How do you drill 1/2" blanks for slimlines

[RyanNJ]

I am haveing trouble drilling 1/2" blanks for my slimlines does anyone have any tips?

 

[its_virgil]

Drill on the lathe for best accuracy.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

I am haveing trouble drilling 1/2" blanks for my slimlines does anyone have any tips?

 

[wb7whi]

Drill on the lathe for best accuracy.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

Second that. Not sure what you are trying to do but it may help to start with a larger blank and drill that then cut it down to where you want it. This is how I make my centerbands.

 

[RyanNJ]

i am trying with corian and all i can get it in is 1/2 x 1/2
i am trying to drill it on my drill press i will look into drilling on the lathe

 

[Lenny]

with corian it's better IMO to glue two 1/2" x 3/4" pieces together with CA glue then rip it to a 3/4 x 3/4 (or there abouts) blank.

 

[stolicky]

I have a pen vise (WC version) and I can carefully drill 1/2" corian with a 7mm bit for slimlines. Just make sure you are centered, relieve often, relieve it more often, and that the table/vise is perpendicular.

There is not much room to play with, but it can be done.

 

[witz1976]

with corian it's better IMO to glue two 1/2" x 3/4" pieces together with CA glue then rip it to a 3/4 x 3/4 (or there abouts) blank.

Or just leave it as is and turn away. Make sure you wear a face shield

 

[jskeen]

I am haveing trouble drilling 1/2" blanks for my slimlines does anyone have any tips?

Very Carefully!

Sorry, somebody had to say it, might as well be me.

But seriously folks...... drilling a 7mm hole through a half inch blank is pretty tricky. If I was going to have to do it on a drill press, (like somebody held a gun on me) I would consider a couple of things. Depending on how accurately you can hold the blank, and how regular the blanks are, you might consider drilling half way from each end and meeting in the middle. Of course if the blanks are not pretty precisely square, that might not fly. the second option might be to take a 7mm drill bit to a professional tool grinder and having him shorten it to just over 2.1 inches of flute, and show him what you are drilling and have him set the angle of the bit to minimize drifting.

Are you drilling corian by chance>?

On drill press or lathe, you could consider starting your hole with a centering drill rather than a standard length jobber drill. A more accurate center may help.

 

[Chasper]

Make sure the bit is sharp and short, push the bit all the way into the chuck so it is as short as possible and less likely to bend.
I drill it on a drill press with a PK vice.

 

[Mark]

I have a pen vise (WC version) and I can carefully drill 1/2" corian with a 7mm bit for slimlines. Just make sure you are centered, relieve often, relieve it more often, and that the table/vise is perpendicular.

There is not much room to play with, but it can be done.

Agreed. I started having problems with this setup and just had to reset/true my drill press table. I haven't had a problem since.
In Corian, all I have is 1/2" and I hate wasting product. So I made 1/2" work.

 

[jocat54]

I know I must sound like a broken record on drilling on the lathe, but it is the WAY to drill. Before I started using the lathe to drill I always had problems using the drill press, always off center on one end. Since drilling on the lathe with a collet chuck all of my blanks have been dead center on both ends and I have drilled some large holes in some small blanks.

 

[RyanNJ]

what do i need to drill on the lathe?

 

[jocat54]

Here is a good tutorial to give you some ideas
http://content.penturners.org/articles/2009/lathedrilling.pdf

 

[Dudley Young]

I drill 1/2" corian all the time. Use a good sharp brad point drill and cut the blank a little longer than the brass tube. Mark the drill at a point the length of the tube and drill to that depth. Than cut the blank to size. That way, no blow out. Good luck.

 

[Timbo]

Definately switch to drilling on your lathe. I have drilled plenty of 1/2"x1/2" corian on my lathe with no problems. I cut the blank about 1/8"-1/4" longer than what I need. Drill slow and steady. I set my speed at ~800rpm. I only back out the bit to clear it if the ribbons of waste stop flowing back out of the hole. Give it a shot, it WILL work for you. Feel free to email me if you need more help.

 

[nava1uni]

I drill it easily on my drill press. Make sure that the ends are squared, drill bit sharp, centered blank in good vise, table level. I clear frequently and don't push too hard. Sometimes I use a spray bottle with water to keep the bit cool and patience. I also glue to 1/2s together and use it for other pen kits, but drilling the larger blank is exactly the same.

