Lathe drilling vs DP

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ctubbs

ctubbs

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I know that I am dense, but after trying the lathe to drill my blanks for a few slims, I went back to my DP. The lathe takes me more than 10 minutes to drill both holes for a slimline but I can do the same thing on my Drill Press in under 3 minutes in production mode. I have the Delta 17" Woodworkers DP with a machinist cross table vice using the new jaws from PSI and the laser cross hairs site to center the blank.
Someone please tell me where I have gone wrong with the lathe drilling. The holes on both systems come out well centered and straight.
I am not looking to start any flame wars, just why the lathe is suposed to be so much better. I still have a bunch of holes to drill.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Charles
 
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Pretty simple question Charles. Drilling a hole with the lathe can take a little longer. Mostly I find drilling on the lathe takes longer because of any prep work involved, like if the blanks was square and you need it round. Then, I use a collet, so i need to loosen collet, remove, put in new blank, tighten, it's taking more time. The drill press is perfect for 99% of all blanks out there really. The advantage of a lathe really comes when you have something thinner to drill or something that needs drilled off center. For example, lets say you segment a blank with Xx ..two x's. look how one is capital one is small. you draw a line through the intersections and they won't land in the same spot on either end. You need to drill this on an angle. So you would draw your line and locate the center on each end, then spin the blank round and now the blank is pretty thin because you had it all cockeyed in the lathe and you need total precision hole, so now you used your lathe to conquer the blank. There's other examples, lots of them where a lathe is better, but more often a drill press is more efficient.
 
I drill on a lathe because my shop is small and I really don't have space for a drill press. A drill press is faster. As for precision, not sure which one is better. Guess it depends on the quality of the tool.
 
I use BOTH methods because DP is much quicker, and most blanks to be drilled do fine on the DP. But I go to the lathe when I am trying to squeeze two pens (one full size and one medium size), side by side, out of a single 1.25" diameter Bakelite rod, or if the blank is delicate and/or in need of high precision due to segmenting. The extra time spent drilling on the lathe gets paid in full!
 
As a new turner, I am still trying to figure out which way is best. My DP only has 2" travel. So I have to drill 2", stop and extend the bit from the chuck and finish the hole. Also, due to the short travel, and the height of my drill press vice, I cant use a vice.
DrillPressVise.jpg


This is the arrangement I have to use, substituting a pen blank for the briar block.
No, those cross pieces are not pen blanks, just some pine scraps.
 
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Thank you all for your insightful well thought out answers. With both methods available, we now have the best of both worlds. After blowing up so many segmented blanks on the DP for a PITH early this year, I can really appreciate the use of lathe drilling. I wish I had thought of it then:frown::wink: and not now after all that work down the tubes.:biggrin:
Thanks again.
Charles
 
There is no question, I think that dp drilling is faster and very precise, but only if you have the right tools: a good quality dp with at least 5" of travel and the best self centering vise out there. Variable speed I don't think is a big deal as you can easily leave it on the slower speed. I for one, have a lousy press, and no room or money to upgrade. So I'll take my time on the lathe.
 
hi
i tried both, ended up back on the drill press except for long clicks, for which i still use the lathe.
I gave up on quick :)
now i take the time to center drill, both ends, and drill from both ends. this led to much more centered holes and round holes, i was geting oblong or egg shaped holes. thats gone now.
just one other thing, drilling from both ends leads to the tube going in only from one side if the there is any misalignment between the holes. so an added step is dry fit, check which end the tube will slide in first, BEFORE YOU GLUE THEM!!
Like i said, give up on quick if you can, i don't do poduction work so a couple of minutes one way or the other isn't critical. In fact, a few minutes longer out in the garage is ok :):)
Sulli
 
Charles the other good point to drilling on the lathe is the collet supports the blank and you have less chance of a blow out on segmented blanks such as celtic knots. I am not saying you can't drill the same thing on a DP, but I never got the accuracy on the DP as I did on the lathe. If I could personally get the same results on the DP as I do on the lathe then I would definitely use the DP. It is slower for me as well on the lathe, but thank goodness I rarely do production line work.
 
