A drill press is not an arbor press. I know that now.

[brino]

You are not the first, I watched the youtuber Meanwhile in the Garage destroy his milling machine using it as a press.

Yeah, we had a thread about that some time ago, here:
https://www.hobby-machinist.com/thr...any-white-man-in-history.103418/#post-1001591

Brian

 

[fluxcapacitor]

I have an extra draw bar for my Sherline WW collets that I wanted to shorten and use with another fixture. It's a steel tube, threaded .275-40 on one end with an aluminum knob pressed onto the other.
View attachment 455717

I need to shorten the tube for it to work, but then I would have to tap the new end. The tap is expensive so I figured I could just re-position the knob and then trim the tube to length, keeping the orignal threaded end

I'm currently working on a longer version of this drawbar to make an adapter for my 3C headstock. I do have a drawbar for the standard MT1 headstock, but I typically leave this on my older lathe with motor off and the threading attachment on for making rather small screws.

A heads up on the Sherline drawbar - the outside diameter main portion of the drawbar is slightly smaller than inside diameter of the knob. The replacement knob is slightly loose sliding fit. I think they grind the outside of the tube except for the end portion on to which the knob gets pressed. You can see a difference in the OD finish in this photo.

The raw steel tube I ordered (not from Sherline) to make a long drawbar from is about 2 or 3 thou over. The unground OD of their drawbar seems about the same. Shortening an existing drawbar might work if you knurled where the knob gets pressed on.

As its too long for my arbor press, I'm aiming for a fit where I can tap the knob on, then secure it with a set screw.