DoN. Nichols wrote:

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 have trouble getting my father's lathe to drill a piece of work
centrally. The tailstock can be moved from side to side using set
screws, but not up and down. It seems to be out in the vertical
direction. I think the problem is that there's a cap screw under the
tailstock which is unoriginal and has a head which protrudes slightly,
causing the tailstock to sit at the wrong level. But as it's my father's
lathe I have been reluctant to try fixing it.
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.

No there isn't. There's just a scale. It's a cheap drill press.

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. :-)

Sounds like a neat tool.

Best wishes,

Chris