So a mate turns up with a lump of steel about a foot square and not far
short of an inch thick. Says he wants a 4 inch strip cut off the side,
and then a 3/4" hole drilled through one end of the bit we cut off.

So, ten to fifteen mins with the 9" grinder later, and we had a big pile
of grinding dust, and a lump of metal (not sure what kind of steel it
was). So I made a 1/4" pilot hole, and then stepped up until I have it
at 1/2". Then realised that I did not actually have any HSS bits in
large enough sizes. A bit of a rummage later and I found some blacksmith
drills that came with an ancient small lathe that I was given, including
something close enough to the size required.

Only problem was the drills in question had morse taper shanks, and the
taper on my bench drill is both the wrong size, and the wrong way round
(i.e. the shaft is part of the quill and the socket in the chuck) so I
could not mount the drill directly. So in the end I had to go for a
bodge, and grip the shank of the drill as best I could in the three jaw
chuck, get it roughly centred, and then rely on the pilot hole in the
material to keep it inline. Splashed on some cutting fluid, and took it
slow (the drill has not really got the oomph for that size in steel, and
the belts slip if you push it too hard). Got the job done in the end.

Which made me wonder, is there a nifty trick for holding MT shank drills
when all you have is a jacobs style chuck?


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On 18/10/2017 16:51, John Rumm wrote:
So a mate turns up with a lump of steel about a foot square and not far
short of an inch thick. Says he wants a 4 inch strip cut off the side,
and then a 3/4" hole drilled through one end of the bit we cut off.

So, ten to fifteen mins with the 9" grinder later, and we had a big pile
of grinding dust, and a lump of metal (not sure what kind of steel it
was). So I made a 1/4" pilot hole, and then stepped up until I have it
at 1/2". Then realised that I did not actually have any HSS bits in
large enough sizes. A bit of a rummage later and I found some blacksmith
drills that came with an ancient small lathe that I was given, including
something close enough to the size required.

Only problem was the drills in question had morse taper shanks, and the
taper on my bench drill is both the wrong size, and the wrong way round
(i.e. the shaft is part of the quill and the socket in the chuck) so I
could not mount the drill directly. So in the end I had to go for a
bodge, and grip the shank of the drill as best I could in the three jaw
chuck, get it roughly centred, and then rely on the pilot hole in the
material to keep it inline. Splashed on some cutting fluid, and took it
slow (the drill has not really got the oomph for that size in steel, and
the belts slip if you push it too hard). Got the job done in the end.

Which made me wonder, is there a nifty trick for holding MT shank drills
when all you have is a jacobs style chuck?


An R8-MT adapter should do it
http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalo...or-Drawbar-Use

On 18/10/2017 17:06, wrote:
On 18/10/2017 16:51, John Rumm wrote:
So a mate turns up with a lump of steel about a foot square and not
far short of an inch thick. Says he wants a 4 inch strip cut off the
side, and then a 3/4" hole drilled through one end of the bit we cut off.

So, ten to fifteen mins with the 9" grinder later, and we had a big
pile of grinding dust, and a lump of metal (not sure what kind of
steel it was). So I made a 1/4" pilot hole, and then stepped up until
I have it at 1/2". Then realised that I did not actually have any HSS
bits in large enough sizes. A bit of a rummage later and I found some
blacksmith drills that came with an ancient small lathe that I was
given, including something close enough to the size required.

Only problem was the drills in question had morse taper shanks, and
the taper on my bench drill is both the wrong size, and the wrong way
round (i.e. the shaft is part of the quill and the socket in the
chuck) so I could not mount the drill directly. So in the end I had to
go for a bodge, and grip the shank of the drill as best I could in the
three jaw chuck, get it roughly centred, and then rely on the pilot
hole in the material to keep it inline. Splashed on some cutting
fluid, and took it slow (the drill has not really got the oomph for
that size in steel, and the belts slip if you push it too hard). Got
the job done in the end.

Which made me wonder, is there a nifty trick for holding MT shank
drills when all you have is a jacobs style chuck?


An R8-MT adapter should do it
http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalo...or-Drawbar-Use

Alternatively, and if your chuck is big enough, you could use a "solid
morse taper socket". Perhaps you could reduce the extension by getting a
soft solid MT socket and boring a tapered hole in the back to match your
drill quill taper so you could dispense with the chuck

On 18/10/2017 17:29, wrote:
On 18/10/2017 17:06, wrote:
On 18/10/2017 16:51, John Rumm wrote:
So a mate turns up with a lump of steel about a foot square and not
far short of an inch thick. Says he wants a 4 inch strip cut off the
side, and then a 3/4" hole drilled through one end of the bit we cut
off.

