Drilling on the lathe

[Prashun Patel]

I am making some lathe tool handles, and need to drill the holes for the tangs.

I only have a tail stock drill chuck, so I'd need to lock the handles at the head stock and feed the bit into the handle.

What is the best way to hold a spindle on the head stock?

Drill hole for a worm screw in the bottom of the spindle? Turn a tenon on the bottom of the handle to sit in the chuck?

Neither seems as easy as using a headstock drill chuck, but alas I don't have one and likely won't use it that often. If I'm going to buy one, I might as well just buy some aluminum handles!!!

[Jamie Buxton]

Bore the tang hole in the stock before you turn it.

[Prashun Patel]

How do you bore the tang hole?

[Bob Bouis]

What's a headstock drill chuck?

What I do is turn a tenon, put the piece in a chuck with the tailstock attached, rough it round, then use a "five finger" steady rest (i.e., my hands) to hold it while I drill the hole at a slow lathe speed using a drill chuck in the tailstock. Once you get it started it's easy to drill a straight hole. Then put a cone center in the hole and finish up the handle.

[Prashun Patel]

Bob, that's how I usually do it. However, this means the drill stays stationary while the piece rotates. I always find it requires a little muscle to keep the drill bit from spinning. I usually use a clamp on the chuck to get some leverage. That feels wrong. If I could chuck up the drill bit at the headstock, it would rotate, and I'd feed the stock into the bit, which would be easier to get a good grip on. I could also spin the bit faster than I can spin the stock (with confidence) so I think that would also cut down on the torque as I feed.

[Bob Bouis]

I'm not sure where your drill bit is slipping, but have you tried sharpening your drill bits or tapping the chuck into the tailstock with a mallet? It shouldn't take that much holding force.

If the bit is slipping in the chuck you need a new chuck.

[Prashun Patel]

Bob,
The bit is not slipping. The chuck spins free, so when it encounters the spinning stock, it spins with the stock instead of penetrating - unless I grip the chuck to keep it from spinning. Is that what's supposed to happen?
prashun

[Neal DaMommio]

Prashun my chuck is attached to a morse taper and just like a drive center in the head stock the morse taper locks into place. How does your chuck spin in the tail stock? Is the morse taper slipping?

[Brice Rogers]

You will want to make sure that the Morse taper on the chuck is very clean (no oil) and that the MT pocket is also very clean. When I drill holes for handles, I have my left hand on the drill chuck and the right hand on the tail stock handle. I apply pressure with my left hand to keep the drill chuck from spinning, especially when I am pulling out the drill to clear chips.

If you have dings or ridges in your MT tail stock or chuck, it could interfere with the "lock-up".

If you want to see how well the two parts are locking up, apply some machinist Dykem (bluing) or magic marker to your drill chuck and then stick it in the tailstock and rotate it. Ideally, the color should be removed over the entire length of the MT part and not just at one end.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Find the center on each end. Then between a drive spur and a rotating tail center, turn a shallow tenon on one end. Chuck up the tenon so the shoulders of the tenon are resting on the chuck jaws without bottoming out in the chuck. Then drill it with the drill/taper assembly in the tailstock. That's how I drill the holes in my bottlestoppers.

[Prashun Patel]

Brice, Bob,This is the chuck I have.

Penn State Industries: Live 1/2 Tailstock Drill Chuck #2MT


The chuck and the taper spin freely from each other. It is not the bit in the chuck that is slipping; it is not the taper that is slipping. It is the fact that the taper and the chuck are not locked together. I can't understand how something like this is designed to be used. And there is no resource on line that I can find to show how to properly use this thing.

Ken,
Do you have to grip the chuck in order to stop it spinning, or is it fixed to the taper?

[Neal DaMommio]

That is a live version that is used to hold a tenon at the end of your piece while you are turning. This one is the one needed to drill.
https://www.pennstateind.com/store/TM32.html

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Brice, Bob,This is the chuck I have.

Penn State Industries: Live 1/2 Tailstock Drill Chuck #2MT


The chuck and the taper spin freely from each other. It is not the bit in the chuck that is slipping; it is not the taper that is slipping. It is the fact that the taper and the chuck are not locked together. I can't understand how something like this is designed to be used. And there is no resource on line that I can find to show how to properly use this thing.

Ken,
Do you have to grip the chuck in order to stop it spinning, or is it fixed to the taper?

My drill chuck doesn't spin independently of the taper it's mounted on. Once in a blue moon, the entire assembly might spin but usually, just reseating the entire assembly (drill chuck with morse taper) into the tailstock will remedy the problem.

[Bill Boehme]

Brice, Bob,This is the chuck I have.

Penn State Industries: Live 1/2 Tailstock Drill Chuck #2MT


The chuck and the taper spin freely from each other. It is not the bit in the chuck that is slipping; it is not the taper that is slipping. It is the fact that the taper and the chuck are not locked together. I can't understand how something like this is designed to be used. And there is no resource on line that I can find to show how to properly use this thing.

Ken,
Do you have to grip the chuck in order to stop it spinning, or is it fixed to the taper?

Prashun,

That chuck isn't meant for drilling, it is for gripping a mandrel or a tenon. For drilling you should be using a drill chuck on a solid shank to fit the Morse taper socket on either the drive spindle or the the tailstock quill. Typically the drill chuck will have a JT6 taper so you will need to buy a JT6 to MT2 shank, but be sure to verify that because sometimes a drill chuck will have a JT33 taper.

[Bob Bouis]

Oh! That's what you meant by headstock vs tailstock drill chucks.

I'd still recommend sharpening your drill bits, but otherwise just pony up for a fixed drill chuck. $12 at harbor freight with the ubiquitous 20% off coupon. I don't think anybody uses live-center drill chucks for drilling holes if they can help it.

The fixed drill chuck has other uses. I use mine mostly to hold buffing wheels with drill mandrels. But you can also drill pen blanks with it, hold small parts, etc.