Thread: ped drill question

The other alternative is to use your lathe to drill the blanks. That is the way I do them. I just use long pin jaws in the chuck and a Jacobs chuck in the tail stock. Works well for me

Originally Posted by Rum Pig

The other alternative is to use your lathe to drill the blanks. That is the way I do them. I just use long pin jaws in the chuck and a Jacobs chuck in the tail stock. Works well for me

do you use your pen mill in the lathe too ?
i have been using my drill to press he pens together also but i plan on changing that setup

Not sure of the ryobi or similar ,the smaller drills tend to have limited travel and some have fixed chucks ,no spindle morse taper ! pretty much depends on finances most times , here's one at hare and forbes might be worth a look
A good second hand one may be the go as well ,else you do a session of drilling then relocate to a your pen section hehe . Good luck with it cheers ~ John

i work at a hardware store in mackay we used to sell ryobi before bunnies got it exclusive and i wouldnt buy one because of these reasons if going to put drill press vice or pen drilling vice there is no room even with table all way down and then put drill bit in and the other main reason is the stroke of machine is only 50 mm so if doing bt401 or similiar you wont be able to drill all way through if you can get away only using a drill press vice i think looking at a bench drill with 16 speeds and 70 -80 mm stroke cost a couple of hundred but least it will be able to be used for other things

When my father told his farm, he gave me his big drill press and bought one of those ryobi . He has been regreting it ever since.

If the tailstock on the lathe slides straight and true then do your drilling there.

Otherwise the Hare and Forbes is a good DP.

G'day Texx

I'm with Rum Pig - save yourself some dollars, and drill pen blanks on your lathe. You are less likely to "blow out" a blank drilling on the lathe - with a drill press, it is my experience that people (including myself) tend to put too much pressure into the blank, especially toward the bottom. Using the tailstock wheel to wind the drill in tends to make you take your time - noting that you should still back out frequently and clear the drill flutes, especially with heat-sensitive blanks like acrylics and some of the dense desert woods. Brad-point bits are the preferred drill type, for wood anyhow.

If there is enough wood to spare, I usually cut my blanks to 150mm, which gives enough room at each end for a little spigot to fit my Vicmarc long-nose jaws. Having turned the spigots with my trusty Bedan, I cut the blank in half, then mount and drill each half separately, which also helps with accuracy and minimises heat build-up.

Originally Posted by texx

do you use your pen mill in the lathe too ?
i have been using my drill to press he pens together also but i plan on changing that setup

No I have a cheap cordless drill for my pen mill and that is all it does just pen milling.
My FIL bought me this cheap drill so I thought I best find a use for it

I have a Ryobi drill press and you can actually drill a blank even though the travel is limited. I put my blank in the pen vise and drill as fas as the drill will allow me to and then I back out of the blank totally and pull the blank up higher in the pen vise and part way up the drill bit itself.(about half way) This allows me to clamp the bottom half of the pen blank in the vise and aligns the blank with the drill bit, then I drill the final part of the blank and its done. Not a big problem and lot cheaper than buying an expensive DP if only using it for light work and drilling pen blanks.
More recently I have been drilling my blanks on the lathe but the above method does work quite well.

Originally Posted by mkypenturner

i work at a hardware store in mackay we used to sell ryobi before bunnies got it exclusive and i wouldnt buy one because of these reasons if going to put drill press vice or pen drilling vice there is no room even with table all way down and then put drill bit in and the other main reason is the stroke of machine is only 50 mm so if doing bt401 or similiar you wont be able to drill all way through if you can get away only using a drill press vice i think looking at a bench drill with 16 speeds and 70 -80 mm stroke cost a couple of hundred but least it will be able to be used for other things

I had a Ryobi one for over 10 years it cost me $40 at the time some ne else has it now. Now I have a new Ryobi, yes mkypenturner is right in saying that the travel is only 50mm but it works fine for all the pens I do. But when I do get the money and room I will get a bigger press.
David

I use one of the Blackwoods ones and it has worked fine for me.

Bench Drill | Blackwoods

I really lashed out and spared no expence and bought a small bench drill from Aldi yes Aldi and it has worked a treat the only thing is you only get about 50 mm drop so on some pens it can be a pain but for the price (about $60) it's terrific.

Cheers Ian

Hi Texx I got this from Bunnys - It as 65mm travel-- enough travel to drill a pen blank
It's been a good tool.It as 12 speeds and a 16mm Chuck.450 watt motor and MT2 spindle
Cheers Tony.
http://www.ryobi.com.au/getattachmen...nch-Drill.aspx