So, ten to fifteen mins with the 9" grinder later, and we had a big
pile of grinding dust, and a lump of metal (not sure what kind of
steel it was). So I made a 1/4" pilot hole, and then stepped up until
I have it at 1/2". Then realised that I did not actually have any HSS
bits in large enough sizes. A bit of a rummage later and I found some
blacksmith drills that came with an ancient small lathe that I was
given, including something close enough to the size required.

Only problem was the drills in question had morse taper shanks, and
the taper on my bench drill is both the wrong size, and the wrong way
round (i.e. the shaft is part of the quill and the socket in the
chuck) so I could not mount the drill directly. So in the end I had
to go for a bodge, and grip the shank of the drill as best I could in
the three jaw chuck, get it roughly centred, and then rely on the
pilot hole in the material to keep it inline. Splashed on some
cutting fluid, and took it slow (the drill has not really got the
oomph for that size in steel, and the belts slip if you push it too
hard). Got the job done in the end.

Which made me wonder, is there a nifty trick for holding MT shank
drills when all you have is a jacobs style chuck?


An R8-MT adapter should do it
http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalo...or-Drawbar-Use

Alternatively, and if your chuck is big enough, you could use a "solid
morse taper socket".

Not sure from memory of its 13 or 16mm maximum.

Perhaps you could reduce the extension by getting a
soft solid MT socket and boring a tapered hole in the back to match your
drill quill taper so you could dispense with the chuck

Yup that could work, although would test both my machining skills, and
my geriatric lathe!


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On 18/10/2017 19:01, John Rumm wrote:
On 18/10/2017 17:29, wrote:
On 18/10/2017 17:06, wrote:
On 18/10/2017 16:51, John Rumm wrote:
So a mate turns up with a lump of steel about a foot square and not
far short of an inch thick. Says he wants a 4 inch strip cut off the
side, and then a 3/4" hole drilled through one end of the bit we cut
off.

So, ten to fifteen mins with the 9" grinder later, and we had a big
pile of grinding dust, and a lump of metal (not sure what kind of
steel it was). So I made a 1/4" pilot hole, and then stepped up until
I have it at 1/2". Then realised that I did not actually have any HSS
bits in large enough sizes. A bit of a rummage later and I found some
blacksmith drills that came with an ancient small lathe that I was
given, including something close enough to the size required.

Only problem was the drills in question had morse taper shanks, and
the taper on my bench drill is both the wrong size, and the wrong way
round (i.e. the shaft is part of the quill and the socket in the
chuck) so I could not mount the drill directly. So in the end I had
to go for a bodge, and grip the shank of the drill as best I could in
the three jaw chuck, get it roughly centred, and then rely on the
pilot hole in the material to keep it inline. Splashed on some
cutting fluid, and took it slow (the drill has not really got the
oomph for that size in steel, and the belts slip if you push it too
hard). Got the job done in the end.

Which made me wonder, is there a nifty trick for holding MT shank
drills when all you have is a jacobs style chuck?


An R8-MT adapter should do it
http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalo...or-Drawbar-Use


Alternatively, and if your chuck is big enough, you could use a "solid
morse taper socket".

Not sure from memory of its 13 or 16mm maximum.

Perhaps you could reduce the extension by getting a
soft solid MT socket and boring a tapered hole in the back to match your
drill quill taper so you could dispense with the chuck

Yup that could work, although would test both my machining skills, and
my geriatric lathe!

In that case why not find a bit of mild steel bar that's larger than the
MT you want, step bore it close to the MT that you want and then finish
with an MT reamer. Mount an MT stub in the lathe (or turn one, it's not
difficult), fit your new female MT over the stub and turn the opposite
end down to a size that will fit in your chuck. It should be concentric
enough for drilling and there's nothing tricky involved. If you made it
as MT3 you could use sleeves to adapt it to MT2 and MT1 if neeed.

Alternatively, take an MT sleeve with a reasonable hole (preferably
soft, but you can probably soften a regular one), mount it on an MT stub
in the lathe (preferably turned in situ, as above) and tap the inside of
the hole. Then get a bar that will fit in the chuck and thread the end
to fit the hole you've just tapped in the sleeve. You should probably
arrange for the bar to have a shoulder for the sleeve to tighten against.

I would go for the first option because it's going to be more accurate
and I don't like threading.

wrote:
On 18/10/2017 19:01, John Rumm wrote:
On 18/10/2017 17:29, wrote:
On 18/10/2017 17:06, wrote:
On 18/10/2017 16:51, John Rumm wrote:
So a mate turns up with a lump of steel about a foot square and not
far short of an inch thick. Says he wants a 4 inch strip cut off the
side, and then a 3/4" hole drilled through one end of the bit we cut
off.

