Drilling 4.5" with 3" drill press

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LouisQC

LouisQC

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Joined
Aug 16, 2007
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Location
Gatineau, QC, Canada.
Related to my search for a quality click pen. My drill press' quill travel is 3". I have a mini lathe which doesn't have 4.5 inches of travel on the the tailstock and too much play to move the whole tailstock assembly without making a mess on the blank.

Ah yes, the material will be acrylic.

Options?
 
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If your bit is 4 1/2", your drill press or lathe will do it just fine, just move DP table or Lathe TS. I would just use lathe. No need to be a messy operation.
 
No need to even move the table on a drill press. Drill as deep as you can, then slide scrap wood riser blocks under the blank and continue drilling.
 
mrcook4570 said:
No need to even move the table on a drill press. Drill as deep as you can, then slide scrap wood riser blocks under the blank and continue drilling.
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Me too...
and on the lathe, stop the lathe, back the tailstock quill all the way back, move it forward until the bit stops in the hole, then drill as usual.
I have a 4 inch travel on the tailstock of my Jet1442.. I still stop and move up, then continue to drill... rarely go out all the way on the quill bolt.
 
I've had a bit of a problem drilling Acrylics that way (edit for clarification: Using riser blocks on the drill press), even with my drill press set on the lowest speed. Once I put the riser blocks in place I can no longer clear the bit from the blank as I'm drilling, and it tends to overheat.

I've had a lot better luck drilling on the lathe, in part because I can always clear the bit and keep if from overheating. One thing to remember is that even if you run out of quill travel, even if there is some slop in the setup, you are still going to have all of the original hole there to act as a guide to get the bit aligned when you slide the tailstock back up.

Just my .02

Steve
Steve
 
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Drilling

I used the riser block method for the first few months of learning how to make pens. My bench top press was a little sloppy, but I managed to get it done. After a few sloppy holes, I converted to drilling on the lathe.

As mentioned above, drill a far as the tailstock will advance, then move the tailstock up and drill again. After a little practice, this menthod works the best for me. I usually drill several blanks at a time and this method gives me the best results.:smile:
 
LouisQC said:
The overheating part was my concern. I'll try on the lathe on wood first. If not riser blocks and I'll lubricate the drilling with water.
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If your acrylics are overheating, you may be drilling a little fast, but if you keep a little squirt bottle of water handy and squirt a little water in the hole as it drills, it'll cool the tool and make for a smoother hole... it's messy as hell though.

When I put the riser blocks under my blank, I will leave the drill bit inside the hole, lift the blank with the quill, set your riser under and continue drilling.

All this aside, I do almost all of my drilling on the lathe now and just last week saw a thread on drilling antler on the lathe, so will probably do 100% no.
 
This has been a problem for me for a while and I finally took care of it by bying the Jet JPD-17mf. It has a 4 3/8" spindle travel and drills the long click with out any trouble. I did have a little problem with the spindle kicking over to the side a bit and blowing up blanks, but Jet has agreed to send me a new machine and I am waiting for it now. The machine is good overall, just a little problem with mine.
When I am driling holes before I stabilize long blanks, I use my lathe for drilling and can go a lot deeper with the holes. If I had learned about drilling on the lathe a long time ago, I probably would not have spent the extra money on a larger drill press.
 
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I use a chuck to hold the blank.. I have a small PSI chuck, CMG3 I think that will hold most of my blanks. Then I put my drill bit in the Jacobs chuck in the tail stock.. I have two so which ever is available.. check to make sure the blank is spinning fairly true, then advance the tail stock and check the centering on the blank to the drill bit. Many of the turners will turn round before they drill... I don't.. I drill square, then turn. If I have an irregular blank, I'll find a near center on the blank, position the drill bit at the center then tighten the blank in the chuck... that way I'll be close to center when I turn the lathe on. I drill blanks at 450 rpm. You'll want to drill short distances, back the bit out to clear the hole, then re-advance.
 
I do the same accept if the blank is not square i find that it wobbles to much for drilling, so i sq. all blanks on belt/disk sander before i chuck into the lathe chuck, calms it down and the hole is better.
 
Every single blank I drill I have to slide the blank up in the vise or slide a piece of wood under the vise to finish drilling. My press almost drills 2" deep, but not quite! I just drill far as I can, then jack up the blank and start drilling again. Such a pain, but I've been doing it for a few years now. Bigger drill press is on the long list of things I need, and more because of the lack of power than the depth of drilling. You want to use a 2" forestner bit in that press and it'll take an hour to hog through 3/4 thick pine!
 
Rmartin said:
Question for those who drill on the lathe. Do you have any pictures of your set-up, or can you describe the attatchments needed?
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Here's a pic of my set-up on my Taig...same sort of idea for any other lathe...hope it helps:wink:
 

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AS most of you know, one of my favorite kits is the Long click. My Craftsman 2/3 HP bench top dp only has a 2" travel. While using riser blocks is a bit of an extra step I wish I could skip, finanes dicted it to be a neeeded step. I have many many of these pens in both synthetics and wood using this dp. I have never had a blank failure caused by the drilling. The last 1/2" or so usually causes the fluting of the bit to be covered, this can cause heat build up quickly. I just be sure the loose chips are completely removed before drilling the last bit. I use bits with the widest fluting I can find, it gives a bit more room for the last few chips to accumulate before causing a problem. As far as speed goes, I drill nearly everything at 1720rpm, some say this is too fast, others say to slow, but it works for me. I don't know if it helps, but it is what I do. If only I could afford a larger DP and then build a larger shop to put it in I'd be a happy little camper.
 
Thanks for the lathe drilling tips and pics. I think I'll stick to drilling on the drill press for now. It would be easy to spend as much or more for the set up than I spent for my lathe.
 
I'm just happy to hear that I'm not the only one using a super cheap bench model drill press and getting away with it too! Some times when I use a riser underneath to continue drilling, when I turn on the drill it won't spin because the hole is perhaps a tad bit tight and the press has no power so I have to give it a pull start like a lawn mower !!!! hahaha.
 
workinforwood said:
I'm just happy to hear that I'm not the only one using a super cheap bench model drill press and getting away with it too! Some times when I use a riser underneath to continue drilling, when I turn on the drill it won't spin because the hole is perhaps a tad bit tight and the press has no power so I have to give it a pull start like a lawn mower !!!! hahaha.
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Well, I'm happy to see it's not just me!
 
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