On Sat, 09 Apr 2011 19:58:51 -0500, Tim Wescott
wrote:

On Sat, 09 Apr 2011 16:28:35 -0500, F. George McDuffee wrote:

On Sat, 09 Apr 2011 13:37:44 -0700, Tim Wescott
wrote:
SNIP
Not that many -- and I'd really like to drill the piece in the lathe, as
part of a bunch of turning. I think a sensitive chuck is the way to go.
SNIP

Something that worked well for me was to adapt a pen vise. Get a drill
blank that is a close fit in the hole in the handle, chuck the drill
blank in the tail stock and slide the pin vise over this. While this
does not transmit any torque, this is an advantage as you can feel how
the drill is biting and "peck" very easily. Also good as a miniature
tap wrench. I used mine mainly to make up special length drop indicator
extensions [4-48 #42 tap drill]

I think that'll work. I think I'll try it, in fact.


I use a an overrun small 12v DC motor fitted with a pin chuck and
mounted in a housing which has an extension that slides freely in
the tailstock chuck.

This gives me a high speed (15,000 RPM) tailstock drill. Since I
manually feed the motor housing I can directly feel both drill
torque and feed pressure.

A JPG is in the drop box under the heading
"Tailstock Drill chuck"

Jim