So, ten to fifteen mins with the 9" grinder later, and we had a big
pile of grinding dust, and a lump of metal (not sure what kind of
steel it was). So I made a 1/4" pilot hole, and then stepped up until
I have it at 1/2". Then realised that I did not actually have any HSS
bits in large enough sizes. A bit of a rummage later and I found some
blacksmith drills that came with an ancient small lathe that I was
given, including something close enough to the size required.

Only problem was the drills in question had morse taper shanks, and
the taper on my bench drill is both the wrong size, and the wrong way
round (i.e. the shaft is part of the quill and the socket in the
chuck) so I could not mount the drill directly. So in the end I had
to go for a bodge, and grip the shank of the drill as best I could in
the three jaw chuck, get it roughly centred, and then rely on the
pilot hole in the material to keep it inline. Splashed on some
cutting fluid, and took it slow (the drill has not really got the
oomph for that size in steel, and the belts slip if you push it too
hard). Got the job done in the end.

Which made me wonder, is there a nifty trick for holding MT shank
drills when all you have is a jacobs style chuck?


An R8-MT adapter should do it
http://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalo...or-Drawbar-Use


Alternatively, and if your chuck is big enough, you could use a "solid
morse taper socket".

Not sure from memory of its 13 or 16mm maximum.

Perhaps you could reduce the extension by getting a
soft solid MT socket and boring a tapered hole in the back to match your
drill quill taper so you could dispense with the chuck

Yup that could work, although would test both my machining skills, and
my geriatric lathe!

In that case why not find a bit of mild steel bar that's larger than the
MT you want, step bore it close to the MT that you want and then finish
with an MT reamer. Mount an MT stub in the lathe (or turn one, it's not
difficult), fit your new female MT over the stub and turn the opposite
end down to a size that will fit in your chuck. It should be concentric
enough for drilling and there's nothing tricky involved. If you made it
as MT3 you could use sleeves to adapt it to MT2 and MT1 if neeed.

Alternatively, take an MT sleeve with a reasonable hole (preferably
soft, but you can probably soften a regular one), mount it on an MT stub
in the lathe (preferably turned in situ, as above) and tap the inside of
the hole. Then get a bar that will fit in the chuck and thread the end
to fit the hole you've just tapped in the sleeve. You should probably
arrange for the bar to have a shoulder for the sleeve to tighten against.

I would go for the first option because it's going to be more accurate
and I don't like threading.
Turn the drill shank parallel.

In message . com,
FMurtz writes
wrote:
On 18/10/2017 19:01, John Rumm wrote:
Alternatively, take an MT sleeve with a reasonable hole (preferably
soft, but you can probably soften a regular one), mount it on an MT stub
in the lathe (preferably turned in situ, as above) and tap the inside of
the hole. Then get a bar that will fit in the chuck and thread the end
to fit the hole you've just tapped in the sleeve. You should probably
arrange for the bar to have a shoulder for the sleeve to tighten against.

I would go for the first option because it's going to be more accurate
and I don't like threading.
Turn the drill shank parallel.

Not likely to help you but I have heard of lathes being used as a drill
press.


--
Tim Lamb

On 19/10/2017 04:46, FMurtz wrote:

Turn the drill shank parallel.

Yup that would work - so long as I don't want to go back in the tail
stock directly.


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On 19/10/2017 08:51, Tim Lamb wrote:
In message . com,
FMurtz writes
wrote:
On 18/10/2017 19:01, John Rumm wrote:
Alternatively, take an MT sleeve with a reasonable hole (preferably
soft, but you can probably soften a regular one), mount it on an MT stub
in the lathe (preferably turned in situ, as above) and tap the inside of
the hole. Then get a bar that will fit in the chuck and thread the end
to fit the hole you've just tapped in the sleeve. You should probably
arrange for the bar to have a shoulder for the sleeve to tighten
against.

I would go for the first option because it's going to be more accurate
and I don't like threading.
Turn the drill shank parallel.

Not likely to help you but I have heard of lathes being used as a drill
press.


My lathe is similar to:

http://www.lathes.co.uk/zyto/

can't see that swinging a 12" lump of steel!


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

In message , John
Rumm writes
On 19/10/2017 08:51, Tim Lamb wrote:
In message . com,
FMurtz writes
wrote:
On 18/10/2017 19:01, John Rumm wrote:
Alternatively, take an MT sleeve with a reasonable hole (preferably
soft, but you can probably soften a regular one), mount it on an MT stub
in the lathe (preferably turned in situ, as above) and tap the inside of
the hole. Then get a bar that will fit in the chuck and thread the end
to fit the hole you've just tapped in the sleeve. You should probably
arrange for the bar to have a shoulder for the sleeve to tighten
against.

