Drilling using the lathe

[redfishsc]

I've read of a few here that drill their blanks with the lathe using either a collet chuck on round blanks or using a 4-jaw with pin jaws.

What chuck and jaw do you use? Someone here posted a pic a while back of this setup, such a pic would be nice.

When drilling, does the tailstock crank move the drill bit in and out fast enough to keep from burning up/splitting acrylic blanks?


Any advice is helpful!
I will be leaving a cabinet shop soon to move to another city and don't know if I'll have access to a nice 4" stroke drill press like I do now (gonna drill a PILE of blanks before I move, you betcha)
Thanks,

Matt

 

[txbob]

Hi Matt,

On my Jet mini I hold the pen blank with a One-Way 4 jaw scroll chuck, with pin jaws, on the headstock. I mount a jacobs chuck in the tailstock to hold the drill bit.

I advance the bit by cranking the tailstock, for the first inch or two. Then I release the clamp that holds the tailstock to the lathe bed, and advance the bit and tailstock by hand, i.e. by sliding the entire tailstock along the lathe bed. Use a spray bottle of water when drilling plastics, to cool the bit and the blank. Retract the bit every 1/2 inch or so, clear the chips from the bit, and spray the bit with water to cool it. When you're done drilling, dry the lathe carefully and relubricate everything to prevent rust.

When drilling wood I frequently don't use the tailstock. I have several drill bits for which I've turned handles and glued in the bit with epoxy. I remove the tailstock, to get it out of the way, and hand hold the bit/handle while drilling. Seemed scary at first, but it's really very easy to do and it speeds up the drilling. I think my father taught me that trick about 50 years ago.

Keep on turning,
txbob

 

[redfishsc]

Bob, the hand-held method seems like it would be imprecise enough to cause a bit of routing out a larger hole in the entry point. Then again I've never tried it. Maybe I will...

 

[cozee]

I've tried holding the blank with my fingers and even with my DP at it's slowest speed, weeeeelll, I ain't gonna do that again!!!

 

[Deere41h]

I have posted this a couple of times and will do so again per your request. I use a scroll chuck with pin jaws to hold the blank and a good drill chuck in the tail stock. Have never had a problem blowing out any blanks, wood or other. I drill about 98% this way and get very accurate holes. Hope this helps.



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[thewishman]

I do all my drilling on the lathe with a set-up similar to John's picture. To clear the bit quickly (to avoid heat build-up) I pull the tailstock away from the blank and then crank the jacobs chuck back. When the chuck is back to the starting position I move the tailstock up again until the bit is just barely touching the bottom (farthest inside) of the hole and lock it into place. At that point I can start turning the crank to advance the bit again.

Chris

 

[DocStram]

Ditto to everything that everybody has said so far. Matt, drilling with the drill in the tailstock is a proven, standard procedure among many woodworkers. However, if you happen to use a ShopSmith .. beware. I had so much play in my tailstock that accuracy was a big problem. However, with my new Delta 46-715 .... I can drill away.

 

[Fangar]

One thing to note is that when using a scroll chuck you want the corners of the blank to contact the rounder spots in the jaws. John's photos looks to be that way, but is not real visible from the angle.

Here is a photo showing that:

Cheers,

Fangar

 

[Paul in OKC]

Originally posted by Fangar
<br />One thing to note is that when using a scroll chuck you want the corners of the blank to contact the rounder spots in the jaws. John's photos looks to be that way, but is not real visible from the angle.

Here is a photo showing that:

Cheers,

Fangar

Well, I do not drill on the lathe, but my mind tells me that you would want the flats on the jaws. Less likely to spin should the drill grab. At least that is the way I drill any thing that is square in the metal world. Just my thoughts.

 

[txbob]

I'm with Paul. I always put the jaws on the flat sides of the blank. Seems like you could crush a corner and be holding the blank off center. Hmmm, I'll have to try it on the corners.

txbob &lt;--- still learnin' turnin'

 

[alamocdc]

Like the others, I use a 4 jaw scroll chuck when drilling on the lathe using the smallest jaws I have (pin or #1 should work). I've tried gripping the flats with the jaws, but unless the blank is dead square (and most really aren't), I've noticed a slight wobble that throws the hole off. As a result I grip them like James does (at the corners).

If I were to use my Beall Collet chuck, I would turn the blank round between centers first, then chuck it up with the collet that best fit the cylinder. And I may well do this for some of my locally harvested blanks so that I can get the desired grain pattern through the blank.[]

 

[Fangar]

I see your thoughts Paul and others. However, Billy mentioned what usually causes the problem for us wood turners. The stock might not always be perfectly square. In this case the points into the cups tends to center the stock a bit better. I haven't had any problems with slippage though.

Cheers,

Fangar