drill chuck for tail stock

Sure, get a chuck with the appropriate Morse taper. Woodcraft, Packard, any of the others can sell you one. Also suggest the use of edge-guided bits like brand point or Forstner for best results.

Yes. I bought a Jacobs chuck (with a #2 Morse taper) that fits in my tail stock. I bought it at Woodcraft. I can also use it in the head stock with a (#2 to #3) taper adapter which I've use to turn smaller things such as knobs. Easy to use.

Note Jacobs Chuck on this page.

Just select correct Morse Taper for Lathe as noted by others...

Note this is one I got -- It is a 1/2 inch jaw that uses morse taper -- other in previous post is for Taig lathe.

My $.02 Margret, When you get your tailstock chuck and go to drill into the workpiece, first take your smallest parting tool or similar and make a very small starter hole dead-centre in the work piece, where the drill bit will enter. This should stop any tendency for the bit to wander. This will also work to some degee for your hand-held drill operation.

Tom

Margret, I have found that when my bits get dull they wander a lot more, especially if they are the bevel point of forstner bits. robo hippy

Hi Margaret,

IMO, like their HSS turning tool set, Harbor Freight's Jacobs chucks at about $9.00 are good bargains for woodturning applications. I use the threaded ones on washing machine motor arbors and the Morse tapered ones on the lathe. The keyless ones save a lot of searching in the shavings.

You might want to buy a 'center drill', they are inexpensive and a great help to keep starting drills from wandering.

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

Puzzled by the number of posts about marking center and starting. Isn't there already a center mark from the cup center?

Sometimes some people drill before you turn the piece. That way you can use the tool rest to hold the piece while you drill. So maybe there is a mark -- maybe not.

Also, no reason not to use the lathe for rectangular pieces -- it can be much more effective than a drill press for long rectangular pieces. Especially as you can use the tool rest to steady it and ensure that you are drilling parallel to the piece axis.

JMHO.

I know the pen people use a drillpress. Makes sense on a square piece. No torque or squirm on a firmly clamped piece. Some even turn their benchtop press 90 or 180 degrees when they've got a hole longer than the press can do from drill to table. They walk the piece up a nice fence in quill travel increments. Much more accurate and easier to do than on a lathe, unless you've got a sliding table.

If you don't think of a drillpress on rectangular pieces first, you might have better luck if you tried. A fixed piece works better'n a spinning one, and mandrels, even those made of allthread and roll pins, ensure that it will be centered on the bore when you turn it.

Oh yes. In general, starting with a shorter bit then transitioning to a longer one will minimize that bit flex (and wander) variable.

If it's already round, then there should be a spot?

I've done that. It can be a PITA. The lathe has that nice convenient tool rest to use as a "steady". Plus you can measure "the distance to the lathe bed" to assure it's parallel. And you can cut a steady rest out of wood for a difficult drilling job and keep things true by jamming or holding it in position.

You can of course put the wood at the tail stock end and the chuck at the "head" -- use the tool rest to steady the piece and then it can go easier.

Each to their own.

Have to try that. :-)

Sometimes I want to drill a rectangular lamp stem. It can be easier on the lathe. No spot -- have to mark one etc.

My lathe can drill a 40" piece nice and true. My drill press is 10". Yes I can swing the head around -- but then how do I ensure I drill true without some fuss.

Each to their own...

Good points though.

I'm with you, george... A lathe tail stock is ALWAYS going to point to dead center, right?

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

If it is of any help, I recently had an article published in the 'Woodturning' magazine on this subject. I make a few pens in the shape of a figure and to get a fairly high success rate for drilling central holes (so that I don't cut through the sides), I made a cheap jig.

Anyway if anyone is interested, I have put a copy on the web at

(the Burma Star site isone of mine but had a bit of space on for this).Regards

Paul

Assuming that you turned the piece? Probably the mark will point to centre. :-) Course the way I mount the stuff...

Same as a drillpress jig, except they're clamped to the table. Fencing the piece takes one source of random motion away.

My tail stock is right on center and my cup center makes its point, but my twist drills aren't impressed and often misbehave. Could be my drills are cheap and my technique wrong, but they like to wander off the centerline axis, particularly on the end grain of strongly grained timber.

I may be wasting time or even be cheating, but a center bit, rotating the work instead of the drill bit (boring) and feeding with the tail handwheel will often start things off right and complete the drilling of a straight long hole. That said, there are other ways and I use them too. It's true, I don't know how my long drills behave inside the wood between, but at least they emerge from the center of the other end. YMMV and likely does. :)

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

Wow, you guys have given be a lot to think about. Thanks for the help.

THis is done regularly. I found the cheapest Jacobs chuck (with a #2 Morse taper) on line at Harbor Frieght it was $10. Great price.

Dan

MARG_RET, At times I've added' a 'C' to Derek, a "K' to Mac, a 'N' to Lyn and subtracted an 'L' from Darrell. A 'C' is often subtracted from McCallister and a 'bald' added to Arch, so I feel your pain and am sorry for the 'A'.

But sometimes we get free letterheads when printers don't pay attention. Not you Fredd Holder or Leo Lichtmann. :)

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter