jim rozen wrote:
In article , "ATP"
says...

Doing the whole job on the lathe, how large of a hole should I drill
to start out with? Is the idea to drill a hole just big enough to
start the boring bar?

I think the drill does a faster job of stock removal.

My attempt at doing this would start with a 1/8 or 1/4 inch
pilot hole, and then I would step up to the largest drill
size that my 10L could handle, in back gears, before the
belt slipped. Which would be something like maybe 9/16
inch or so. Then I would step up from there in 1/8 or
so inch increments, or in increments that again did not
tax the drive on the machine. Probably start out in
the highest back gear speed.

At some point (probably around 3/4 inch or so) I would
run out of drills with shanks that fit the MT2 tailstock
at the machine and then switch over to a large boring
bar.

At that point I can pick exactly how much to open
up the bore at a whack.

I was concerned about how big a drill bit the lathe could safely handle
without damage to the machine. The belt does provide a safety factor, as
opposed to the DP which will just snap anything in its way if you don't stop
it quickly enough.

I have a problem with the old chuck on the tailstock, do you recommend using
all MT2 shanked drills and dispensing with the use of a chuck altogether? I
was considering installing a used 14N or larger ball bearing Jacobs chuck.