Axminster Pillar Drill - Why Is This Happening

[El Barto]

I bought this drill around a year ago and it has had fairly regular use but I've encountered this problem a couple of times: the chuck "falls off" the spindle. In one instance the chuck AND spindle both fell off. This only seems to happen when it's working on harder woods and it's under more of a strain. But it is making reaming these mortises basically impossible...

The model is AHDP16F and it's not the most robust or powerful machine in the world but this is very annoying.

 

[Lazurus]

Is there no threaded hole for a retaining screw, if not perhaps the taper has worn enough to allow a poor friction fit. Maybe a local engineer could tap the taper for a retaining bolt?

 

[Racers]

Vibration will loosen the tapers, give them both a clean and a tap from a mallet and adjust the speed for minimum vibration.

Pete

 

[SVB]

The male taper looks odd - I’d expect a ground finish all over, not just the top third, why is be bottom 2/3 black?

As has been said, sharp blow from mallet should do it. You could also ‘pre-heat’ the chuck in the oven while SWMBO is out to get it to 200 deg c or so and then fit it so you get a bit of a shrink fit also that might help.

Simon

 

[El Barto]

Thanks guys. Heating it might be a good idea. In the meantime though I’ve cleaned it up and given it a stern beating so hopefully it’ll hold for a while...

 

[CHJ]

Clean both tapers, internal an external using white spirit, meth's or similar and a soft rag.
Assuming you will not have engineers blue to coat a surface try covering the male portion of the tapers with a black Sharpie pen.
Lightly offer the tapers up and gently rotate by hand.
Remove and see if there are any localised rubbed areas or if any disturbance of coating is spread more or less evenly.
If the latter then clean off and assemble dry and strike in place firmly with a substantial none mar mallet or a block of wood and a hammer to seat them in firmly. *

* If the pillar drill assembly is fairly rigid bringing the assembled chuck down sharply onto a block of hardwood on the table may be enough.

(Any high spots, nicks dents etc. or signs of imbedded swarf or debris highlighted by the rubbing check should be carefully removed with very fine abrasive.)

 

[Sideways]

Morse taper reamers are much more affordable than I expected. Just a thought...

 

[stuartpaul]

If it’s only about a year old (warranty?) give Axminster a ring (or email them) and tell them about the issue.

I’d be surprised if they don’t help you out.

 

[johnnyb]

I'm not at all sure that's a Morse taper. Isn't it a Jacobs taper? Morse taper will be in the spindle end. Anyhow it looks a bit rough. Often they have a screw that goes in the centre of the Chuck when the jaws are open. Maybe some bearing retainer before bashing it back together.

 

[AES]

Agreed that it doesn't really look like a Morse taper. Also agree that it looks a bit rough (grubby anyway). And as someone else already said, all those I've seen are "shiny" (ground) all the way down.

If CHJs tips don't work then I'd A) talk to Axi, and/or B) look for the "missing" machine screw (up inside the chuck with the jaws open wide) which MAYBE missing (most do not have or need them). In any case, such machine screw, IF used, is normally used to hold the chuck body onto the adaptor which goes up into the tapered hole in the pillar drill (quill). The whole (sorry!) idea of tapers like Morse, Jacobs, etc,) are that provided there is NIL damage on the two faces, then the whole (sorry again!) thing is firmly held together simply by the interference fit between the adaptor (male) and female (quill).

Big bash/es to retain the chuck and its adaptor into the quill should NOT be necessary. Just a single firm "clunk" with a big piece of wood up from under should do it, and as soon as you come to drill the 1st hole after refitting, then the whole lot should be a complete, very firm single assembly.

For the same reason, personally I disagree with the idea of using Loctite (or similar) bearing retainer "glue". If the 2 parts go together OK as CHJ has described, and assuming they're both perfectly clean, then bearing retainer will certainly hold everything together OK, but that shouldn't be necessary. And if using a bearing retainer you'll have quite a big job to ever get the assembly out of the quill again - even if your pillar drill does have the typical slot in the quill with tapered drift to gently knock the assembly out again.

 

[El Barto]

Thanks for all the replies. It's working ok at the moment so fingers crossed it'll remain that way.