Drilling on lathe

[sgimbel]

What kind of chuck do I need in order to drill blanks on the lathe? $$$ is short as with everyone. Do I actually need a chuck? If so where would you recommend getting 1. When you drill on the lathe are you drilling the entire long blank or do you drill after you have cut the blanks for the top and bottom.

 

[jleiwig]

What kind of chuck do I need in order to drill blanks on the lathe? $$$ is short as with everyone. Do I actually need a chuck? If so where would you recommend getting 1. When you drill on the lathe are you drilling the entire long blank or do you drill after you have cut the blanks for the top and bottom.

I turn blanks round and hold them in a collet chuck I got from PSI. It's 89.99 and you can use dvd10 for $10 off your order. Depending on the pen I drill before or after, normally after cutting due to different size holes, but on a sierra blank I drill before cutting so I don't have to worry about blowing out the end.

 

[Texatdurango]

What kind of chuck do I need in order to drill blanks on the lathe? $$$ is short as with everyone. Do I actually need a chuck? If so where would you recommend getting 1. When you drill on the lathe are you drilling the entire long blank or do you drill after you have cut the blanks for the top and bottom.

I did a little tutorial on turning between centers which covered drilling on the lathe, you might find some parts useful when deciding what to do. Here is the thread: http://www.penturners.org/forum/showthread.php?t=54760

Some folks use a four jaw chuck such as a Baracuda or similar chuck, I use a Beall collet chuck but it's not required.

I always cut my blanks pretty close to length before drilling since the shorter bit you can use, the better off you are as far as accuracy, less chatter, etc.

I enjoy using my Beall collet chuck but if I were starting all over I would order the collet chuck that PSI has since it also accepts commonly found er-32 collets and I like the knurled nut for loosening and tightening the collet retaining nut.

 

[Daniel]

Collet chuck in my case as well. You can also use a scroll chuck but collets give better accuracy if you are dealing with segmented blanks and such.
you also need a jacobs chuck for the tail stock.
just in case. Blank in the head stock in whatever chuck you choose. drill bit in tail stock held by jacobs chuck. If you already knew that consider it to the next person that did not.

 

[JimMc7]

Craft Supplies is selling Teknatool chucks for 15% off through January 14. Just FYI re the $$ aspect as I don't own and have never used a Teknatool chuck.

 

[skiprat]

....... When you drill on the lathe are you drilling the entire long blank or do you drill after you have cut the blanks for the top and bottom.

Even if the top and bottom are the same tube / drill size, I would always cut them before drilling. I'm sure most people do too.

I'd go for a scroll chuck. I know that collets can and often are more accurate, but to me that's just a waste of money on a wood lathe.

 

[fernhills]

I would get, for now, a regular size 4 jaw chuck, then at a later time you can get the collet chuck. Carl

 

[jleiwig]

One thing to keep in mind with a 4 jaw chuck is you will need to add a set of pin jaws if it does not come with one from the beginning. Most of the lower priced chucks only come with the dovetail jaws which won't grip anything smaller than 2" usually.

 

[sgimbel]

anybody ever tried this chuck? http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=65132

 

[jleiwig]

anybody ever tried this chuck? http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=65132

Do you have a #1 Morse Taper lathe? I haven't personally tried it, but I don't think it will do you much good. However their #2MT drill chuck is decent for the money.

 

[Lenny]

Right now I do as Skiprat said ..
I had been holding the blanks in the center of my Oneway chuck ... doing my best to get it aligned ... not great success... now I have the pin jaws and just drilled a 33/64" hole in a 3/4 blank. While I still covet a collet chuck, this method did work and probably would have worked better had I done a more accurate job of turning to an "even" round.
My biggest problem is the arbor I have my drill chuck on (way too long) but I have a new shorter one coming any day.

 

[BigguyZ]

I agree with what many have said- the scroll chuck is great to start out with.

The Barracuda 2 and Barracuda 2 T/N both come with the pin chucks necessary to start drilling with. If you feel that you'll ever need an indexing function, and your lathe doesn't have it, then I reccomend the T/N version. I have the std, and wich I paid the extra for the T/N one.

 

[dhammis]

Since the OP's lathe is an MT2, would this work? http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=4486 It's the same as what he posted before but with the MT2 taper. I'm curious if that will work because I also have an MT2 taper and while I have the drill chuck, I don't have the other piece to hold the stock yet.

 

[Karin Voorhis]

I have also just started drilling on my lathe and I am using my scroll chuck and getting better results than my drill press thus far.