My Admiral bought me a great Milwaukee right-angle drill for Christmas and a “Cranker” bit, which fits in a winch.
I used it for the first few times recently, and it is seemed like a pretty good set up. Raised the mainsail no problem.
Then I tried to use it to crank my 200 pounds up the mast...and we had a problem.
The Milwaukee drill has to be set to reverse to crank my single speed Lewmar 16 cabin top winch I use for my halyard. As the guy who was running the drill put some load on it, the chuck of the drill unscrewed.
After inspection, we figured out that this design of drill uses a cap screw, through the drill chuck and into the drill shaft. When the drill is used in reverse, this screw keeps the chuck in place (or is supposed to). On my drill, the cap screw had broken off, and would no longer hold the chuck on the shaft (in reverse, the chuck would unscrew off the shaft).
Very disappointing.
I ordered 4 new cap screws from Milwaukee to see if this broken screw was a fluke (but I don’t think so).
I also read some notes on the Cranker website where they now offer an “Ultimate Cranker” that replaces the chuck on the 1/2” Milwaukee drill. Apparently, the broken screw is not unique to me, and the inventor came up with this new design to address issues with the chuck problems on the Milwaukee right-angle drill.
I reached out to “Bill” at the Cranker and he agreed to take back my very slightly used Original Cranker for a credit if I purchased a new Ultimate Cranker. These things are not cheap...$50 for original, and $80 for the Ultimate (including shipping). But I appreciated the fact that Bill would allow me to upgrade so I am not out the $50 spent on the first device.
So, if you are considering a drill and winch attachment, make sure you look at the options. I think the new design is much more fool proof if you use it with a Milwaukee drill.
Greg
I used it for the first few times recently, and it is seemed like a pretty good set up. Raised the mainsail no problem.
Then I tried to use it to crank my 200 pounds up the mast...and we had a problem.
The Milwaukee drill has to be set to reverse to crank my single speed Lewmar 16 cabin top winch I use for my halyard. As the guy who was running the drill put some load on it, the chuck of the drill unscrewed.
After inspection, we figured out that this design of drill uses a cap screw, through the drill chuck and into the drill shaft. When the drill is used in reverse, this screw keeps the chuck in place (or is supposed to). On my drill, the cap screw had broken off, and would no longer hold the chuck on the shaft (in reverse, the chuck would unscrew off the shaft).
Very disappointing.
I ordered 4 new cap screws from Milwaukee to see if this broken screw was a fluke (but I don’t think so).
I also read some notes on the Cranker website where they now offer an “Ultimate Cranker” that replaces the chuck on the 1/2” Milwaukee drill. Apparently, the broken screw is not unique to me, and the inventor came up with this new design to address issues with the chuck problems on the Milwaukee right-angle drill.
I reached out to “Bill” at the Cranker and he agreed to take back my very slightly used Original Cranker for a credit if I purchased a new Ultimate Cranker. These things are not cheap...$50 for original, and $80 for the Ultimate (including shipping). But I appreciated the fact that Bill would allow me to upgrade so I am not out the $50 spent on the first device.
So, if you are considering a drill and winch attachment, make sure you look at the options. I think the new design is much more fool proof if you use it with a Milwaukee drill.
Greg