All I Can Say is *^%$&

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suefox51

suefox51

Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2012
Messages
237
Location
Satellite Beach, Florida 32937
:confused:
Don't know why I didn't listen when a lot of you stated that drilling on the lathe was troublefree. Don't know why I kept using my drill press and praying for the hole to go straight through the blank... Don't know why....

Been drilling on the lathe - wow, what a difference - I'll listen to tips and tricks in the future and even try them!

Thanks!!!!

Sue
 
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suefox51 said:
:confused:
Don't know why I didn't listen when a lot of you stated that drilling on the lathe was troublefree. Don't know why I kept using my drill press and praying for the hole to go straight through the blank... Don't know why....

Been drilling on the lathe - wow, what a difference - I'll listen to tips and tricks in the future and even try them!

Thanks!!!!

Sue
Click to expand...


We will not steer you wrong Sue. Come to the Dark side Sue:smile:
 
I had the same feeling last fall. I had the equipment to drill on the lathe for almost a year. Then one day I figured I would bother to try it since some folks said it worked well. Then I wondered why the heck hadn't i tried it sooner!
 
lyonsacc said:
I had the same feeling last fall. I had the equipment to drill on the lathe for almost a year. Then one day I figured I would bother to try it since some folks said it worked well. Then I wondered why the heck hadn't i tried it sooner!
Click to expand...

Feel free to copy design(lol)
The_Kicking_Machine.jpg
 
suefox51 said:
:confused:
Don't know why I didn't listen when a lot of you stated that drilling on the lathe was troublefree. Don't know why I kept using my drill press and praying for the hole to go straight through the blank... Don't know why....

Been drilling on the lathe - wow, what a difference - I'll listen to tips and tricks in the future and even try them!

Thanks!!!!

Sue
Click to expand...

Give yourself an a pat for keeping an opened mind.
 
Last edited:
I'm very new and in the learning phase. I think I have everything to drill blanks on my lathe.

I have one of These on the way and of course a 2MT chuck for my tailstock and bits.

Is there anything I am missing?
 
Drilling on the lathe is awesome, one wonders why anyone messes with a DP. Oh, so is TBC. And, why do folks spend money on assembly presses when the lathe works really well for that as well?
 
RustySocket said:
I'm very new and in the learning phase. I think I have everything to drill blanks on my lathe.

I have one of These on the way and of course a 2MT chuck for my tailstock and bits.

Is there anything I am missing?
Click to expand...

Do you have a good chuck like a supernova or a oneway?
They have a pen jaw set that is more accurate then the one you got, I had to switch in order to get more accurate centers.

Tips

  • for harder woods use a centering bitHigh speed steel Combined Drills And Countersinks
  • use bigger blanks until you get the hang of things
  • I have found that brat tip bits wonder and go off center, once the tip hits the wrong spot, it's off, I've switched to parabolic tip.
  • Barely touch the blank with the bit and approach very slowly and allow the bit to stabilize before drilling into the blank
  • go Slow! back out the drill about every 1/2" in order to clean the flutes, in some materials you bay feel tempted to continue but the pressure and the heat will expand and break the material. Some woods produce gases that actually explode, well it's more like a loud pop but it does blow out the end of the blank.
  • Listen to everything we say on the forum and implement immediately! (ok, actually take everything we say with tweezers use what you think will best for you)

Everybody here has a way of doing things, some are more difficult, some are easier and some don't even make sense until you try it. Just try to have fun and don't worry about precision to much, for those who love doing this, pens can be very forgiving.

Joey
 
Joey-Nieves said:
Do you have a good chuck like a supernova or a oneway?
They have a pen jaw set that is more accurate then the one you got, I had to switch in order to get more accurate centers.

Tips

  • for harder woods use a centering bitHigh speed steel Combined Drills And Countersinks
  • use bigger blanks until you get the hang of things
  • I have found that brat tip bits wonder and go off center, once the tip hits the wrong spot, it's off, I've switched to parabolic tip.
  • Barely touch the blank with the bit and approach very slowly and allow the bit to stabilize before drilling into the blank
  • go Slow! back out the drill about every 1/2" in order to clean the flutes, in some materials you bay feel tempted to continue but the pressure and the heat will expand and break the material. Some woods produce gases that actually explode, well it's more like a loud pop but it does blow out the end of the blank.
  • Listen to everything we say on the forum and implement immediately! (ok, actually take everything we say with tweezers use what you think will best for you)

Everybody here has a way of doing things, some are more difficult, some are easier and some don't even make sense until you try it. Just try to have fun and don't worry about precision to much, for those who love doing this, pens can be very forgiving.

Joey
Click to expand...

I don't have any chuck at this point other than a Jacob chuck for holding bits in the tailstock and the one I linked to is ordered and on its way. I also have a 7mm mandrel and mandrel saver ordered. I can see as I progress that there are lots of tools I will need to acquire. For the short term I am going to focus just on pens, but I can see down the road wanting to turn larger pieces and possibly make some bowls.

I don't want to hijack the OP's thread any further and it seems like what I have purchased will get the job done for now. I have built RC airplanes for 30+ years and completely understand there is more than one way to get the job done, and no tool or jig is perfect for every situation. Sometimes you just have to do something to move forward.

I have a tendency to struggle with Analysis Paralysis syndrome and the internet has only made that worse for me. Sometimes the only way for me to move forward is to just stop and commit to one method. I could spend six months just looking at lathes and I saw myself falling into that trap. So I watched a couple of youtube videos and purchased the items that were used in that scenario to turn some pen kits.

