 8 years old and it requires some repair from time to time. Now I'm thinking over purchasing AIRCAT 802-5, but I'm not sure yet.
05-12-2022, 07:40 PM
minsk

Re: My version of the air ratchet drawbar

Quote:

Originally Posted by skray775

I can shoot a little iPhone video later and post it.

My belt cover is steel so the mount is bolted to the cover with four 8/32" socket cap screws.

The upper plate is made from two parts of 1/4" aluminum simple because I did not have any 1/2" scrap around. A pair of 6/32" set screws hold the gun in place on the upper mount.

I am attaching the DXF file if anyone wants it.

Operation is simple, grab the gun, push it down, rotate the butterfly lever the direction you want it to spin. My machine is pretty small so it is always easy to reach and there is no enclosure so I did not need a remote air switch to activated it.

thank you for posting this
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