"DoN. Nichols" wrote in message
...

snip

Was the workpiece hollow or solid metal? If solid, check
whether your drill press vise has a horizontal V-groove, ideally with a
Vertical one meeting it in the fixed jaw. These give a good grip, and
the vertical V-groove gives access to the area which you want to
cross-drill. (For that matter, you can take a short piece of material the
same diameter, face off the ends and drill through the center just the
size to accept the drill bit which you intend to use, and drop it down
the vertical V-groove after inserting the workpiece in the horizontal
V-groove. Then Tighten the vise and drill guided by the existing center
hole. (If you're going to drill a lot of holes like this, make the
guide out of drill rod, and harden it after machining (facing and
drilling), so it will last longer. Probably a good idea to use a
countersink to chamfer the hole at the upper end at least -- and
probably both ends so you don't have to worry about which end is up.


Follow-up:

I had to make another of these parts in a hurry. No time to make a jig. I
looked at all my drill presse vises and *none of them* had a horizontal
V-grove matching the vertical one. In fact my favorite vise had *three*
vertical grooves, all different, none-matching the horizontal groove. I
tried wrapping some tape around the improvised guide but the result was way
off center.

So back to end clamping. On this occasion however I made sure that the steel
was "certified mild" and the drill was a stub drill. It worked like a charm!

I shall still look into a jig in the future when the current crop of
problems is sorted.

BTW, is 12L14 much different from 1018?

--
Michael Koblic
Campbell River, BC