Quill Wobble???

tonybalc · Post by **tonybalc** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 1:26 pm

I tried to use my SS as a drill press yesterday & drill some pen blanks & discovered some slop in the drilled holes, not to mention the very loud screech of the drill bit binding in the hole.

The brass tubes were slightly loose when I went to install them. I was using a brand new ($18.00) 10 mm bit that I just got from Wood Works. It was a longer bit than I have used in past so I switched back to the shorter bit that I had used in the past & got similar results, but not quite as bad. To test it for wobble I chucked a solid metal bar that was about 8” long. I could easily see & feel the wobble. With the drill chuck removed I cannot tell by site or feel that the quill is wobbling. I do not have a plunger indicator to measure it. I guess it could be the drill chuck. What do you guys recommend? Thanks for your help.

mbcabinetmaker · Post by **mbcabinetmaker** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 1:37 pm

Sounds like the quill bearing to me. Unplug the machine first. Try shaking the quill with the chuck installed. If it is the bearing you should be able to fell the play. Also if you are getting a loud screech you are probably drilling with to much speed on the machine and or to fast of a feed rate.

beeg · Post by **beeg** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 1:55 pm

What kind of wood are ya trying to drill and is the bit sharp?

tonybalc · Post by **tonybalc** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 2:16 pm

mbcabinetmaker wrote:Sounds like the quill bearing to me. Unplug the machine first. Try shaking the quill with the chuck installed. If it is the bearing you should be able to fell the play. Also if you are getting a loud screech you are probably drilling with to much speed on the machine and or to fast of a feed rate.

If it is the bearing, is that an expensive repair? As far as the drilling, I was going at one of the lowest speeds & slowly nibbling at the pen blank. Something is different. I will try what you said when I get home. Thanks.

tonybalc · Post by **tonybalc** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 2:20 pm

beeg wrote:What kind of wood are ya trying to drill and is the bit sharp?

It was some type of exotic pen blank wood that I got at Wood Works. It did not seem especially hard. I was also drilling acrylic pen blanks. In both cases I was using a brand new, very sharp bit, using a slow speed & only going a little at a time.

mbcabinetmaker · Post by **mbcabinetmaker** » Mon Nov 28, 2011 7:44 pm

tonybalc wrote:If it is the bearing, is that an expensive repair? As far as the drilling, I was going at one of the lowest speeds & slowly nibbling at the pen blank. Something is different. I will try what you said when I get home. Thanks.

A double bearing quill upgrade is available for most older Mark V's.

First lets be sure that is the problem. Something else that I thought about is the way that you were holding the work piece. If it was not secured so that it could not move that could also be your problem. It could also be a bent quill shaft. Are you sure that the solid metal bar that you chucked in was straight? Good news is that the quill is very easily changed out. Hang in there we will figure it out and get you on the right path.

tonybalc · Post by **tonybalc** » Tue Nov 29, 2011 10:53 am

I actually secured the blank vise to the SS table with bolts & wingnuts this time. I used to clamp it before & was not quite happy with it. Now it is more stable then it ever was as far as I can tell. The bar that used "appears" to be perfectly straight. It looks like it is wobbling just as much as that longer drill bit did but you can also touch it & feel it unlike the sharp bit. I think that I am going to buy a dial gauge & check it out that way.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Tue Nov 29, 2011 11:03 am

In drill press mode - chuck a small diameter brad point bit.

Bring the quill down to the point where the point pierces a piece of scrap wood clamped to the table and then back off just a little bit. Lock the quill.

The bit is now very close but does not touch the scrap wood.

Turn the drill press on at low speed and watch the brad point.

It should not appear to circle the hole where the bit pierced the wood.

The larger the circle, the worse the problem!

nuhobby · Post by **nuhobby** » Tue Nov 29, 2011 11:06 am

Just throwing this in: A couple of years ago I did some steel-drilling on my SS; also had a run-in with a broken-off-bit in my hole which took forever to remove. After all that, my drill-chuck had more runout error than before. I changed to a different drill-chuck and everything cleaned up again.

tonybalc · Post by **tonybalc** » Tue Nov 29, 2011 4:40 pm

dusty wrote:In drill press mode - chuck a small diameter brad point bit.

Bring the quill down to the point where the point pierces a piece of scrap wood clamped to the table and then back off just a little bit. Lock the quill.

The bit is now very close but does not touch the scrap wood.

Turn the drill press on at low speed and watch the brad point.

It should not appear to circle the hole where the bit pierced the wood.

The larger the circle, the worse the problem!

While drilling the pen blanks I have already noticed that the longer the drill bit, the more slop in the hole. Also, with the solid 8" metal rod chucked, the wobble got worse the further away from the drill chuck. You could feel it by running your hand across it while it was turning.