On Jan 2, 1:22*pm, tom koehler
wrote:
On Sat, 2 Jan 2010 11:20:36 -0600, Jim Hall wrote
(in message ):

On 1/2/2010 8:50 AM, Jim Hall wrote:
I want to turn a couple lamp stands, about 12" high/long for our bedroom
bedside lamps. I've been mulling over best time and way to drill the 12"
long hole through the center for the cord and brass pipe for attaching
the light fixture. I have a drill press in addition to the lathe.. I
suppose I could drill the hole on the lathe before I turn the piece and
some how use the hole to center the blank on the lathe before turning to
make sure the drilled hole is centered. Is that how you would do it..?
Thanks.. -Jim

Meant to say drill the hole on drill press not the lathe before turning...

A 12" long (or deep) hole is a very reasonable job for the home hobby turner.
Certainly, drilling the hole before mounting the wood for turning is a great
way to insure the hole is nicely centered in the lamp. There will likely be
as many ways to do this as there are turners who visit this newsgroup.
Assuming that you drill the hole first, your next concern is mounting the
wood to your lathe. In my own case I would use my spur center at the
headstock (instead of a faceplate or chuck), eyeballing the center to be
concentric with the drilled hole. You can easily get within 1/16" of dead
center this way. Assuming a spur center with 4 spurs, you can square the end
of your wood, and then mark where you want the hole to be drilled. Make 2 saw
cuts at right angles to each other, centering the cuts over the desired hole
center. These cuts will later locate your spur center in the middle of your
hole. This is assuming you will accurately start your drilled hole at this
marked center.

Depending on the length of drill bits you have, a reasonable method is to
drill from both ends towards the middle. The holes may not meet exactly, but
is no serious matter. If the bit is long enough, the holes drilled from each
end will meet and overlap in the middle, and allow the cord to be fed through
the lamp. You will likely not want to run the pipe all the way through the
lamp. In most hardware stores you can get short pieces of this threaded
material, maybe an inch or so in length, adequate to screw snugly into the
top of your turning. At the bottom of your lamp you will want to drill a hole
maybe an inch in diameter and about an inch deep, on the same center axis as
your long hole. Then, drill a hole about 5/16" or 3/8" in diameter into the
base rim of your lamp, into and intersecting the 1" hole. This allows you to
feed the cord into the base of the lamp, make the 90 degree turn and upwards
into the long hole and to the top of your lamp. A forstner bit will make a
neater job of the 1" hole than a spade bit will.

The diameter of your deep hole will be dictated by the outside diameter of
the threaded pipe - or threaded nipple - and whether you want to slip a piece
of pipe through the whole length of the deep hole, or just screw a threaded
nipple into the top inch of deep hole. If you wish to use a full-length pipe,
you will really want to use a long bit and drill a single hole the full
length (rather than a short bit and drilling from each end)

These are some tips I have learned from my own mistakes on projects of this
kind. (This includes making sure your chunk of wood is long enough to allow
for trimming and waste when you square off the ends while turning.)

Sorry this was so darn long. I just got carried away. I hope some of it will
be useful.

tom koehler
--
I will find a way or make one.

Turn the lamp between centers. Turn a tenon on one end. Mount that
tenon in a chuck, using a cone center in the tail stock to ensure
perfect alignment. Drill the hole with a long bit. You can do this
holding the bit either in a Jacobs chuck, by hand, or even through a
the hollow tail stock if your lathe has one.

Actually, I think the fastest is with a paddle bit in a Jacobs chuck.
With a twist bit you must withdraw the bit every inch or so to clear
the chips. Not quite so bad with a wood bit, but still not as easy as
a paddle. The paddle could drift in some situations, however.

Paul Gilbert
Dallas, TX