Dumb drill press question.

[Waynewoodworking]

So I use a ryobi drill press with the penn state blank holder. When drilling i drill till the press maxes out. If its not enough i stop the drill and raise the jig up so the bit is in the blank a little higher than the bottom of the hole, turn drill press on, and continue drilling

Is this the correct way?


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[Dehn0045]

seems fine to me, either place a scrap piece of wood between the table and blank or raise the table

 

[carlmorrell]

What Sam said. I always have a scrap piece under the blank, I never PLAN on drilling through the blank, and I like to keep the drill press table "unbored". I start out with 1"4" plywood. Then drill the full quill, in my case 3". Once that is done, I change the scrap from 1/4" to 3/4", for 1/2" more. When I am doing this, the tip of the drill goes into the top of the blank bore, when I am swapping the "shims". Works for me.

 

[leehljp]

For your information, yes it is the right way to do it with that DP, however, many learn early on that a little research on drill press before buying goes a long way. (pun intended)

That said, many drill on the lathe - another option. For fast production, use a drill press, for delicate precision use a lathe for drilling.

 

[DrD]

If it works, I'd say it is the "correct way." What I mean by this is we each find our own way with the tools we have, and their limitations. I used to tell my graduate students that ". . . there are precisely 5,487 different ways to skin a squirrel; find the one that works for you." I think I was speaking metaphorically, of course.

DrD

 

[Alchemist]

I used to use a press. I used to use a hand drill as well. I find the best way, for me, is to use the lathe. I turn down the blank into a nice circle and flip it and drill. Now, I use a shopsmith, but the only difference is the head stock moves and the tail stock is fixed. It works well for me. My drill press was awful because it traveled and I would always find myself angling.


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[egnald]

Greetings from Nebraska. I do pretty much the same thing. My drill has a little over 3-inches of quill travel which handles most of my pens except a few modified ones. In those cases I can raise the blank in my parallel blank clamp by about 2 more inches while keeping at least an inch of bearing surface clamped on the blank to finish out the hole (starting with the drill in the hole already - as you do). On other occasions I swap out my lathe to use a pen chuck and a Jacobs chuck and drill the longer distance on the lathe - especially if it is a prized blank that I really do not want to muck up. - Dave

 

[monophoto]

This is a very common problem because the quill travel will never be long enough - no matter how much travel your drill press has, you will eventually need to drill a hole that is deeper. And by the way, that is also true with drilling on the lathe. And as DrD so wisely said -the best way to do it is the way that you are most comfortable with given the selection of tools in your shop.

If you are using a drill press, it is better to use scraps of wood to elevate the drilling jig rather than try to reposition the blank in the jig. As along as the scraps of wood are flat and uniform thickness, inserting a scrap under the jig will maintain the vertical alignment of the blank and keep the hole straight. Dimension lumber and plywood are good for this because the faces are parallel. One thing to keep in mind - if you drill into that scrap of wood, you may leave rough edges that can cause the jig to tilt a bit - so if (or more realistically, when) the scrap becomes chewed up, it needs to be retired.