lathe drilling

[buster]

I want to start drilling blanks on my lathe and I'm wondering what type of chuck everyone prefers. I tried a scroll chuck on a variety of blanks and it did not seem to hold them square. Is it the blanks that are not square or round or is it the chuck not holding them right.

 

[RONB]

I drill all of my blanks on the lathe using a Jacobs chuck.
I find that this is the best way for me to do it.

 

[Texatdurango]

I turn my blanks round, something that has to be done eventually anyway, and use a Beall collet chuck to hold them while drilling.

 

[smoky10]

I use my "Talon" chuck with spigot jaws to hold the blank and a "jacobs" chuck in the tailstock for the drill bit. If you drill square blanks this way you have to make sure they are really square first, run them through a table saw or band saw first.

 

[Chasper]

I hold the blank with a Nova G3 and the drill bit in a Jacobs chuck. I sometimes clamp square or rectangular blanks to the Nova, but mostly I turn them round first.

 

[rherrell]

Originally posted by Texatdurango

I turn my blanks round, something that has to be done eventually anyway, and use a Beall collet chuck to hold them while drilling.

Me too. Great minds think alike, George.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Originally posted by buster

I want to start drilling blanks on my lathe and I'm wondering what type of chuck everyone prefers. I tried a scroll chuck on a variety of blanks and it did not seem to hold them square. Is it the blanks that are not square or round or is it the chuck not holding them right.

Methinks you are not chucking properly. It should do the job just fine.

 

[jhs494]

I drill using the lathe and if the blank isn't close to square, I will either run it through the table saw and square it, or turn it round in the lathe then drill it. You really don't need to turn the hole blank round just enough to rest in the chuck jaws.

 

[bbqncigars]

I guess I'm too anal about this. I center drill one end of the blank to go on the live center of the tailstock. I turn the tail half of the blank round, then swap ends and drill using a jacobs chuck in place of the live center (I still pilot with a center drill).

Wayne