On 2008-10-16, Christopher Tidy wrote:
DoN. Nichols wrote:

[ ... ]

Yes -- about. Maybe down to 60 degrees or so. The shank is
resting against the lip of the toolrest as he described it, with a
slid-on collar resting against the toolrest to keep the extension of the
screwdriver blade long enough.

Right. Got it. Richard said "drill stop just resting under the tool
rest". It was the word "under" which confused me.

Well ... it could be under or above -- just as long as it
defines the extension of the drill rod while you are grinding it.

I don't have any drill stops, though. Are they a good investment?

It depends on what you are doing. If you are doing a lot of
drilling with a hand-held drill through things where there is something
behind it which could be damaged, then a drill stop is important.

But -- you can *make* your own you know. Drill through the end
of some round stock the size of the bit, turn the end smooth, drill into
the side and tap for a setscrew to hold it onto the drill bit. No need
to buy them in a bunch of sizes which you may never use. (I'm assuming
that you have a lathe -- though you could do all of this with a drill
press and a file if you had to.

I use
a depth scale on my bench drill, which works some of the time, but it is
possible to overshoot when using it.

Isn't there a quill stop? for the ones which have a scale
around the feed, there is usually a wing-topped setscrew to allow you to
clamp it to the the feed shank and limit the travel of the quill.

Better is when there is a vertical threaded shaft connected to
the quill with an adjustable depth stop there.

Of course -- for certain things, there are much better tools
available. For countersinks, there is the Micro-Stop, which can be
adjusted for depth in steps of 0.001". These are commonly used in
aircraft production -- for riveted joints with flat-head rivets, but can
also be used with countersunk screws, or even to put a very shallow bevel
on a drilled hole. The micro-stop has a thrust bearing to firmly stop
the drill or countersink and a cage which contacts the work surface.
One of these is nice to have -- just in general. Find used ones on
eBay, don't play new price games with them. :-)

Good Luck,
DoN.

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