Question on drilling precisely located holes in round rod/tube.
 

I tried searching, but couldn't seem to come up with the correct search
term. I'm quite sure this has been discussed though.

If you have a tube with a hole drilled in it radially, and want to
drill more holes exactly in-line with the existing hole, how would you
do this on a drill press? Finding the center of the tube is the easy
part, but how do you know you have the tube "clocked" correctly on the
V-block?

Do you have access to a machine with a table that moves laterally? i.e. a
Bridgeport would be perfect. If so, lock the tube down and index it
perfectly with an existing drill bit. Then move the table X inches, drill,
repeat process.

....Or buy a multi-spindle drill head and do all the holes at once. Pricey
unless you have LOTS of units to do, but the best answer if you will be
doing this all day for a while.

Joe - V#8013 - '86 VN750 - joe @ yunx .com
Northern, NJ
Ride a Motorcycle? Ask me about "The Ride"
http://www.youthelate.com/the_ride.htm

Born once - Die twice. Born twice - Die only once. Your choice...

Have unwanted music CDs or DVDs of any type? I can use them for our
charity. eMail me privately for details. Donation receipts available.


"Miki" wrote in message
oups.com...
I tried searching, but couldn't seem to come up with the correct search
term. I'm quite sure this has been discussed though.

If you have a tube with a hole drilled in it radially, and want to
drill more holes exactly in-line with the existing hole, how would you
do this on a drill press? Finding the center of the tube is the easy
part, but how do you know you have the tube "clocked" correctly on the
V-block?

If it's a small tube, you can buy or make a square block collet to hold
it. Line up the existing hole to center, tighten the collet on the tube,
then flip it over and you will be 180 deg opposite for the new hole.

If you plan to do a lot of this, consider an indexer with a collet or
3-jaw chuck.

Miki wrote:

I tried searching, but couldn't seem to come up with the correct search
term. I'm quite sure this has been discussed though.

If you have a tube with a hole drilled in it radially, and want to
drill more holes exactly in-line with the existing hole, how would you
do this on a drill press? Finding the center of the tube is the easy
part, but how do you know you have the tube "clocked" correctly on the
V-block?

Drill the hole all the way through the V block and put in a pin that
fits nicely. Best way for less complex tooling, but you might need more
than one drill block for more holes. You don't really want to move the pin
hole to hole as you go because the index might move. Gotta keep the same
reference.
You could also just use any block that has the same height to the tube,
not necessarily a V block.

"Miki" wrote in message
oups.com...
| I tried searching, but couldn't seem to come up with the correct search
| term. I'm quite sure this has been discussed though.
|
| If you have a tube with a hole drilled in it radially, and want to
| drill more holes exactly in-line with the existing hole, how would you
| do this on a drill press? Finding the center of the tube is the easy
| part, but how do you know you have the tube "clocked" correctly on the
| V-block?
|

Nobody could splain it better than this :)

Subject: aligning holes in tube
From: Robert Bastow
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1998 04:34:30 GMT

The good 'ole eyeball will never let you down.

Assuming that you are using a drill press and know how to align and
clamp down a vee block to said drill press table.

Drill your first hole and swap ends. Now put as long a piece of close
fitting rod as you can get under the ceiling,through the first hole.
Drop a plumb line somewhere beyond it and eyball the rod to the plumb
line. It will be plenty close enough for almost any purposes.

This does assume that your drill press is somewhere close to being
perpendicular. You might want to eyeball it with the plumb line
first.

Robert Bastow

He saved me a lot of struggles :)
Glenn
"Miki" wrote in message
oups.com...
I tried searching, but couldn't seem to come up with the correct search
term. I'm quite sure this has been discussed though.

If you have a tube with a hole drilled in it radially, and want to
drill more holes exactly in-line with the existing hole, how would you
do this on a drill press? Finding the center of the tube is the easy
part, but how do you know you have the tube "clocked" correctly on the
V-block?

Oops. I was tired. I thought he needed holes in-line down the length of
the tube, not through the tube's two walls in-line.
--


Joe - V#8013 - '86 VN750 - joe @ yunx .com
Northern, NJ
Ride a Motorcycle? Ask me about "The Ride"
http://www.youthelate.com/the_ride.htm

Born once - Die twice. Born twice - Die only once. Your choice...

Have unwanted music CDs or DVDs of any type? I can use them for our
charity. eMail me privately for details. Donation receipts available.

--Lampblack. Hold the threaded rod in the smoky part of a candle
flame; works fine for making telescope bearings at least..
--A possible plan B would be to cast the bob from buckshot, held
in a resin matrix. We used to pour keels for model sailboats this way,
using a fiberglas shell to get the shape we wanted.

--
"Steamboat Ed" Haas : Somehow related
Hacking the Trailing Edge! : to Lumpy Adams...
http://www.nmpproducts.com/intro.htm
---Decks a-wash in a sea of words---

Miki wrote:

If you have a tube with a hole drilled in it radially, and want to
drill more holes exactly in-line with the existing hole, how would you
do this on a drill press?

Clamp a V-block to the drill press table such that the bottom of the V
is precisely (as close as you need it) aligned with the spindle. This
is easily done with a spud in the chuck.

Clamp a good (enough to satisfy your definition of "exactly") level to
the tube. As you move the tube along, make sure the level bubble is
centered before drilling each hole.

Use as short a drill as possible to prevent wandering.

Ted

I just noticed a solution in some old Lindsay's reprint as I was
reading "in cloaca". Clamp the v-block as Ted says, but instead of a
bubble level (which will work fine) they had a lathe dog clamped on
the pipe, with some threaded rod replacing the clamp screw, and a
heavy weight attached at the other end of the threaded rod. So
basically a large pendulum that causes the pipe to always rotate so
the holes are in line.

On Thu, 30 Dec 2004 22:36:15 GMT, Ted Edwards
wrote:

Miki wrote:

If you have a tube with a hole drilled in it radially, and want to
drill more holes exactly in-line with the existing hole, how would you
do this on a drill press?

Clamp a V-block to the drill press table such that the bottom of the V
is precisely (as close as you need it) aligned with the spindle. This
is easily done with a spud in the chuck.

Clamp a good (enough to satisfy your definition of "exactly") level to
the tube. As you move the tube along, make sure the level bubble is
centered before drilling each hole.

Use as short a drill as possible to prevent wandering.

Ted

Of course I may have not understood the question but here is how I
would do it. And have done it! We put a 1/4 keyway in a 1" diameter
shaft 20' long using this method.

http://newenglandmodelengineeringsoc...nload_page.htm

At the top of the list click on "Sliding Vise Trick".

Errol Groff

Instructor, Machine Tool Department

H.H. Ellis Technical High School
643 Upper Maple Street
Dantieson, CT 06239

New England Model Engineering Society
http://newenglandmodelengineeringsociety.org/




On 29 Dec 2004 22:05:01 -0800, "Miki" wrote:

I tried searching, but couldn't seem to come up with the correct search
term. I'm quite sure this has been discussed though.

If you have a tube with a hole drilled in it radially, and want to
drill more holes exactly in-line with the existing hole, how would you
do this on a drill press? Finding the center of the tube is the easy
part, but how do you know you have the tube "clocked" correctly on the
V-block?