Hi All.
I've been meddling with the old (1970s) Meddings LB1 drill press that I acq uired about a year back. I'd like to remove the chuck (various reasons) and I'm not clear how best to go about it.
The quill assembly is a wide metal tube with a row of teeth milled along it s length (for the plunge mechanism) and a freely-rotating spindle running t hrough the middle, with bearings at each end that are seated in the aforeme ntioned wide tube. At one end, the spindle has splines to engage the pulley drive mechanism. At the other end, the chuck is fitted.
The spindle is solid, so there is no access hole for driving in a wedge to push a taper fit chuck end outwards. The possibilities that occur to me, th en, are: i) it's a threaded fitting or ii) it's a taper fit that needs to b e disengaged some other way.
My best guess is that option ii) is correct and that it requires a two-pron ged wedge to drive the spindle and chuck apart. Absence of spanner flats at the base of the chuck and the scarred metal evidence of previous prying ar e consistent with this.
Does anyone know, unequivocally, whether an old Meddings LB1 drill press ch uck will be a taper fitting that needs to be driven out by force? Are there any good tips for making the spindle-chuck separation as easy as possible? For example, could I put the assembly in the freezer for a while, then hea t the chuck immediately upon taking it out?
Advice appreciated.
Terry.