motorize horizontal boring on lathe

I drill lots of holes in dowels. I made a jig with drill bushings that works ok except for short dowels. So I center bore the short ones on the wood lathe. Crank the tail stock in crank the tail stock out. Crank open the chuck remove the dowel and repeat. Hundreds of short dowels becomes thousands of cranks. I am not complaining but there is a better way for me in my advanced years!

So I removed the tail stock wheel and drilled and tapped the tail stock tubing for a set screw and inserted a 5/8 steel rod that is long enough to protrude an inch past the reinstalled tail stock wheel. Chucked on the cordless drill set to low speed and it works great. Poor mans' horizontal boring machine!!

PS. as is normal protocol, hang on to that drill chuck when reversing.

It is an easy job for a CNC.

Do you mean a CNC metal lathe? I have a CNC router. The dowels are not really round and change dimensions with the weather. I am interested Lee if you are taking about a CNC router. Thanks.

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Originally Posted by Gordon Stump

Do you mean a CNC metal lathe? I have a CNC router. The dowels are not really round and change dimensions with the weather. I am interested Lee if you are taking about a CNC router. Thanks.

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A cnc lathe could do the job automatically, including cutting long dowels into short ones after boring the hole on center. It wouldn't care if it was wood or metal being cut.

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Originally Posted by Lee Schierer

A cnc lathe could do the job automatically, including cutting long dowels into short ones after boring the hole on center. It wouldn't care if it was wood or metal being cut.

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Thanks Lee

'Traditional' shop solution is a lever feed. A simple link and lever, not a rack and pinion like a drill press. Much faster, but limited on thrust for larger drills.

Switching between lever and handwheel can take more time than you might like though. I've seen some clever solutions to improve that, including 2 in 1, but there's more time and trouble to design and fab. The other option is a second tailstock.

https://youtu.be/A-RF0187WMM

Thanks for all the input. I really wanted to motorize the tail stock like I did with my drill press table and the Stroke Sander with the Killer Craftsman garage door opener. But the cordless drill was so effective and easy I moved on. Kind of let down I did not get to place an order with Surplus center for DC motor, controller, etc.

Good idea. If I may ask, what do you make with these hollow dowels?
Fred

All kinds of musical instrument stand pegs for my business: Heritage Music Products.

Thanks