Hey guys so I'm trying to get back into pen turning but ran into some issues lately. When I first started pen turning I used a heavy duty big drill press to drill hole in blanks. now I'm borrowing a neighbor's bench sized drill press and I'm having trouble making the drill bit drill right where I want it to, it tends to slide a little bit before drilling, I can sometimes get it to drill if I'm quick enough at the start but once i get in the bit starts to squeak and smoke. Please help! I really want to get back into this and dont want to feel like I spent all this money for nothing.
Drill press issues
- Thread starter Ddw04
- Start date
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
jttheclockman
Member
Is the bit perfect round?? Is there play in the chuck?? Wiggle. Is the chuck running true?? Is the table 90 degrees to the bit?? These are all starting points.
Gary Beasley
Member
Sounds like you need to sharpen those bits or buy new ones.
Dieseldoc
Member
Use center dril l to start, then use a good sharp bit.
tomas
Member
Sharpen the bits, slow down your feed rate and think about drilling on the lathe. Its easier, more accurate and in my humble opinion, works better.
Good luck!
Tomas
Good luck!
Tomas
How do I drill on a lathe????
Center dril l? What is that?
Here is what the bit looks like. I dont know how to answer your other questions. Sorry I'm not really familiar with a lot of this.
Attachments
randyrls
Member
A center drill is very short has a thick shank and a narrow tip. It is likely to be double ended. Click here to see example. It looks like this.
pshrynk
Member
Is that rust?
Woodchipper
Member
Good advise to use as a check list. I tried to drill on the lathe but, to me, it took too long if I'm turning more than one style. Here is my setup. Had to put washers under one side of the vise. My son made a triangle
gauge to square the bit to the bed of the vise. Said it was accurate to a couple of thousandths.
Curly
Member
Your drill bit looks none to sharp. Have you tried with another and get the same results?
No just dust from the wood
That is actually kind of how mine looks lol but my vise is drilled into a piece of wood what is yours drilled into?
No.....actually never thought of that lol
leehljp
Member Liaison
That does not look like it is "all" dust on the outside. A sharp bit should be shiny on the leading edge of the flute as well as fairly sharp too, excerpt on some specialty bits. If it is sawdust, sawdust build up that doesn't fall off - is usually there because of resin - ( and that creates too much friction) which can really cause problems such as smoking and squeaking as you mentioned. That bit does not look sharp enough to be precise as blank drilling usually requires.
Table saw blades collect resin rather quickly which leads to smoking and inaccurate cuts. Drill bits can have the same problem.
It was there cause I just finished trying something out with the bit not 5mins before I took the picture. But I will try and buy a new one soon
tomas
Member
I am on vacation or I would post some pictures. Get a Jacobs chuck to mount in your tail stock and a Penn State dedicated drilling chuck to mount in your head stock. Use the slowest speed on your lathe and feed the bit into the blank using the quill on your tail stock. Take it slow and backout often to clear chips and cool the bit. There are a bunch of videos on YouTube. Search on "drill pen blanks on lathe".
Tomas
wouldentu2?
Member
The bit is dull. Fix that first.
I thought so to but it drills fine in some pieces of wood but doesnt get anywhere in others
wolf creek knives
Member
This is what Tomas is talking about. You can get it from PSI or from Amazon as I did. I had the same problem with my drill press as many mentioned above. I had to oversize my blanks to make sure I had enough meat left over to turn the pen. Switched to this and the problem is gone.
Here's the PSI item: Item #: PENPALXD
leehljp
Member Liaison
That statement alone is a sign of dullness. A butter knife will cut butter but not a steak. A butter knife will even mash-cut sliced bread or a cake but not cut fish or slice tomatoes.
For about 4 years I sharpened my tools what I called fairly sharp back then. Then I started making segmented blanks with metal spacers in them. I could turn the blanks with the metal without a problem. However, for finishing, when sanding, the sanding would smear the metal dust onto the wood. DNA (denatured alcohol), and other methods would not clean the metal sanding dust off very well.
I suddenly realized that after turning there was no sanding dust, only after sanding. So I set about spending an hour on sharpening my HSS scraper tool to an excessive sharpness. Wow, was I surprised at how smooth the blank was after turning with that kind of sharpness. It did NOT need sanding, baby butt smooth!
. . . the point, there are different degrees of sharpness on chisels and on drill bits. Just because one calls it "sharp" does not mean that it is really "sharp". There are numerous degrees of sharpness among people's opinions and they are not the same. The experienced ones can look at your bit and tell that it is not sharp for what you want.
Last edited:
RProctor
Member
Different wood have different ratings for hardness. Thats why you are getting some success with a dull bit. Trust me its a night and day difference.
jttheclockman
Member
https://www.diydata.com/tool/drillbits/drillbits.php
This video tells the make up of a drill bit and is very informative.
This video tells the make up of a drill bit and is very informative.