Drilling on the Lathe - 3 Qs

Am planning on making some turned earrings in the next week and will be drilling a very small hole through to attach the ear hardware.

1) Does it make any difference as to wandering if you turn the wood while the bit is stationary or turn the bit and hold the wood?

2) Am drilling Hard Maple with a #60 bit. Any way to keep it on the straight and true? When using this small of a bit, does Q1 come into play any more than with larger bits?

Thanks

Reply to
Owen Lowe
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I'd hold the wood and turn the bit for a drill that small. Unless you are making a lot of them, you might think about using a pin vise. I've had better luck keeping true when using a pin vise rather than a Dremel or similar. Oh, and give the wood a pinprick where you want the hole to help center and start the bit.

If you don't have a pin vise and can't find one local, give me a shout and I'll have SWMBO bring one down.

LD

Reply to
Lobby Dosser

Hello Owen,

I don't think the wood cares whether the drill is rotating or the wood itself. The important part with that small of a bit is to have a center point in the wood to fit the drill and the drill needs to be perpendicular to the surface in which it is drilling. I normally drill small holes such as you are planning with a hand held drill chuck, a small one for holding small drill bits, and the wood rotating. I use a center punch to make an indent for the drill at the point where I want to drill.

Fred Holder

Reply to
Fred Holder

warning you to remove any and all rings from your fingers. Called degloving, extended hardware can grab your ring and rip it off your finger. A pic for the strong of stomach:

finished smoothness.

I saw David Hout on the DIY channel make a pair of earrngs, and he used a cordless drill in reverse to drill the hole with what he called a standard drill bit. I am not sure I understand all this but I watched him do it on tv without splitting the tiny earring. IIRC they were made of Padauk. Hope this helps. Lyndell

Reply to
Lyndell Thompson

Owen,

I frequently make earrings and the like that require tiny holes, and have honestly found that using a pin vise is more than adequate for this size hole, in even the hardest of exotic hardwoods. Maple is no problem at all, and using the pin vise gives you very precise control. Takes literally seconds to drill holes even an inch deep.

Reply to
Chuck

Yep. Dull would pretty much burn its way through. Probably the best way to go. The differential stress on the spiral sides of the bit start the wander, and it's exacerbated by the differential density in the wood.

Chuck up a soft iron brad and burn 'er through. Or use a grinder instead of a spiraled bit and sand your way through.

Reply to
George

Don't know what a #60 bit is, but sounds pretty small. When I've had to drill really small holes in the past w/o wandering I've used my dremel. At really high speeds it doesn't seem to want to grab and wander around. George can explain why. I just know it's worked for me...

...Kevin

Reply to
Kevin Miller

Thanks for the offer Lobby. Woodcraft sells a pin chuck for $10 and a set of #80-#60 (IIRC) drills for $5. I'll probably just swing by there on Saturday and get them for my own tool drawer. This isn't the first time I could have used it/them and certainly won't be the last.

Reply to
Owen Lowe

Yeah, it's the smallest drill that my local Ace carries. I wanted even smaller but was out of luck. The #60 is .040". I hadn't thought of my Dremel and may give that a try. Lots of option advice given: high speed, burn, reverse direction - will post what worked the best.

Reply to
Owen Lowe

Hmmmm. Reverse direction... wouldn't have ever thought of that one.

Reply to
Owen Lowe

What does "use a grinder...and sand your way through" mean? In this instance, what's a grinder?

Reply to
Owen Lowe

There's a nice looking set at Woodcraft online for $18, but I don't see one for $10. Might want to call them. I don't recall ever seeing one in the store. 'Course, I wasn't looking for one.

Reply to
Lobby Dosser

Watch out for lateral pressure with the Dremel. You can break bits pretty quickly.

Reply to
Lobby Dosser

Grinder as in ball grinder. Like the dentist's burr. Fast speed and small bites is the key to minimizing outside influences such as grain and grab.

Reply to
George

Some machinists think there's a difference between making holes with the work rotating and the bit steady (boring) and the bit rotating and the work steady (drilling). I don't know why other than boring is better for making large holes. Anyone?

I know it works from the days before plywood when I nailed #3 sheeting on roofs, but I don't know why dulling the tip of a nail helps to make it go straight and not split the lumber. Somebody?

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

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Reply to
Arch

If you need smaller, you can get a 61-80 set from Micro-tools for 8 bucks. If you need smaller than #80 (.0135), McMaster has specialty bits down to .0019 but they're on a 1/32" shank, have limited flute length, and cost about 12 bucks a shot. has a good assortment as well, including resharpened carbide microbits.

Reply to
J. Clarke

Dull nail crushes the fibers. Pointy nail pushes them apart. I've got some new old timey square cut nails around somewhere and they almost never split the wood.

Reply to
Lobby Dosser

One thing you can do by boring is support the boring bar at both ends and move the work along it. Also, if the boring-bar doesn't have to be balanced it can be made stiffer. You'd be doing that after you had a through-hole into which you could insert the bar though.

Reply to
J. Clarke

I hadn't thought of that idea either - thanks. Problem I see with that is the shafts, AFAIR, are larger than the ball so wouldn't drill very deep. I need to go through about an inch or more of wood.

Reply to
Owen Lowe

These are the items I saw with Woodcraft online: I've not seen them at the local place either - but likewise, hadn't looked before.

Oh, I see what you found: Would a hand-held tool work better than a tailstock mounted chuck?

Reply to
Owen Lowe

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