Thanks for the information and help
Scott
 
CREID said:
Don't listen to them!!!!
Next they will have you turning between centers and other bad stuff.:biggrin:
Click to expand...

I had a bit of a spending spree after Xmas and got a 4 jaw chuck, a MT1 Jacobs Chuck, a 60 degree live center and a 60 degree dead center. I don't have dedicated jaws yet but will next time I put in an order to PSI. The pin jaws that came with the chuck are working ok even when I drilled a 5" blank for a one piece pen.

What I love about drilling on the lathe, and I've only done 2, is how the chips are cleared by the bit so much easier.

Oh and I have the mini lathe from HF. Its not as easy as I see some do it since the tailstock parts aren't machined very well. But its a magnitude better then my small bench top drill press. Even if I had a drill press that could drill all the way through I would still use the lathe.
 
RustySocket said:
I don't have any chuck at this point other than a Jacob chuck for holding bits in the tailstock and the one I linked to is ordered and on its way.
Click to expand...

I agree with the previous poster: get a 4 jaw chuck and buy a set of pen jaws for it. I went the other way, and bought a dedicated pen blank drilling chuck from PSI. It works great, but I shortly bought a 4 jaw chuck afterward, and could have saved some money if I'd skipped the dedicated blank drilling chuck. I got PSI's 4 jaw chuck first, which I still use often, but the Nova that I got after that is a much better chuck. The PSI chuck requires two hands to tighten, and it will loosen during use unless you stick a piece of tape over the two halves to "lock" it. I learned that lesson via an uppercut from a bowl blank! :tongue:
 
The only thing I don't drill on the lathe are some of my segmented blanks. I can be more precise with exactly where the drill goes in by using my drill press in certain instances.
 
Souths1der said:
The only thing I don't drill on the lathe are some of my segmented blanks. I can be more precise with exactly where the drill goes in by using my drill press in certain instances.
Click to expand...


Love to see some of your segmented pens. I really enjoy the art of segmenting and the ability to add your personal touch to any pen with your own creativity.
 
I started out drilling on the lathe, and TBC. Best advise I can offer is make sure the lathe is in forward and not reverse when drilling. Makes the process much easier and avoids a lot of bad words wondering why your blanks is smoking so much and hard to drill through with new bits :)
 
Next thing you know you guys will be end prepping and assembling on your lathe too. Just think of all the room you can have in your shop for more useless tools when you get the ones you don't need now out of the way.
 
Sorry I am have to differ. I can drill 3-4 times as fast on the drill press as I can on the lathe. I spend a few minutes on the set up and the blanks drill nice and centered as long as I have it backup up. Which also helps with break out when the drill goes through. I also have run into issues when drilling blanks on the lathe that chips cause the drill bit to wobble and hole gets oversized when it gets far into the hole. With the drill press backing the bit off is quick, but the lathe take a lot twisting of the hand crank.

Long live the drill press!
 
Drilling on a lathe

I still drill all of my blanks using my drill press. I know this sounds really lame, but how do you drill on your lathe? If the blank is square or round, then I assume you just put it in a chuck. If it's not perfectly square or round, do you just turn it some until it's round, then drill it. I have a large amount of rosewood blanks that are real close to be 3/4 square. But, not always real straight. I use a Jr. Gent kit on them. I afraid that if I turned them round first, it would be too small for the kit. That' why I use a drill press. Any thoughts or ideas?

Sorry to hijack the thread.

Bill
 
I don't own a drill press, so I'm pretty much restricted to drilling on the lathe! I work on a metalworking lathe, so I usually drill my holes undersize, then finish them with a boring bar to make sure they have no runout from the drill bit wobbling. Overkill? Maybe, but I like my nice clean holes :D
 
gt64155 said:
I still drill all of my blanks using my drill press. I know this sounds really lame, but how do you drill on your lathe? If the blank is square or round, then I assume you just put it in a chuck. If it's not perfectly square or round, do you just turn it some until it's round, then drill it. I have a large amount of rosewood blanks that are real close to be 3/4 square. But, not always real straight. I use a Jr. Gent kit on them. I afraid that if I turned them round first, it would be too small for the kit. That' why I use a drill press. Any thoughts or ideas?

Sorry to hijack the thread.

Bill
Click to expand...

Bill, I believe that several chuck manufacturers make special pen blank jaws that consist of only two long jaws. Never used them, so I can't attest to how well they work.
 
To each his own. I've drilled both ways, and I prefer to use my PSI pen jaws and drill on the lathe. I can drill 20 blanks a lot quicker on the lathe than I could on the drill press. An added plus is that my lathe mounted DC picks up most of the dust and shavings.
 
I've drilled at my lathe (and even have the pen drilling chuck) but some things have to be done at the drill press. I find it very easy to set up antler tips for drilling at the drill press for pens like the first picture here....and for the trio of styluses as well.

I have a pen drilling vise for my drill press that's much easier to dial in and my drill press has almost five inches of quill travel so deep drilling is far easier on the drill press than on my mini-lathe (where the tail stock can travel only a couple inches and the feed rate is far too slow...so I end up pushing/pulling the tailstock to get faster feed rates which can cause problems if the tailstock isn't semi snugged down...too much side play).

For those on a limited budget or with limited floor space, being able to drill at the lathe is very handy.
 

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I use my drill press for about 75% of my drilling needs. You could do it either, all on the lathe, or all on the drill press, but sometimes it is better one way than the other and I choose to way that works best for me. In fact that is just about the norm for all of my pen work. I do it the way I like and experiment with different things and mix and match ways of doing things. There are five ways to do everything from drilling, gluing, sanding, finishing and even assembling a pen. Half of the fun is trying new things.
 
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