Lathe speed for peppermill

[Troy Franklin]

Hey everyone. New to the forum. I wanted to make peppermills for gifts this year. Running into a problem. I am on an old craftsman lathe that slows to only 895 rpms which is too fast to bore the 1-5/8 and 1-1/16 holes. Suggestions on how to use my drill press and keep things accurate? Other options?
Thanks,
Troy

[Bernie Weishapl]

Welcome Troy to the vortex of turning. Troy that is pretty fast for drilling with those bits. If I had to do it on a drill press I would do it the same as on the lathe. First I would part off my top because it gets drilled with a smaller hole. The 1 1/16" goes all the way thru. I would find your center on both ends. I would first drill my 1 5/8" hole which is generally 1/2" deep. Then I would start drilling with other bit. I would drill half way thru then flip it and drill the rest of the way from the other end. If it is not dead exact center in the center of the pepper mill no problem.

[Troy Franklin]

Thanks. Any ideas on clamping the cylinder?

[Keith Westfall]

Drill it before you turn it - then the hole will end up centered - if you chuck it between centers...

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Thanks. Any ideas on clamping the cylinder?

+1 on drilling with your DP from both ends. You could also get a forstner extension and drill all the way through. That will make my method below work.

Turn a blank shouldered tenon to fit in the mill on both ends. Then turn between centers. It will be just a friction drive, but should be fine until you get really agressive. Using the tenons also pretty much guarentees that your mill is centered on axis. If you drill from both ends, there is no guarentee it will be on axis, since there are 2 axes. (plural axis? axes or axises?). If you drill crooked, not a problem. True up the ends when between centers and everything will be centered and square. You'll have to manually trim the mill part that is covered by the tenon, but it's not the visible part of the mill.

Good luck in what ever you decide to try.