Drill press questions.. (Pen turning)

[capcrnch]

I learned a valuable lesson this weekend..
Purchased my first drill press to assist in my pen turning quest..
The main intention for the press was for drilling blanks, as I dont have need for a drill press in other woodworking jobs, but figured it would come in handy at some point.
So, off to Sears and out with a 10" drill press.
Got home, unboxed, set it up, all is well.
Mark my first blank, set it in the vise, fire up the press.
All is still well.
Until I realized the short throw of the press shaft. 2".
That wont work, all my blanks are at least 2 1/2".
Raising and lowering the table is a recipe for disaster..

I spoke with Sears today, luckily they are going to take it back for a full refund.. What's my next step though? Does anyone have any ideas and/or suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Ed_McDonnell]

A couple options:

1) Get a drill press with a longer throw.

2) Get a pen blank vise and mount it to your drill press table. Drill the blank as far as you can. Stop the drill press, loosen the vise, move the blank up on the drill bit (moving just the blank, not the vise or table), tighten the vise and finish drilling the blank.

3) Make sure your blanks are square. Get a jacobs chuck that will fit your tailstock. Use #1 spigot jaws on your chuck and drill the blank on the lathe.


Ed

 

[capcrnch]

A couple options:

1) Get a drill press with a longer throw.

2) Get a pen blank vise and mount it to your drill press table. Drill the blank as far as you can. Stop the drill press, loosen the vise, move the blank up on the drill bit (moving just the blank, not the vise or table), tighten the vise and finish drilling the blank.

3) Make sure your blanks are square. Get a jacobs chuck that will fit your tailstock. Use #1 spigot jaws on your chuck and drill the blank on the lathe.


Ed

Thanks for the reply..

I'm actually looking into a 12" press now, which has the 5.5" throw.

I tried doing the "set the blank, drill the blank, raise the blank, drill the rest of the blank" method, but I screwed a couple up that way and in the end, it was a real PITA to have to deal with.

I thought about getting the jacobs chuck, but figured a press might be more worthwhile. I guess ill take a look at the 12" and decide from there.

Thanks again!

 

[S. Clark]

I chuck the drill bit as far down the shank as possible, so the jaws are almost gripping the spiral. Set the table with clamp and blank ready to drill within about 1/8" of the tip of the bit. Drill the blank as far as the throw will allow. Turn off the press and without moving the table or the clamp, lower the drill bit in the chuck so that it is now gripped nearly at the very end; this shoves the tip down into the predrilled hole a little. Now drill again and you should penitrate the bottom of the blank.

Most bits of the diameter necessary for pans have enough shank for this method to work.

- Scott

 

[SUBDOC]

A couple options:

2) Get a pen blank vise and mount it to your drill press table. Drill the blank as far as you can. Stop the drill press, loosen the vise, move the blank up on the drill bit (moving just the blank, not the vise or table), tighten the vise and finish drilling the blank.


Ed

I have a Ryobi 12in and the throw is pretty short. I bought mine before my days of pen turning. I have been using the option as described by Ed. The only time that I really havea problem is when I do a long one piece blank such as the workshop pencils, atlas or polaris, or even the bottom barrel of traditional rollerballs. I work around the inadequacy of my tools for now because I can't afford to buy a new drill press. I have limited space as well.
As long as you have drilled a considerable way through the blank before moving it up on the drill bit, you should be alright. Look at it this way, you are giving the blank and the drill bit time to cool a little so as not to crack or explode your blank.

Dave

 

[woodwish]

I chuck the drill bit as far down the shank as possible, so the jaws are almost gripping the spiral. Set the table with clamp and blank ready to drill within about 1/8" of the tip of the bit. Drill the blank as far as the throw will allow. Turn off the press and without moving the table or the clamp, lower the drill bit in the chuck so that it is now gripped nearly at the very end; this shoves the tip down into the predrilled hole a little. Now drill again and you should penitrate the bottom of the blank.

Most bits of the diameter necessary for pans have enough shank for this method to work.

- Scott

My floor model Delta has plenty of distance to drill pen blanks but I have done some demos with table models where I had this problem. This is a far better solution than I have tried. Thanks for the tip. Learn something new on here every day it seems. AAW has some smart folks :cool2:

 

[Ron Sardo]

I drill pen blanks on the lathe with the blank mounted in scroll chuck and a the drill chuck on the tail stock

 

[Vaughn McMillan]

The throw on my benchtop Delta is too short for some blanks, too. My drill press vise is not mounted to the table, so I drill as far as I can, stop the drill, then slide a piece of scrap 3/4 ply or MDF under the vise to raise it, using the bit to keep things aligned. Then I finish out the last little bit of the hole. Someday I'll have a better drill press, but this works for the relatively small number of pens I make.

 

[woodwish]

I drill pen blanks on the lathe with the blank mounted in scroll chuck and a the drill chuck on the tail stock

I never tried pen blanks on the lathe, usually knock those out on my drill press but not sure why I don't use the lathe. I drilled my first kaliedsocope blank on the drill press, what a PITA. Starting with the second one I drilled the next 7-800 on the lathe, so much easier. When I make my next batch of pens I think I may try the lathe. The k'scope holes average 1 1/8" and about 8" deep usually. I couldn't even afford a drill press that could do that in one operation. Using the lathe it is easier to control the speed, easier to clear the huge amont of chips, drilling horizontal is just better it seems, and the bit is almost self-centering.

 

[capcrnch]

The throw on my benchtop Delta is too short for some blanks, too. My drill press vise is not mounted to the table, so I drill as far as I can, stop the drill, then slide a piece of scrap 3/4 ply or MDF under the vise to raise it, using the bit to keep things aligned. Then I finish out the last little bit of the hole. Someday I'll have a better drill press, but this works for the relatively small number of pens I make.

Tried this yesterday and it worked GREAT!

 

[Vaughn McMillan]

Tried this yesterday and it worked GREAT!

Glad to see it helped.