Many thanks to all the galoots who responded. It's amazing how the obvious
things escape you sometimes. I tried twisting the pad off and
zippitydoodaoffitcame. I put an appropriate sized flat washer under the clip
that holds the whole mess to the shaft, and she's as good as new. It really
did need repaired too because if you held it a certain way, the ball
bearings would start to fall out! Amazingly they all came into my possession
intact.  Fortunately I had really only lightly tapped the pad using a pine
block to guard against the hammer blows, so no damage was done. As an aside
to all of this, does anybody know about this "Worth" brand of bit brace? It
appears to be a decent quality brace. Just a bit curious about the makers
ancestry. Once again, thanks to everyone who replied.

Frank

"Talking to her is like backing up on a brace and bit. Either way you just
get bored."   --Foghorn Leghorn