Chucking a hanger bolt in drill press chuck

[George Bokros]

I have some ball shaped finials we bought for drape rods and I need to sand them between coats of finish and am thinking the easiest way to do a good job is to chuck them in my drill press by the lag screw. Will this damage the drill press chuck or the lag screws? I realize I would need to be careful how tight I tightened the chuck.

Thanks

[glenn bradley]

Since you are just sanding, perfect alignment is not required. I would wrap the machine threads of the hanger-bolt (I assume you mean hanger bolt and not a lag screw with a hex-head?) with tape and grip it just snug enough to do the job. Enough tape should pad the sharp edges of chuck and screw and act as a buffer.

[John K Jordan]

You can cut the head off an equivalent bolt and grip the smooth shaft in the chuck. The chuck jaws are hardened and won't be damaged.

[pat warner]

I think you're looking for trouble, especially if the rods have any length to them.
Even at 100 RPM they will whip and vibrate.
If your abrasive grabs x accident you can get hurt.
Without support on the opposite end you're looking at Calamity Jane.

[Wayne Jolly]

Since you are just sanding, get a piece of wooden dowel, drill a hole in it lengthwise just smaller than the diameter of the screw, screw the ball into the dowel, and check the dowel.

Wayne

[George Bokros]

I think you're looking for trouble, especially if the rods have any length to them.
Even at 100 RPM they will whip and vibrate.
If your abrasive grabs x accident you can get hurt.
Without support on the opposite end you're looking at Calamity Jane.

I am not sanding the rod just the finial unattached to the rod.

[Matt Day]

Assuming it's steel, the threads will be fine. Test it with a spare bolt and see what happens.

[Bruce Page]

Lag screws are cheap. You'd get a better and more concentric grip by cutting the hex head off and chucking on the bolt shank. I do it often.

[Lee Schierer]

If the turnings have hanger bolts, put on 2-3 nuts and clamp the nuts in you chuck. Just make sure the flats on the nuts are aligned so the chuck jaws have a flat place to bite.

[Jim Andrew]

If your drill press is running too fast to be safe, slow the speed down.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Use a coupling nut to grip the machine thread part of your hanger bolt. You might want to add a jam nut below coupling nut.

[George Bokros]

The bolts are lag screw thread on both ends so they can screw into the wooden finials and the wooden rod. Bruce's suggestion is the best and is what I am going to do.

Thanks Bruce Page. For me sometimes the simplest solution escapes me.

[Bruce Wrenn]

You are welcome. Been there, done it. If chuck on DP isn't large enough to hold coupling nut, just cut a short section of a machine bolt and screw into coupling nut for chuck to grip.