Drilling blanks on the lathe?

[dhallnc]

For those of you that drill pen blanks on the lathe:

1. If drilling a two part pen (slimline), do you drill the whole blank or the two pieces separately?

2. Do you round the blank 1st?

3. What jaws do you use?

Thanks
Darryl

 

[jttheclockman]

I round the blank first. I use a collet chuck with approriate collet. If the pen kit has the same tube size both top and bottom then yes I drill stright through. Make sure to clear chips often. Make sure to lock tailstock before drilling. Make sure to steady drill chuck as it is entering hole. Use Denatured alcohol to cool bit. That is mt 2¢

 

[MAB11]

I use this: http://www.pennstateind.com/store/CSCPENCHK.html. It works well IMO.

 

[ldb2000]

I always round the blank first , this way it fits the collet chuck and almost always guarantees that the blank drills perfectly centered holes . I also would cut and drill the 2 halfs of a slimline separately , from the center out on both blanks to keep grain alignment . Also drilling the shortened blanks minimizes the chance of the bit following the grain and drilling an off center hole . Turning the blank round also gives me a better idea of what the blank looks like inside and whether it is worth making a pen from .
When drilling on the lathe , you should ALWAYS keep one hand on the drill chuck for safety sake , since you can't use a draw bar to ensure that the chuck stays firmly seated in the talistock .

 

[dow]

Hey Darryl. Good questions. Here are some thoughts that might be useful to you:

• I don't round the blank first.
• I use a wood river (I think that's the brand) chuck with pin jaws to hold the blank.
• If both tubes are the same size, then yes, drill first, then cut. It's much quicker that way.
• Mark the center of the blank and use a center drill to start the hole and help the bit run true.
  • NOTE: After starting your hole with one of these, be very slow when you start drilling with your regular bit. Otherwise, the started hole seems to try to pull the bit into it really fast, which can cause some tear out if you're not paying attention. Also, make sure not to go too deep with the center drill, especially if your drill hole is smaller than the diameter of the center drill. It's just for starting the hole.
• I drill at the slowest speed, and use the Colt penmakers bits when I can, especially if drilling a long blank. They seem to run very true, and drill very fast.
• If I'm drilling wood, I don't usually cool the bit, just clear the chips often and don't get into a hurry (denatured alcohol, huh? I might have to try that).
• If I'm drilling acrylic, then I use WD-40 to cool the bit and lubricate the hole.
• Whether drilling wood or acrylic, I pull the bit out every 1/2-3/4" to clear the hole and give it all a chance to cool a little.
• Absolutely make sure that you lock down the tailstock.
• Mark the drill bit at just shy of the length of the blank. When you get to that point, cut back on the speed that you're cranking the tailstock into the blank to help preven tear-out of the blank. (others will tell you not to drill all the way through and then to cut the end off to expose the hole, but I haven't found this to be necessary if a little care is taken at the end of the drilling).

That's all I can think of right now. Good luck with it.

Dow

 

[GColeman]

If I may add a question to the OP:

How do you overcome the lack of tail stock travel on a midi lathe?

When I drill on the lathe I have to readjust the tailstock to get to the proper depth. When I do I can't eject chips properly because I can't remove the bit completly.

 

[islandturner]

1. If drilling a two part pen (slimline), do you drill the whole blank or the two pieces separately? Separately
2. Do you round the blank 1st? Usually no, but occassionally, depending on the blank. It it's square, it'll drill fine as is. Something like antler has to be rounded first.
3. What jaws do you use? I like the Nova pin jaws:

Good luck...!
Steve

 

[dhallnc]

Thanks for all the good feedback. I received a Nova Midi Chuck for Christmas with some extra jaws. What I have is 20mm, 25mm, 50mm, 70mm, spigot and step jaws.

I was hoping I could use one of these for drilling the pen blanks?

Note that I have never used a chuck, so I'm clueless as to what I have and the uses

If I may add a question to the OP:

How do you overcome the lack of tail stock travel on a midi lathe?

When I drill on the lathe I have to readjust the tailstock to get to the proper depth. When I do I can't eject chips properly because I can't remove the bit completly.

Good question. I have never drilled on the lathe, so I'm curious to know that as well.

 

[tim self]

If I may add a question to the OP:
Since the OP is asking the ?, I'll answer yours.
How do you overcome the lack of tail stock travel on a midi lathe?

When I drill on the lathe I have to readjust the tailstock to get to the proper depth. When I do I can't eject chips properly because I can't remove the bit completly.

I do not drill all at once because of this problem. If we have a 2" tube and only 2.25" travel, it doesn't work to well. I end up with bit wonder if I go to far. However, you could try moving the tail stock manually without turning the wheel in. And then remove the bit from the hole by moving the assembly back out.

 

[jttheclockman]

Usually when you don't have enough travel due to the tailstock reach just slide the tailstock in with the bit fully retracted in the quill but leaving the bit in the hole to ensure proper alignment. Unless a blank has segmentation where dead center is critical it is not a problem if the bit does not come out the center on the other side. The problem there would be if you turned the blank round and you left no room for error because the tube diameter is too large. You should then be using a larger blank in my opinion. You can pull the tailstock back out the same you slide it in if you need to clear chips. But by the time you need to do this you should be through the other end.

