Thread: offset boring head for wood?

I'd worry about it walking out of the taper, it's designed to be used in a milling machine with a threaded drawbar up through the spindle to hold it in place. You might get away with it in timber though.

The standard cutters aren't designed to cut a blind hole like a hole saw, generally they are used to bore out an existing hole created with a drill.

Knowing nothing about working with wood I would guess it would be ok to try.

You would probably have to run the drill press reasonably quickly for the carbide unless you regrind the tool profile to suit soft material like timber.

You could allways make your own bars and use HSS instead of carbide.

I take it that you have a hole running from the top of your drill spindle through to where you mount your MT2 tools.

If you dont you run the
extreemly likely chance of the arbor of the boreing head and arbor

falling out either causeing damage to the work piece the boring head or personal injury.

The type of tooling you are looking at is suited for use in a milling machine,not really a drill press unless it has a positive means of retaining the MT shank.

Thanks for the replies.

I don't believe my drill press has any means of locking the MT2 shank in place. When I want to change drill chucks I insert a drift into a slot, give it a whack with a hammer and the chuck falls out. I insert the other chuck and give it a tap from below with a wooden mallet to secure it in place. From what you guys are saying this isn't a very safe option for the boring head?

Jack

Hi Jack,
I have thought about this when people on other forums have asked about using a drill for a mill.
My idea would be to drill and ream the top of the arbor for a round taper pin, that will be long enough to sit in the slot of the spindle as well. Knocking this in when the arbor was in place would lock it up in there.

Not sure if you have seen them, but I bought one of these last year and it makes arbor / drill changes so much easier as you only need one hand and no hammer.
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/SEMI-AUTOMATI...m3efe6df6c7bor

With the boring head I think it could be made to work. If you buy a kit they usually come with a bar to hold HSS and a piece of HSS.
Dave

As a type of test to see if the morse taper with tang would be sufficent to hold the boring head in place when in opperation,you could weld a block of steel around 1/2 Kg to the side if a broken or worn out M/T2 drill or reamer,set the drill speed somewhere around 1000RPM and see what happens.

The extra weight hanging off the side of what evere you use would act as the boring head.

Without something to lock it in, like the taper pin through the tang I described above , it is going to come out with any sideward preasure. I cant even use sanding drums for long in the drill before the chuck drops out of the taper.
Dave

You should not use the boring head in the drill, the head will not remain secure in the MT under the cutting pressures in timber as most of us have said. They are tapped for a drawbar for a reason.

You mentioned that you might use it to cut holes in metal from time to time - this magnifies the risk many times over.

The other thing to consider is the impact of that amount of off-centre roataing weight and non-balanced cutting forces on the bearings in your spindle. Drill presses are not designed for these forces.

For your own safety I'd give this idea away and go to plan B.

Rgds - Gavin

Sounds like I need a mill! thanks for the replies.

It just so happens early this morning I was doing some boring and had the camera handy so took some footage..

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMUkdV4rlJ0]YouTube - boring[/ame]

great video. thanks. there's no way I could get my drill press to spin that slowly. It would probably shake itself to bits if I tried to bore a large hole. I'll give the idea a miss. cheers.