lathe drilling square blanks

[RAdams]

I recently switched to drilling my blanks on the lathe. First off, WAYYYYYYYYYYYYY worth the minor investment for new attachments. My drilling has improved ten fold. I RARELY lose a blank in the drilling process, and the holes are always true and near perfect. no wallowing or anything.

After starting this process, i was turning the blanks round, then mounting them in a chuck and drilling. Well after some experimenting, i have found a solution!

I use a Nova chuck. Before, i would simply take the jaws off of the chuck and use the sleds to hold the blank. Now i use the nova soft jaws. I have not cut the jaws. I use them just as they come and they hold a square blank beautifully!

Anyway, just wanted to share this.. I was about to change all of my homebrew pouring molds to round ones but now i dont have to!

 

[DurocShark]

I agree, it's an awesome technique. I was dancing around the garage when I first did it.

Nothing wrong with round blanks. You waste less resin filling the corners.

 

[Rifleman1776]

"sleds?" "soft jaws" New stuff to me. I'll have to look up Nova chucks.

 

[cnirenberg]

Ron,
I drill everything on the lathe. The Nova (or any scroll chuck really) does the trick for me. Besides, the drill press I have is only good for a longer pen press and the V belt.

 

[jleiwig]

I turn mine round and use my collet chuck. I feel I get a better centered hole with the collet than a regular scroll chuck.

 

[911redneck]

You can also use long pin jaws and drill while the blank is still square.

 

[fernhills]

When i drill using a sq. blank, i make sure it is very close to sq., otherwise only two jaws will grasp the blank.

 

[RAdams]

Frank, The "sleds" are the little metal pieces inside the scroll chuck that you attach the jaws to. I am not sure their actual proper name, but most familiar with scroll chucks will know what the "sled" is.

The "soft jaws" are plastic jaws sold by Nova that are meant to be cut into custom jaws for specific jobs.


I do not own a collet chuck, or the pin jaws (YET), so i had to "Improvise, adjust, adapt, and overcome" as our resident Devil Dogs would say.


I did my first "run" using this technique tonight. I drilled 14 blanks, and all but two of them made it with no issues. The two that didnt make it were victims of my lack of patience and ended up wallowed out pretty bad on one end. To eleviate the problem of only two jaws touching, i slide the blank in where the sleds ride. It is kinda hard to explain, but it works. I also didnt really worry about making sure they were absolutely center. I just mounted them up, trued the drill end, and went to town. I figure the blank will true up when i put a gouge on it!

It is a bit slower to drill with the lathe, especially if you have a mini, and even more so if you have to round your blanks before you can drill them. With the $15 soft jaws, I have eliminated the need to round them first.

So, in closing, All you need is a scroll chuck with the right jaws, and a Jacob's chuck for the tailstock and you could drill square blanks on the lathe. I figure most guys have a scroll chuck, and probably more jaws than me, and a drill chuck is way cheap.

 

[NewLondon88]

"sleds?" "soft jaws" New stuff to me. I'll have to look up Nova chucks.

Soft jaws..

 

[Rifleman1776]

Frank, The "sleds" are the little metal pieces inside the scroll chuck that you attach the jaws to. I am not sure their actual proper name, but most familiar with scroll chucks will know what the "sled" is.

The "soft jaws" are plastic jaws sold by Nova that are meant to be cut into custom jaws for specific jobs.


I do not own a collet chuck, or the pin jaws (YET), so i had to "Improvise, adjust, adapt, and overcome" as our resident Devil Dogs would say.


I did my first "run" using this technique tonight. I drilled 14 blanks, and all but two of them made it with no issues. The two that didnt make it were victims of my lack of patience and ended up wallowed out pretty bad on one end. To eleviate the problem of only two jaws touching, i slide the blank in where the sleds ride. It is kinda hard to explain, but it works. I also didnt really worry about making sure they were absolutely center. I just mounted them up, trued the drill end, and went to town. I figure the blank will true up when i put a gouge on it!

It is a bit slower to drill with the lathe, especially if you have a mini, and even more so if you have to round your blanks before you can drill them. With the $15 soft jaws, I have eliminated the need to round them first.

So, in closing, All you need is a scroll chuck with the right jaws, and a Jacob's chuck for the tailstock and you could drill square blanks on the lathe. I figure most guys have a scroll chuck, and probably more jaws than me, and a drill chuck is way cheap.

The soft jaws were a new thing to me. I looked on the Nova web site and found them. Clever idea that could be useful. The term 'sled' for the movable parts on a chuck was also new to me. I have chucks but never came across this term before. Whatever works for you is good. I use jaws and try to make sure the blank runs 99% true before I drill on the lathe, which is not very often. Special situations only.

 

[redfishsc]

You can also use long pin jaws and drill while the blank is still square.

Exactly! This is all I have done now for 3 years. I haven't touched a drill press a single time for drilling pens since I started this.

When i drill using a sq. blank, i make sure it is very close to sq., otherwise only two jaws will grasp the blank.

Even still, with only two jaws grabbing, I've never had a problem. I've probably drilled a hundred out-of-square blanks (well I have no idea how many, but lots). I have a lot of blanks that are badly out of square, odd shaped, or just dried tree branches, and it still drills them more than centered enough.

 

[WoodWizard]

with the jaws you can hold them great....i only use the drill press to mill them