Bree
Member
I bought a nice inlace blank a good holiday look for a Christmas cigar pen. I drilled it at medium speed on my drill press and took small bites backing out and clearing the bit. I had a vacuum cleaner sucking up all the dust and refuse immediately as it came out.
When I go near the bottom I was taking about 1/8" or less before backing out. Well 1/2 of the bottom section... about 3/8" blew out... just cracked in many places and separated off. The blank is now shorter than the tube so it is unusable. There was no melting... just the cracking and blow out.
How do you guys drill these inlace blanks? What did I do wrong? Should I have taped the bottoms? Should I have drilled a small pilot and then drilled with the larger bit?
When I go near the bottom I was taking about 1/8" or less before backing out. Well 1/2 of the bottom section... about 3/8" blew out... just cracked in many places and separated off. The blank is now shorter than the tube so it is unusable. There was no melting... just the cracking and blow out.
How do you guys drill these inlace blanks? What did I do wrong? Should I have taped the bottoms? Should I have drilled a small pilot and then drilled with the larger bit?