need ideas for drilling stright

farley · Post by **farley** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 9:42 pm

so going to try the pen turning, ordered some stuff, but didn't want to order that nice 4 point chuck to hold the little blank for drilling.

So I guess it's drill press time, trying to drill stright and not have any movement.

Trying to use what I have in the shop, (don't have any jorgerson clamps) so I thought I would secure the wood between two fences and drill that way.

other thoughts?
TIA

SDSSmith · Post by **SDSSmith** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 11:04 pm

I drill my blanks with the Shopsmith in horizontal mode. I mark the center of a blank and I set the table height so the drill bit hits the centerline on the blank. I position the blank horizontally with the miter gauge (and lock it in the miter slot) so I can drill multiple blanks. You can back the blank up with the fence, but make sure you have some sacrificial material on the face of the fence.

wlhayesmfs · Post by **wlhayesmfs** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 11:11 pm

When I first starting turning pens I made a jig to horizonal bore my blanks. Wasn't too hard to make and the only real adjustment was the table height and once that is there I drilled several blanks so I would have them ahead of time. Later I picked up a pen drilling vise from woodcraft. Drilled that way for years and last christmas picked up a nova chuck and all the jaws on Blitz Friday from woodcraft and have drilled all my blanks that way ever since.

fiatben · Post by **fiatben** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 11:44 pm

wlhayesmfs wrote:When I first starting turning pens I made a jig to horizonal bore my blanks. Wasn't too hard to make and the only real adjustment was the table height and once that is there I drilled several blanks so I would have them ahead of time.

Me too! That was about 10-15 years ago. I still have the jig.

rdewinter · Post by **rdewinter** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 12:54 am

Bill
Can you explain how you drill the pen blanks with the nova chuck?

pennview · Post by **pennview** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 8:42 am

Bob, take a look at the "Pen Turning 101" thread in the Beginning Woodworking section that was recently posted here on the forum. There are a series of pictures there showing the set-up.

damagi · Post by **damagi** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 10:57 am

I have up until now been using my zyliss vise to hold the pen blanks (the boxy tube jaw covers work well). There is no guarantee of getting it straight, but it does pretty well. However, I think I will probably use the chuck solution from now on

farley · Post by **farley** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 11:07 am

thanks for the ideas--horizontal boring seems to make good sense. a lot of support on the table, no need to change set ups.

I just wasn't think well.

hdtran · Post by **hdtran** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 12:02 pm

farley wrote:thanks for the ideas--horizontal boring seems to make good sense. a lot of support on the table, no need to change set ups.

I just wasn't think well.

Horizontal boring makes very nice holes, but requires a bit of setup. There are pictures for horizontal drilling jigs both in this forum & in the beginner woodworking penturning thread (do some searches).

When you eventually buy a chuck (I like the Oneway Talon that Shopsmith sells), buy some small jaws (mine are on order), and you can do drilling with the blank in the chuck and drill in a tailstock chuck. I'm going to switch over to chuck drilling as soon as my small jaws come in, because it will work better with my workflow.

hdtran

cmccarter1 · Post by **cmccarter1** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 1:47 pm

I just purchased a MT2 tailstock arbor from SS so I can mount my Barracuda 2 chuck on the tailstock holding the pen blanks. then I intend to use the headstock to drill the blanks. hopefully this will keep the holes relatively straight. I have tried it the other way and tend to get some issues if the blank is not mounted perfectly centered.

chester

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need ideas for drilling stright

need ideas for drilling stright

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