Shopsmith Forums

A short bit will help with flexing off-center. A sharp brad point bit or a Forstner bit fed slowly will help to not follow the grain.

For a true hole, drill a really square block thru using a bit to allow a snug fit of your dowel - similar to your block Dusty. Insert the dowel and drill a little over half way thru and without moving the block reverse the dowel in it and drill from the other end.

If your block is truly square and you do not move the block after drilling the thru hole you should wind up with a hole centered on each end of the dowel

Forrest

terrydowning wrote:Most of the suggestions offered are great.

Drilling straight holes through small stock is definitely a challenge.

Short, sharp bits, and step drilling are recommended (1/8" starter holes centered on either side), 3/16" through and finish with 1/4".

Drill in lathe mode. If you have a Harbor Freight near by they sell a Morse Taper 2 drill chuck for around $15 (Warning run out and/or improper chucking of the dowel in a standard scroll chuck may not lead to the most accurate results) A collett chuck is more accurate. But don't go out and spend $100 on a collett chuck unless you plan on doing this operation often.

As to drill sharpening make sure that any bit used for accurate drilling is sharpened equally well on both sides of the bit. If one side is sharper then the other the result is a bit that does not drill straight.

To test sharpness: On a test piece of plastic examine how the bit is cutting, you should have equal size "shavings" coming off of all cutters. I say test with plastic because because a sharp bit will make nice long ribbon like shavings that are easy to evaluate.

Keep the RPM low (A), slow the feed rate, and clear chips often (1/8" to 1/4"). If accuracy is your desired outcome, take your time.

You may also want to consider a sharp forstner bit if you have one in this size. I have successfully drilled 3/8" holes through 1/2" dowel using my collett chuck, my HF lathe drill chuck, forstner bits and a lot of patience. I used a center starter bit to start the hole, a 1/4" forstner, and finished with the 3/8" forstner.

A lack of patience is often my greatest deficit.

forrestb wrote:A short bit will help with flexing off-center. A sharp brad point bit or a Forstner bit fed slowly will help to not follow the grain.

For a true hole, drill a really square block thru using a bit to allow a snug fit of your dowel - similar to your block Dusty. Insert the dowel and drill a little over half way thru and without moving the block reverse the dowel in it and drill from the other end.

If your block is truly square and you do not move the block after drilling the thru hole you should wind up with a hole centered on each end of the dowel

Forrest

Very good tip!

My block is not a square though all the corners are square (its oblong). To use the same block, I marked two sides (a corner) to be placed against the fence and the stop. As long as neither the fence nor the stop get moved, I can remove the dowel and flip it end for end or drill a second dowel with reasonable expectations of repeatability.

I have now drilled four short dowels somewhat successfully.

It is now time to make an attempt for real; no more dry runs.

One problem. I consumed all the dowel I have that is long enough for the project. I am in a hold for supplies. Sure glad Ace is close by.

Dusty: Google shell auger bit......... lots of good reading............

I used the Shopsmith drill press vice to successfully drill holes in dowels. I know you have one of these vices. http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/catalog/sa_combinationvise.htm The vice has cute little recesses to hold a dowel vertical or horizontal.

In this toy skid loader project, it was 1/8" holes drilled through 1/4" dowels to make the "hydraulic cylinders". Worked easily with the vice.

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Drilling the starter hole in the end of a dowel likely is part of the problem because the 1/4" drill flexes when entering the dowel. So, if you use a #3 center drill that is used in metalworking, you likely can get an accurate start on drilling. The body of a #3 center drill is 1/4" in diameter, so if you plunge it beyond the countersink portion of the bit, you can get a very accurate start. They're only 2" long, so you can choke up on the bit in the drill chuck and have an extremely short exposure of the bit with little possibility to flex.

Another possibility for drilling the starter hole would be to use a short 1/4" spiral router bit to plunge into the end of the dowel. Even a straight 1/4" router bit that you can plunge would likely give an accurate starter hole.

The shoulders of the starter hole would ensure (as well as could be expected) that a 1/4" bit wouldn't drift off course. A 1/4" forstner bit, being short and stout, likely would give the best results for drilling to the center of the dowel and then reversing it and follow the same procedure to complete the through hole.

P.S. Another possibility is to use a "D" bit after drilling an accurate starter hole. You can make one out of 1/4" drill rod and since it would match the diameter of the starter hole, it's virtually impossible to flex or drift off course. Since the "D" bit doesn't have any flutes to allow the chips to escape, you'll need to stop often and suck out the chips with a vacuum. You can Google "D bits" and come up with instructions for making one.

As mentioned already, drill bits will try to follow end grain. It's not much help to you in this case Dusty but that's exactly what the old barefoot augers were designed for. It kind of makes me wonder if a brad point bit with the brad point removed would do it.

Other than that I'd split it, rout a half hole groove in each side on center and then re-assemble it with a strip of veneer the thickness of the kerf between the pieces. Then I'd drill out the veneer strip.

That's a lot of work but you'd know it was right.

Paul M

[quote="dusty"]
I am attempting to drill a 1/4 through hole in a 5" long 1" dowel. Drilling the hole is not the problem]

This is how I approached the problem

With the SS in the horizontal position I extended the quill and adjusted the horizontal drilling jig (as close as possible) until the drill bit lay parallel in the bottom of the jig. After clamping the jig in place Lowered the table to place the point of the drill in the center of the dowel and drilled away. Seemed to work OK for me.

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Note: The jig is made from glued MDF only no metal attachments

I would start from both ends with a 1/4" router bit to it's maximum depth, then a brad point drill bit from both ends.

charlese wrote:I used the Shopsmith drill press vice to successfully drill holes in dowels. I know you have one of these vices. http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/catalog/sa_combinationvise.htm The vice has cute little recesses to hold a dowel vertical or horizontal.

In this toy skid loader project, it was 1/8" holes drilled through 1/4" dowels to make the "hydraulic cylinders". Worked easily with the vice.

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Beautiful job, Charlese. Big furniture, little toys - all excellent. You are a CRAFTSMAN.

Yes, I have the little vise and I seldom use it. Not one of my better purchases.