 

[fernhills]

Funny you should ask, i just drilled 2 blanks a little less then 1/2" over the weekend on the drill press. I do drill on the lathe to, it depends whats going on. Your DP is a very accurate tool, it is made to be and should be used as such. Much of the issues is with holding, eliminate movement and you are good to go. I don`t use pen drilling vises, i use this.

 

[seawolf]

Drill on the drill press or the lathe. Keep a spray bottle of water on hand to keep the bit cool. On the lathe put a pan under the blank to keep the lathe dry, when finished wipe and oil the lathe. DAMHIKT
Mark

 

[PenPal]

I use a drill press and DeWalt Extreme 2 7mm drill, have drilled many hundreds in Corian. No breakout, nothing under the blank fast speed in fact have never altered the speed.

Having said that initially I replaced the bearings when I bought the drill (Taiwanese bearings?) with quality bearings. Replaced the chuck after reaming where the chuck mandrel fits. Fitted a new chuck that has a threaded back entry and fitted a threaded shaft to hold it truly in position.

Spent two days exactly lining up the shelf to stem to everything parralel and square, fitted an XY movement vice with two vertical triangle cuts in each jaw that match removed any looseness in the gib ways and at the handles.. the jaws have a horizontal vee in each one as well.

I dedicated this drill solely for pen blanks. I drill by eye centring and find I lose one every now and again, but uneven out of square wood blanks I cut initially to follow the grain, they drill easily and well.

Enclosed a pic taken some years ago. I have drilled thousands usually do a batch of one to two hundred at a time.

Have success. Peter.

 

[ToddMR]

I haven't tried something small like that on my drill press yet. Let us know how it turns out. I know I personally after buying a lot of the stuff I have over the past couple months, it would be really hard for me to run out and buy all the stuff I need to in order to drill on the lathe. Had I been starting out again I wish I would have known to drill on the lathe for better results more often. Sometimes its about making due with what you have. Just my .02 on that part.

 

[snyiper]

I use a very similar setup as Peter his vice is a little fancier but I have good results with it. I have blown out blanks but usually drilling too fast or not clearing was the culprit...dull bits do not help either. Too long of a acrylic blank will also flex if you use too much pressure...

 

[PenMan1]

Well. this ain't fancy.... but it will work. Since you have a vice, use a center finder to find the exact center of the blank (this is critical because you don't have much meat to play with). FIND THE CENTER ON BOTH ENDS. Drill about half way through the blank, and then flip it upside down in the vice and drill the other half.

Be sure to dry fit the tube into the hole before glueing up. With this method, occassionally you may have to run a rat-tail file into the center of the blank.

I've done this many times with success.

This ain't the best way, but with a corian blank (some "other brands" of "Corian" are actually a little less that 1/2 inch) that will put the "runout" in the center of the blank and medium (gap filling) CA or epoxy glue will fix any issues.

Then when you can afford it, get a Jacobs Chuck (I think this is still the cheapest way to go about lathe drilling?) that will fit into your lathe's live center tailstock (usually MT1 or MT2) and drill them on the lathe.

 

[Rfturner]

When I was staring out and the only thing I could afford was corian in 1/2 inch. Mark the center, I second the brad point drill bit for corian, drill slow with less pressure than you would use normally. I do all my drilling on my drill Press and I have only had issues if my drillbit was messed up or if I did not get everything aligned right. I have drill over 200 1/2" corian with very few blowout, I blew up a couple in the beginning it will happen occasionally but just learn and move on. Good luck

 

[RyanNJ]

i have a drill chuck for my lathe but my bits wobble in it and i am not sure how to avoid that so i just use the drill press. If i could figure out how to stop the wobble of my bits in the chuck i would be more willing to try.

do i put the chuck in the head stock or tail stock?

also what is a good place for corian

 

[Smitty37]

Agreed. I started having problems with this setup and just had to reset/true my drill press table. I haven't had a problem since.
In Corian, all I have is 1/2" and I hate wasting product. So I made 1/2" work.

I have about given up on Corian ...I even tried buying some already drilled and that had some chipping at the exit hole too, which would have been ok but they didn't cut it too long so I had to chuck about half of it..

 

[Rfturner]

...also what is a good place for corian

Construction companies if you ask nicely or if you are going to or have to pay for it Ebay when I first started out I bought 400 pieces with shipping and handling for $40

Since this is not the classifieds PM me and we can work out something I have plenty left

 

[lapdog]

For Corian or other solid surface materials (Staron, etc.)---When I am about 1/2 way thru the drilling, I use an eyedropper to put a few drops of water in the hole to keep the blank "cool". I then drill the rest of the way thru. I have never had any chipout.