Problems drilling on the lathe

[Wayne Bitting]

I finally bought a drill chuck so that I can bore holes while the wood is chucked up (making my first vase/weed pot). I didn’t really have much luck last night. The wood would either burn or the tailstock would slide. I gave the tailstock lock a couple of taps with a mallet, but it still slide. The ways were clean and I didn’t find anything under the tailstock. Any tips?

For a 1” forstner bit, what RPM should I be using? Do I just stick with the recommended bit speeds or are speeds different when using the lathe to drill?

Thanks -w

[Brian Weick]

What is the make/model of your lathe? Does the headstock/tailstock line up (centered) check that first.Usually 300-600 rpm's for fostner bits is what I use. There was a thread on this a while back about the very same problem , I think if you do a SMC search you will find it.
Brian

[M Toupin]

For a 1" forstner most charts recommend 1000-1500rpm for soft woods and 250-500rpm for hard woods. If the bit is burning the wood then your speed is either too fast or the bit is dull. If you need to force it enough that the tail stock is slipping, then I'd venture a bet that the bit is dull. Quality forstner bits are expensive, cheap bits are just that, cheap. Cheap = Dull right out of the box.

Mike

[Harvey M. Taylor]

get a small mirror and place it under the ways of the lathe. from that, you can determine the size of the nut on your tail-stock lock nut. Tighten it ONLY an eighth oif a revolution and see if that stops the sliding.Probably the reason the bit is burning is because it is slipping instead of holding and drilling. Remember, ONLY an eighth of a turn on the nut.DAMHIKT. Max. another thought, you may have ruined the forstner bit by the burning, so try the next smaller bit to see if your bit is ruined.To interpret that weird word in caps--- dont ask me how I know this.Hope this solves your problem. Max

[Wayne Bitting]

Thanks for the advise, I'll check out the tailstock nut and will assume that the bit isn't much good anymore. I have used that bit a lot over the past year for doing peppermills, guess its time for a new one!

[Dick Strauss]

Wayne,
You can take a diamond paddle and sharpen the cutting faces (large angled flats going from center to edge) of forstners.

[curtis rosche]

you can sharpen them like dick said, i have many times used a cheap 3inch foresnter bit on the lathe. to awnser about the speed, are you drilling into endgrain or face grain? on end grain you need to go slower because its harder, i normaly start at zero and with the variable speed, slowly turn it up to where it seams to cut best.

the best way to stop the tail stock from slipping, take the toolrest since you cant use it for this anyway, and place it behind the tail stock, so that if it tries to move back it has to push both of them instead of only one.

[Burt Alcantara]

I've had similar problems. What worked for me was to take very small bites. This works but is so slow that I abandoned using Forstners and when back to straight bits. Unfortunately, straight bits over 1" are rare and prohibitively expensive.

As others have said, you may want to check the sharpness of the bit. Also the quality. I've found that the less expensive Forstners won't cut as well as the better grade bits.

Burt

[Bernie Weishapl]

Wayne I replaced my round washer that clamps the tailstock in place with a square T-Nut. It stopped the sliding. I bought the one for my Rikon which is good also for Jet mini's, etc. from Monster Tools. The one for my Nova DVR I bought from Oneway. When I am drilling on my Nova or Rikon the tailstock doesn't move. Here is the web page for them. It made a big difference on my lathes.

http://www.oneway.ca/coring/clamp_block.htm

[Caleb SimonyiGindele]

Just a shot in the dark -- are you sure the motor wasn't in reverse?

[Clint Schlosser]

I have made a few Mugs on my mini-lathe and had trouble using a 3 1/2" forstner, it ended up that my stock came out of center and was causing the issue. I would also recommend that you place your hand on the top of the tail stock to stop any vibrations at that end.

So far I have been successful using the above method up to a 4" forstner, and yes I do sharpen with a diamond paddle before each use. Since the mugs are made from several glued up pieces this is very important.

[Richard Madison]

My cheap forstners all have a maximum rpm printed on the side, and I usually run them at about half that speed or even less for the larger ones.

[Brian Weick]

Is the verdict in as of yet? Just curios if there was a resolution to the problem. Are you sure the headstock spindle is DOC with the tail stock? If the H/T are not OC with each other, you will get a shaft vibration and tail stock "ya" movement with disastrous outcome. See if you have them aligned properly, I think once you have these perfectly aligned you will notice a drastic improvement. I have a tapered (lateral) tail stock base and one day I forgot to put it back OC with the spindle shaft, mounted a 3.5" Fostner bit . slid her up, tuned it on, adjusted the speed, started the tail stock quill penetration and within 1 rotation , completely snapped the bit shaft in 1/2~ again, all systems and checks before I hit the start button- , worth looking into,:confused:
Brian

[Burt Alcantara]

OK. I've had this problem and today discovered the cause. The keeper on my tailstock began to pop out randomly. Looked like an adjustment was needed. Figured while I was at it I might as well get some of the play out as well.

Turns out the tailstock was way out of alignment. It's not enough to align with the quill in doing point to point. You MUST do this with the quill in, half out and full out. That's where I saw the problem.

After getting a dead on quill in, the quill full out was way off. I could see how drilling from the tailstock would begin to bend the drill bit as the quill was advanced, causing squealing and burning.

Took a while but now the tailstock is aligned for all positions.

Check it out.
Burt

[Brian Weick]

glad you got your problem solved- yea that alignment is so crucial - the minute it gets out of center - that's when the bit starts to malfunction. I was pretty sure it was an alignment issue with the tail stock. If your headstock swivels that has to be write on as well- I have never moved mine and don't plan on it. Nice to hear you have the problem resolved-:) So Wayne ~ what was the problem with your situation ~ any solutions as of yet? :confused:
Brian.

[Wayne Bitting]

So this was the first time I was able to turn on this lathe(Jet 1642 EVS-2). Bought it before it got cold outside and it has sat since I got the electric to it back in December. The problem - headstock wasn't fully locked down. Things seemed to chatter a bit when I was turning, but didn't pay too much attention to it, since it was the first time it was being used. As I put pressure on the drill bit, the headstock would rock off center. Burned up the bit and the wood. Went down in bit size and right off the bat I was boring without any problems. Should have a pic of the finished vase this weekend, finish is drying.