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Pillar drill ?

PhillH

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Every pillar drill I see seems to have a 50mm drilling depth, now that doesn't seem to be enough to me.

Surely you need a bit more than that?

What drills do people have ?
 

yorkshireman

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50mm is not enough Phill. I have 2 drills with 50 and 80mm travel. The 50mm one vary rarely gets used.

keith
 

edlea

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That was my problem when looking to set up shop, so seeing that turning pens was what I wanted to do I bought a dedicated pen blank chuck for the lathe instead.
 

clumsysod

GOBBY GIT
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I had a 50mm pillar drill but sold it for two reasons, first because it was clumsy noisy and messy. (that is one reason really)
Secondly because I actually prefer to drill on my lathe, I can contain everything in one place.
With what I sold the drill for I added a bit of cash and bought two Jacobs chucks.
Suits my purposes goodly, I do appreciate that is not ideal for everyone but then not everyone is restricted to a bedroom for there workshop and living quarters.
 

PhillH

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I'm not getting the accuracy on the lathe which is what makes me think of the pillar drill, but to get the travel looks like being big bucks :sob:

Something here needs a rethink I think, if you lot are managing perfectly well with the lathe then I should be able to.

Need to work out why I'm not getting the accuracy on the lathe, the engineer in me says it should be better than a pillar drill really.
 

clumsysod

GOBBY GIT
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I'm not getting the accuracy on the lathe which is what makes me think of the pillar drill, but to get the travel looks like being big bucks :sob:

Something here needs a rethink I think, if you lot are managing perfectly well with the lathe then I should be able to.

Need to work out why I'm not getting the accuracy on the lathe, the engineer in me says it should be better than a pillar drill really.
I found the opposite Phil. I was all over the place with the pillar drill.
If accuracy is a problem I can suggest two things to overcome that. First round the blank off so it is equal on all sides if you get what I mean.
The chuck has no choice but to grip it central. Second invest in some center drills 5pcs HSS Center Drill 60 Degree & Countersink High Speed Steel Set Tool New | eBay and use tat to pilot your hole.
Trust me it works perfectly.
 

Woody

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Another thing that will make the drill go of center is if the drill isnt set up properly in the first place they need to be set perfectly level across the bed and along the bed and the kiss test is perfect also if there is to much pressure applied and if the drill isn't withdrawn often and the obvious blunt drill bits also we cant rule out if there was something wrong with the lathe I had a lathe once were the tail stock would not line up no matter what I done with it then I found out the tail stock was drilled out wrong and Record insisted that was impossible well in the end they had to admit I was right
 

Penpal

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Pillar Drills and Lathe drilling both depend on the same basic premise for accuracy I note Woody stood on his digs with a lathe fault that was acknowledged dont know if they gave him a new one or not. My now quite old Pillar Drill has enough length to cut in one throw the longest blank I have ever made. The Woodfast lathe I use for Lathe drilling pics attached I fixed for throw ie by purchasing at a garage sale an old Metal Lathe Tail stock I modified with a huge throw absolutely no side play at all.

IMHO any Pillar Drill worth its salt should have: A Powerful Motor. Excellent or then replace the bearings straight away Chinese Manufactured units mostly fitted very ordinary bearings Ability to adjust even by shimming the table holding the vice as well as the vice to the table (why I dedicate a Pillar Drill to this use only). And the ability to fit a locking threaded rod down the centre to hold the chuck in place. A quality chuck. I acheived all of this at Working With Wood Shows Combined metal and wood machinery dealers at good prices for me being patient and talking to the horses mouth.

For blank drills I only use DEWalt Extreme 2 drill point drills.

There was no magic in alignment on my lathe with the alignment in every way just hard graft

Have success but be prepared to only face tried and true facts.

Kind regards Peter.:goesred:
 

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mattyts

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I also use the Penn State ID drilling chuck but if a dedicated chuck isn't ideal then there are pen jaws available to fit ordinary chucks for a little cheaper,too.
 

mattyts

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I'm not getting the accuracy on the lathe which is what makes me think of the pillar drill, but to get the travel looks like being big bucks :sob:

Something here needs a rethink I think, if you lot are managing perfectly well with the lathe then I should be able to.

Need to work out why I'm not getting the accuracy on the lathe, the engineer in me says it should be better than a pillar drill really.
Is your Jacobs chuck slightly out or misaligned? Is your drill bit too long(long drill bits tend to stray off center and move on cuts)?
 

sbwertz

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Jul 3, 2013
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Phoenix, AZ, USA
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Sharon
My 10 inch midi lathe is not variable speed (have to move the belts.) My 12" lathe that I use for bowls, etc. is variable speed. I usually have the 12" set up for drilling, because it is easy to slow it down to drilling speed. When I am making two piece pens (like slims, Jr Gent, etc) I usually drill them on the drill press (pillar drill). When I am making one piece pens with longer blanks, I drill them on the lathe. I also use the lathe for antler, and for segmented pens where centering is critical.

Sometimes I want to drill at an angle. For example when I am making a pen out of a branch that is about an inch or so in diameter. I like to drill it at about a 15 degree angle starting slightly to one side of the center and ending on the other side. It really makes the grain interesting. Since tiny branches like that have no "pith" to speak of, it isn't a problem. Elm branches are especially nice for that because they have a lot of small side branches for "eyes" and there is a pronounced difference in colour from the center to the outside of the branch. For that I use the pillar drill and tilt the vise 15 degrees or so by putting a shim under one end before clamping it to the table.

Sharon
 

PhillH

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Is your Jacobs chuck slightly out or misaligned? Is your drill bit too long(long drill bits tend to stray off center and move on cuts)?

I think this is the problem somewhere, but not being knowledgeable enough to accurately diagnose I'm not totally sure.

I think I need to do some pics / small video to put up on here so people can see the setup and maybe give some advice / suggestions.

As long as they don't involve "Buy a new lathe" :sob:

If it's lousy weather tomorrow I'll get that done as I need to drill some blanks anyway.
 
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