On Jan 2, 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


Hello Jim,

I recently turned a 25" flag pole for a friend's son that had to have
a hole its full length. My long hole drill was one that I had made
many years ago when I was doing a set of Newel Posts for a stairway in
a new house under construction. I needed a 5/16 inch diameter hole
that was drilled deep enough that I needed a 36” shaft. I had a welder
set up the drill and my 36” length of 5/16 inch rod in a lathe and
weld the rod to the drill end. This worked very well for those seven
foot Newel Posts that I had to drill. I had drilled each of them from
each end and the holes had met nicely in the center. This time the
piece was smaller in diameter than those 5 inch Newel Posts, so I
wanted to make sure the drill entered the piece as straight as
possible. A part of my Christmas present from Mildred, my wife, was
the Colt Five Star HSSM2 Pen Drill Set. Since these drills will drill
a very straight hole, I used the “O” size drill, the closest to the
5/16
inch size to drill a hole the full depth of the drill; i.e., about 5
inches.

Once I had a pilot hole, I needed something in the tailstock to help
center the drill. A quick measurement showed that once the
center point was removed from the Nova Live Center the drill was a
snug fit through the hole. I was now set to drill the hole half way
through the work piece. I put a mark on the drill shaft at slightly
over half the length of the wood to be drilled. That would mark the
depth of drilling from the first end. On the second end it would give
me an idea as to whether I had intercepted the hole from the other end
or was about to drill through the side.

I highly ecommend that you drill from both ends. With a 12" drill you
should be able to drill half way, reverse the wood and drill from the
other end. This way you always ensure that the hole is in the center
of each end.

Fred Holder
http://www.morewoodturning.net