Today I was drilling side holes in a short piece of 1-1/4" pipe. Holes were
5/8" directly into the side of the pipe, hole perpendicular to the pipe axis.
Rather than lay out the holes by hand and centerpunch them I stuck the pipe
in the mill vise, picked up the end, and offset to the first hole. I opened
the drill chuck all the way up - mine's a Jacobs 6A, I think - and my Starrett
automatic center punch just did fit into the chuck opening, very little wiggle
indeed. Put it in solidly, pulled down on the handle and it centerpopped,
swapped in the 1/8" drill and it picked up the centerpop. Not perfect every
time but very close, certainly close enough. Easy and quick.

Grant

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Grant Erwin wrote:

Today I was drilling side holes in a short piece of 1-1/4" pipe. Holes were
5/8" directly into the side of the pipe, hole perpendicular to the pipe axis.
Rather than lay out the holes by hand and centerpunch them I stuck the pipe
in the mill vise, picked up the end, and offset to the first hole. I opened
the drill chuck all the way up - mine's a Jacobs 6A, I think - and my Starrett
automatic center punch just did fit into the chuck opening, very little wiggle
indeed. Put it in solidly, pulled down on the handle and it centerpopped,
swapped in the 1/8" drill and it picked up the centerpop. Not perfect every
time but very close, certainly close enough. Easy and quick.

Grant

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

If you need to do a bunch of similar holes, a guide bushing setup would
allow you to drill the final size hole in one shot without and center
punching or pilot holes.

Grant Erwin wrote:
Today I was drilling side holes in a short piece of 1-1/4" pipe. Holes were
5/8" directly into the side of the pipe, hole perpendicular to the pipe
axis.
Rather than lay out the holes by hand and centerpunch them I stuck the pipe
in the mill vise, picked up the end, and offset to the first hole. I opened
the drill chuck all the way up - mine's a Jacobs 6A, I think - and my
Starrett
automatic center punch just did fit into the chuck opening, very little
wiggle
indeed. Put it in solidly, pulled down on the handle and it
centerpopped, swapped in the 1/8" drill and it picked up the centerpop.
Not perfect every
time but very close, certainly close enough. Easy and quick.

You didn't use a center drill instead?

--Winston

On Tue, 15 Jan 2008 15:30:07 -0800, Grant Erwin
wrote:

Today I was drilling side holes in a short piece of 1-1/4" pipe. Holes were
5/8" directly into the side of the pipe, hole perpendicular to the pipe axis.
Rather than lay out the holes by hand and centerpunch them I stuck the pipe
in the mill vise, picked up the end, and offset to the first hole. I opened
the drill chuck all the way up - mine's a Jacobs 6A, I think - and my Starrett
automatic center punch just did fit into the chuck opening, very little wiggle
indeed. Put it in solidly, pulled down on the handle and it centerpopped,
swapped in the 1/8" drill and it picked up the centerpop. Not perfect every
time but very close, certainly close enough. Easy and quick.

Grant

Lay a 6" scale on top of the pipe and bring down the quill with C
drill and touch the scale. Adjust till the scale is level, very quick
and accurate way to find center on round stock. ED