Drilling

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GregMuller

GregMuller

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Miller Place, NY, USA.
Ok This may sound like a stupid question to most of you but I'll ask anyway. How do you drill blanks with the lathe. I realize a drill chuck must be put into the live end but what do you hold the blank with. If anyone can post a pic of a setup this would help. Also why is it preferred to drilling with a drill press.
 
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Greg,
Actually, the drill chuck goes into the tailstock and doesn't turn. You need another chuck ( usually a scroll chuck) to hold the wood at the headstock. When the lathe is running the BLANK is turning, and you feed the drill in from the tailstock end. The tricky part is ensuring that the blnak is centered, so the boring is as concentric as possible.
 
You'll find my way of doing it on this thread
http://www.penturners.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6932&SearchTerms=drilling

I do this for blanks that are marginal in size for the kit I am making.. i.e. I recently had a real nice piece of gold amboyna burl that was only 5/8" and wanted to use it for a Jr Gent.. drilling on the lathe kept me dead center on the blank...
 
I don't own a scroll chuck yet, but I do drill on the lathe.
Not all the time but there are instances when It beats the drill press for a particular pen.
One of these is if I have a piece of antler that has an odd shape.
After turning it between centers I put a tenon on one end the size that will fit one of the Beall collets.(usually 3/4)
I put the Jacobs chuck in the tail stock as previously mentioned.
Doing it this way is slower but more accurate than readjusting teh DP (at least for me.
I can drill a longer hole fore a one piece pen.
( looking for longer bits)
This helps when doing long wood styles.

I uploaded a pen that used the method I described for drill anler that would be difficult on the DP,
It's in show off your pens and also in my album
http://www.penturners.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7124
 
Greg.....Here is a picture of how I drill blanks on the lathe. I especially like this for larger holes as I get the most accurate hole. In this picture I'm drilling a 33/64" hole in Bloodwood.

Hope this helps.

The chuck is a Vicmarc 3 1/2" with Extended dove tail jaws. The other end is just an old Jacobs 1/2" I bought on e-bay.

200561315653_DrillingA.jpg
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John, that is a real good way to drill those difficult blanks, especially with that set of jaws because it keeps the blank well centered and lined up.

All the suggestions above are very valid, and of course it depends on what equipment you have. The drill or Jacobs chuck, of course, is needed to hold the drill. I have a couple from HF that cost under $10, and Little Machine Shop sells them too.
 
Greg, I use the same type setup as John (Deere41), but my 4 jaw chuck is a different brand. That really doesn't matter as long as it's a good one. PSI has several that are realtively inexpensive (get them from Woodturningz and save a few $$), but are good quality. You can also spend several hundred $$ and buy something like a Talon or Oneway. I've only had one blank drill off-center this way and that was my fault. I "thought" I had the blank centered in the chuck.
 
Billy B. said, "PSI has several that are realtively inexpensive (get them from Woodturningz and save a few $$), but are good quality" Those PSI chucks are relatively inexpensive and of good design. But do be cautious about about how it arrives to you if you buy one. I bought one of the CMG3 chucks and went through four before receiving the fifth which was defect-free. Their design is good but there are obvious quality control problems at the Chinese factory. PSI management was very good about exchanging but it was a PIA over a period of months.
 
I have tried several different chucks on friend's lathes before I bought one. I bought the VicMark just because of quality, assortment of jaws, price, and ease of use. One hand to open and close with the supplied t-handle allen wrench, and if you misplace the right wrench any set of allens will also work. I think that is a VicMark in the photo that John posted above. Just my opinion if you are in the shopping for a chuck- [8D]
 
Grizzly came out with a new lathe chuck that has gotten great reviews, it even accepts the Vicmark jaws...
A couple of the guys in my woodturning club bought them and are very satisfied...
Here is the link.. http://www.grizzly.com/products/item.cfm?itemnumber=H6265
 
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