Thread: Drilling Pepper Mills

Stinky I think the auger would maybe wander a bit tho others may have used them without probs.
I use good forstner bits and slow speed I made up an extension piece to help in the longer holes. Siorry but unfold and buy the right gear saves havin to buy twice or more
Pete

I was using standard $10 spade bits but invested in a couple of sawtooth bits with an extender. After boring the 38 mm hole, I then switch to the 25mm bit and can only bore a couple of inches before the screw on the extender hits the side of the cylinder! So...I get a lovely clean 38mm hole then a pretty ordinary 25mm spade bit hole which I sand using some 80 and 180 grit paper wrapped round a dowel.
The biggest problem Ive faced making these is parting the top from the body and having the body smash into the toolrest. I also ruined my first one by parting of the bottom from the spigot and forgetting there's only about 5mm of "meat" on the cylinder because of the holes I drilled. I wasnt ready to catch it so it flew around the workshop a couple of times! I reckon I can knock one out in under an hour now tho.

Best of luck

Phil

To make the 'catching' easier and safer, reduce the lathe speed AND the pressure on the parting tool. Take a very light CUT with the parting tool, don't use it as a scraper.
Cya
Joe

Cheers for that gatiep..will try next time. Also..Sorry stinky...didnt mean to hijack your thread. )

No problem .... I have been known to have the same issues with parting off

Hi Sir S

I was using a 20mm auger bit about 180mm long - had to drill from both ends, so mounting was always an issue, plus it had a pull-in thread on the end which I think was not dead centre - it used to run off a bit. Also, the bore was not particularly clean - tended to be torn rather than cleany cut. Might be something to do with the fact that the auger bit I have was originally meant for boring railway sleepers???

I now use a 7/8 inch (roughly 22mm) forstner bit with a Bruce Leadbetter extension bar in the tailstock - its a bit slow and I can only cut about 20mm at a time before clearing the cuttings, but it runs straighter than the auger bit and gives a better finish. Its a carbon steel forstner bit, part of a $25 set, but works OK.

Colin

I use the 20mm auger bit set up in a pedestal drill on a slow speed 400rpm
I have set up a jig to hold the timber upright & square. You usually have a limit of 85mm on any pedestal drill so when I have reached the limit I lift the table up to the drill bit and drill the balance of the hole.
I then put the blank on the lathe with the John crawford salt & pepper eye lock mandrel drill the 6mm hole in the capstan end as deep as possible and turn the whole mill to the shape required and finish sanding while it is complete. I Then part of the capstan and bore out the top part of the mill for the capstan to locate into and if needed drill the balance of the way into the existing hole. This all depends on which lenght of mill you are making. Then you turn the mill around and drill the balance of the holes in the base for the mechanism to fit into.
The auger I use only has a point on not the screw.
You have to be carefull using the tailstock as a drill press because you have a cast handle up against a hardened plate , over time where the plate locates wears the cast handle and everything gets very sloppy and hard to move. You are better of using your pedestal drill with jigs for the main drilling operations.

Col2: Carefully file or grind the screw thread off any auger bits used in power machines.

It is meant for hand drilling only and is used for what it is doing to you, pulling itself into the work.

I bought a 20 mm engineering twist drill with a No.2 Morse taper from Blackwoods. The fluted length is about 150 mm and deeper holes can be drilled if the flutes are cleared regulaly.
The advantage of this drill is that it is very rigid, so does not wander, and is quick!
They are expensive, ($70 i seem to recall) but ideal for pepper mills and shakers etc.

thanks for the tip - I guess the care needs to go into making sure the pointed tip you are left with is in the centre, otherwise it will still try to run crooked.

I don't use the auger bit for pepper mills any more - the forstner bit does a better job, but is slow. I am also using a different procedure that means I don't need to set the pepper mill body up from both ends.

Any tips for sharpening carbon steel forstner bits?

Cheers, Colin