Blank Drilling - The Journey

[MikeinOH]

I'm on my 8th pen since purchasing a lathe, and my challenge has been drilling a consistently centered hole. I started using my drill press and a Woodriver Pen Blank Centering Vice. The first five blanks were well centered and straight end-to-end. Then, my holes began starting to skew from end-to-end. The drill bit is perfectly perpendicular to the table and vice. The blanks appear to be aligned in the vice and parallel to the bit. I believe the issue is with the vice, but haven't been able to determine the cause. So, I purchased a two jaw chuck for my lathe. The first two holes are straight and centered, but due to limited travel, I need to stop the lathe halfway through to move the drill chuck tail stock closer to the blank. After that, the drill bit starts to squeal. The hole appears round. I'm sure moving the tail stock results in a little bit of misalignment. Question for the experienced pen turners: is a little bit of squeal normal and unavoidable?

 

[KenB259]

You're on the right track moving the drilling to your lathe. Do yourself a favor and get a set of centering bits. If you're using brad point bits, ditch them. I know lots of starter kits come with brad points. Brad points are not made for end grain and they will wander with the grain. Squealing usually means you're just not cleaning out the swarf often enough.

 

[egnald]

I use a blade and bit lubricant (Bostik BladeCote) to help with chip ejection but even with that I still get squealing sometimes. - Dave