jbg230
Member
Since I'm relatively new a this, I've relied mostly on Harbor Freight and Grizzly for the larger tools. Everything has been working great and I've been proud of the pens I've been making. I just started some various segmenting methods, but the offset barrel hole I drilled in my first segmented blank reminded me of the holes from my HF benchtop drill press I recently sold. I "upgraded" to a Porter Cable floor drill press and am now blaming the offset holes on my brad point drill bits that the Woodcraft sales people insisted I should get.
I decided to listen to the "real experts" here at IAP and set my sights to drill on the lathe. I purchased a 3/4" fairly heavy drill chuck for my MT1 lathe. I was scared of the weight, but I tested it out and there was no strain or slow down of the lathe with the chuck mounted. The lathe seemed to work just as it had been.
I finally completed the system with the large PSI pen blank drilling chuck.
Everything lined up perfect, but only when I kept the tail stock positioned perfect. When not locked down, the tail stock has play in it, from side to side and from front to back. Of course I thought that only my Harbor Freight lathe is the only lathe that does this. Is there any wiggle in the tail stocks in the $5000 lathes? When I kept the tail stock flat and centered, it was dead on, but it was easy to lose the positioning as I was moving the bit in and out.
I'm wondering if the better lathes have tail stocks that can lock down just slightly so you don't need to keep a hand on it; just turn the handle to advance the drill bit.
Anyway, I was drilling very dense Honduras Rosewood and was conscientious about going slow and backing out and drilling gain every inch or so. But I did get over anxious towards the end and increased the lathe speed, but got through without a problem.
Then I had a bad experience. As I was backing out for the final time, the blank blew apart and the 3/4" drill chuck flew out of the socket, bit and all. After realizing how lucky I was not getting hit and swearing to myself that I wouldn't tell my wife, I assessed what happened. I realized I hadn't cleaned the morse taper, nor the socket. I also know I should have been patient and kept the lathe speed to its minimum the whole time. But I still don't know if it was a blank blow out or if the tail stock in this mini lathe is just not strong enough to handle a heavy drill chuck. Turns out that the darn hole was perfectly centered! So I don't want to give up.
Yeah I bent my 3/8" brad point, but it's probably for the better. I'm going to be safer and I'll have learned a lot about drilling with a lathe. I just want to come to terms with whether I have been foolish trying to do something this lathe was not meant to do or if I just needed better technique. Maybe both!
I decided to listen to the "real experts" here at IAP and set my sights to drill on the lathe. I purchased a 3/4" fairly heavy drill chuck for my MT1 lathe. I was scared of the weight, but I tested it out and there was no strain or slow down of the lathe with the chuck mounted. The lathe seemed to work just as it had been.
I finally completed the system with the large PSI pen blank drilling chuck.
Everything lined up perfect, but only when I kept the tail stock positioned perfect. When not locked down, the tail stock has play in it, from side to side and from front to back. Of course I thought that only my Harbor Freight lathe is the only lathe that does this. Is there any wiggle in the tail stocks in the $5000 lathes? When I kept the tail stock flat and centered, it was dead on, but it was easy to lose the positioning as I was moving the bit in and out.
I'm wondering if the better lathes have tail stocks that can lock down just slightly so you don't need to keep a hand on it; just turn the handle to advance the drill bit.
Anyway, I was drilling very dense Honduras Rosewood and was conscientious about going slow and backing out and drilling gain every inch or so. But I did get over anxious towards the end and increased the lathe speed, but got through without a problem.
Then I had a bad experience. As I was backing out for the final time, the blank blew apart and the 3/4" drill chuck flew out of the socket, bit and all. After realizing how lucky I was not getting hit and swearing to myself that I wouldn't tell my wife, I assessed what happened. I realized I hadn't cleaned the morse taper, nor the socket. I also know I should have been patient and kept the lathe speed to its minimum the whole time. But I still don't know if it was a blank blow out or if the tail stock in this mini lathe is just not strong enough to handle a heavy drill chuck. Turns out that the darn hole was perfectly centered! So I don't want to give up.
Yeah I bent my 3/8" brad point, but it's probably for the better. I'm going to be safer and I'll have learned a lot about drilling with a lathe. I just want to come to terms with whether I have been foolish trying to do something this lathe was not meant to do or if I just needed better technique. Maybe both!