 

[jttheclockman]

I use this: http://www.pennstateind.com/store/CSCPENCHK.html. It works well IMO.

This looks interesting if it keeps the blank centered. No need to round the blank not that rounding a blank is such a big deal. What they won't think of.

 

[chrisk]

As I wrote elsewhere, I drill my blanks on the lathe with a Oneway chuck... :
http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/st...k_2_jaws?Args=

... completed with those smooth spigot jaws (Ref: 130-3601):
http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/st...y_spigot?Args=

Generally I turn the blanks round before drilling them. But yesterday I drilled +/- 20 square slimlines. I began to drill on my drill press and couldn't finish the first pen (the second part splitted)... Apart from... smacking my drill press... I finished all the drilling on the lathe.

 

[jskeen]

I turn most blanks round or partially round before I start. Then I look for the best place to cut. I then drill both pieces from the center to the end. I started out using a PSI Micro chuck, but after a couple of years, the spigot jaws wore or warped till they didn't hold well, so I got a psi collet chuck. Nothing against the chuck really, I abused it way beyond it's specs. Should have saved up for a bigger one in the first place. I usually only turn the ram in an inch or so, then just unlock the tailstock and push it in rather than have to back and fill with the limited travel. Once I get close to the end I'll lock it back down and advance the bit out the end. This works for me for probably 90% of the blanks I do, but on some I am paranoid enough to do it the hard way all the way through. It's an experience thing, you will develop a feel for it.

 

[aggromere]

I always drill blanks by tubes. I never drill a really long hole and then cut into lengths for the pen. I think the longer the hole, the more chance for problems. Like others have said I round my blanks first and mostly use a 20mm collet to hold blanks while drilling. I center drill, then drill a small hole and gradually progress to the size for the pen. On large diameter pens I might drill three or four, on a 7mm I only drill two.

If a blank is too big to fit in my largest collet, I use a 6 jaw chuck on my metal lathe to drill. I have experimented with many different types of chucks, but none are as accurate as the collets and drilling in progressively larger sizes makes it a lot easier to get a good result.

 

[KenV]

Depends on the value/sensitivity of the blank -- Butch has it dead on for the high value, need to be precise blanks.

I turn round with a short tenon and square shoulder on the ends and mount in the pin jaws (any of the mini jaws on the noval work - and the "spigot" jaws with that nova are pin jaws - have one), You do need a bit of a shoulder to bear on the end of the jaws and just light snug. Set center with the tailstock and then snug up the blank.

You can drill with the bit in a drill chuck by hand for smaller sizes pretty well by the way. ( I have a 3/4 inch chuck that provides a bunch of mass for drilling larger holes).

Most drill presses are quite sloppy with precision - and have more runout than you might expect. My scroll chuck has less runout than my old craftsman drill press and the collet chuck is dead on -- drill chuck in the MT is about 0.005 runout with tuning and the scrolls chuck with pin jaws is about 0.007.

Cumulative error -- lathe drilling beats drill press

Speed of production leans to the drill press if it is good-nuf.

 

[fernhills]

I make them round most of the time and drill them on the lathe, accept when i have a 37/64" burl or an acrylic and i want some room. I have already drilled a burl where a knarly section broke through because it was very thin. I also had a acrylic heat up that the collet chuck distorted the blank where it gripped. Making them round is a good thing but not all the time, On the big ones i like a little more meat, when they are square. IMHO. Carl

 

[hdtran]

Thanks for all the good feedback. I received a Nova Midi Chuck for Christmas with some extra jaws. What I have is 20mm, 25mm, 50mm, 70mm, spigot and step jaws.

I was hoping I could use one of these for drilling the pen blanks?

Note that I have never used a chuck, so I'm clueless as to what I have and the uses

If I may add a question to the OP:

How do you overcome the lack of tail stock travel on a midi lathe?

When I drill on the lathe I have to readjust the tailstock to get to the proper depth. When I do I can't eject chips properly because I can't remove the bit completly.

Good question. I have never drilled on the lathe, so I'm curious to know that as well.

Use superglue, and superglue the chuck key to your hand :laugh: Seriously, the chuck is a way of holding your work on your lathe. If you have a Jet, you would screw the chuck onto your headstock. The chuck key is an oversized version of what you use to tighten drill bits, but it drives the jaws of the chuck in and out. You use that to tighten down on your wood. Wood doesn't need to be round, but round or square (symmetric, at any rate) helps!

Always keep the chuck key attached to your hand; never leave it in the chuck. This is a big safety thing! (Don't ask me how I know!)

Spin the wood with the lathe, and push the drill bit in. No big deal. If you're worried, go to Home Depot or Lowe's, and buy some cheap Poplar 1x1 sticks, and drill practice holes.

Best,

 

[dhallnc]

Thank you everyone for the feedback. If it weren't for this forum, I would be lost.

Darryl

 

[GColeman]

Let me add my thanks too. My apologizes to the OP for the partial hijack.