That reminds me of my drill press, the most used one only has 2" of travel. To drill pen blanks, I use a pen vice and when the travel is maxed, i then add some blocks of wood under the vice to raise it up. Works great. I have a Central DP with 9" of travel, the thing is huge and I barely ever even turn it on. I'm just so used to the little DP that I automatically go to it every time. Plus..the big DP won't hold my small bits, the chuck is too big and most the holes I drill are tiny for feeding scrollsaw blades.
 
I would also drill with a drill press vs the the lathe, but the drill press I own is too small to do anything with. And the 'one-that-must-be-obeyed' says - "STOP SPENDING!"(so I told her that if I want somethin' I'll get it....with my inside voice)
YES dear...




Scott (whoop'd) B
 
Well, dgerwin11, the real answer to your problem is to get a drill press with a longer travel. But you don't have that. The way you're doing it is the best way. Fortunately the drill bits are long enough. I would put a piece of 3/4 ply on the base to drill into, that would save the bit hitting the cast iron.
 
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ctubbs said:
I know that I am dense, but after trying the lathe to drill my blanks for a few slims, I went back to my DP. The lathe takes me more than 10 minutes to drill both holes for a slimline but I can do the same thing on my Drill Press in under 3 minutes in production mode. I have the Delta 17" Woodworkers DP with a machinist cross table vice using the new jaws from PSI and the laser cross hairs site to center the blank.
Someone please tell me where I have gone wrong with the lathe drilling. The holes on both systems come out well centered and straight.
I am not looking to start any flame wars, just why the lathe is suposed to be so much better. I still have a bunch of holes to drill.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Charles
Click to expand...
Perhaps you can explain exactly what you do that takes so long. I can take a square blank, turn it round between two centers, chuck it into a collet chuck then drill it in less than 10 minutes and I'm not trying for speed. Are you stopping for a coffee break halfway through? :biggrin:
 
Charles:
I agree with you! I do QUITE a bit of production work and drilling on the lathe for 7mm takes MORE than twice as long!

I keep a VERY SHARP 7mm bit in the DP, with a very precise Huffman vise. The DP speed is "locked in" at 600 RPMs. I make those 7 MM blanks (almost exclusively razor blanks) nice and fat, so if the bit wonders a bit, SO WHAT!

My precision work is done at the lathe, BUT if you want to make 6 razors per hour, YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO THAT IT DRILLING ON THE LATHE.

In my shop, T.I.M (time is money always applies)! further, You'll NEVER be able to touch my "3 razors at a time mandrel method" trying to do these TBC.

"What everybody else does" may NOT be the answer for you. The DP works for you, put "a foot" of duct tape on it for good measure and continue with what works for you.

If you try to mimic everybody else's methods, your work will look just like theirs. GO AHEAD! Color outside the lines! IT FEELS GOOD, AND IT SELLS!
 
I use a drill press. Works great on my wood blanks but acryolic blanks crack and break. I noticed that the quill is not prefectly straight so I have to use my lathe on everying other than wood.
 
navycop said:
dgerwin11 have you tried this:http://images.meredith.com/wood/images/pdf/DP-00709.pdf
My DP only has 2" travel. I built this and add supports to move it up each time. I don't like the error factor of removing the blank and rotating it.
Click to expand...

I switched to drilling on hte lathe earlier this year, and have not gone back to the DP. However, I like the jig shown in the PDF above, and will probably build one anyway. Having a 90 degree jig for drilling of items other than blanks comes up often enough.

The tip shown to make sure your DP table is square to the drill bit is a great solution, and simple (piece of bent coathangar wire).
 
I use my DP when I am drilling many blanks. My problemis I have a Shopsmith that usually sits as a Bandsaw and the table aquires a lot of stuff over time so it is a PITA to clear of to set up the DP. That said if I am only doing one or two I use my Lathe with my Pin Jaws on my chuck.
 
I drill almost exclusively on the lathe... my DP is a HF desk top and only has a short quill travel... I can do a pen blank faster on the lathe... I use a little chuck from PSI with some square bars that holds the blank... I don't round the blanks before I drill, then after they are glued up, turn between centers...

just mark the center points on the blanks, put the point of the drill bit in the center mark, close the jaws and drill.... I've also drilled antler the same way... you just have to make sure the bit will travel through the blank and not through the side (been there, done that too)...
 

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