I would go for the first option because it's going to be more accurate
and I don't like threading.
Turn the drill shank parallel.

Not likely to help you but I have heard of lathes being used as a drill
press.


My lathe is similar to:

http://www.lathes.co.uk/zyto/

can't see that swinging a 12" lump of steel!

I think you fit the drill in the headstock and use the tailstock
adjustment to provide the drilling effort.

Fortunately my pillar drill has a no 2 morse taper quill...



--
Tim Lamb

On 19/10/2017 20:52, Tim Lamb wrote:
In message , John
Rumm writes
On 19/10/2017 08:51, Tim Lamb wrote:
In message . com,
FMurtz writes
wrote:
On 18/10/2017 19:01, John Rumm wrote:
Alternatively, take an MT sleeve with a reasonable hole (preferably
soft, but you can probably soften a regular one), mount it on an MT
stub
in the lathe (preferably turned in situ, as above) and tap the
inside of
the hole. Then get a bar that will fit in the chuck and thread the end
to fit the hole you've just tapped in the sleeve. You should probably
arrange for the bar to have a shoulder for the sleeve to tighten
against.

I would go for the first option because it's going to be more accurate
and I don't like threading.
Turn the drill shank parallel.

Not likely to help you but I have heard of lathes being used as a drill
press.


My lathe is similar to:

http://www.lathes.co.uk/zyto/

can't see that swinging a 12" lump of steel!

I think you fit the drill in the headstock and use the tailstock
adjustment to provide the drilling effort.

I was about to say I don't think my headstock has a taper (its an
externally threaded nipple) however you have made me wonder enough go go
take the chuck off and have a look to see if it has an "inside" ;-)

Fortunately my pillar drill has a no 2 morse taper quill...

I think when I build a bigger workshop, a decent floor standing drill
would be a good addition.


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On 19/10/2017 23:53, John Rumm wrote:
On 19/10/2017 20:52, Tim Lamb wrote:


My lathe is similar to:

http://www.lathes.co.uk/zyto/

can't see that swinging a 12" lump of steel!

I think you fit the drill in the headstock and use the tailstock
adjustment to provide the drilling effort.

I was about to say I don't think my headstock has a taper (its an
externally threaded nipple) however you have made me wonder enough go go
take the chuck off and have a look to see if it has an "inside" ;-)

Well you learn something every day ;-) It does indeed have a taper on
the inside of the headstock - only a 1 or 2MT by the looks of it, but
some of my drill do indeed fit it.


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

In message , John
Rumm writes
On 19/10/2017 20:52, Tim Lamb wrote:
Not likely to help you but I have heard of lathes being used as a drill
press.


My lathe is similar to:

http://www.lathes.co.uk/zyto/

can't see that swinging a 12" lump of steel!

I think you fit the drill in the headstock and use the tailstock
adjustment to provide the drilling effort.

I was about to say I don't think my headstock has a taper (its an
externally threaded nipple) however you have made me wonder enough go
go take the chuck off and have a look to see if it has an "inside" ;-)

Fortunately my pillar drill has a no 2 morse taper quill...

I think when I build a bigger workshop, a decent floor standing drill
would be a good addition.

Yes. Ideally one where the table height can be easily altered and swung
out of the way for special jobs.

Mine cost £2.50 but that is a long story:-)



--
Tim Lamb

In message , John
Rumm writes
On 19/10/2017 23:53, John Rumm wrote:
On 19/10/2017 20:52, Tim Lamb wrote:


My lathe is similar to:

http://www.lathes.co.uk/zyto/

can't see that swinging a 12" lump of steel!

I think you fit the drill in the headstock and use the tailstock
adjustment to provide the drilling effort.

I was about to say I don't think my headstock has a taper (its an
externally threaded nipple) however you have made me wonder enough go go
take the chuck off and have a look to see if it has an "inside" ;-)

Well you learn something every day ;-) It does indeed have a taper on
the inside of the headstock - only a 1 or 2MT by the looks of it, but
some of my drill do indeed fit it.

Now you will have to re-centre your chuck:-(

My pillar drill has a slot in the quill where you insert a wedge to tap
out the drill/chuck. Presumably you can shove a rod through your lathe
spindle to release any taper shank drills.



--
Tim Lamb

On 20/10/2017 10:04, Tim Lamb wrote:
In message , John
Rumm writes
On 19/10/2017 23:53, John Rumm wrote:
On 19/10/2017 20:52, Tim Lamb wrote:


My lathe is similar to:

http://www.lathes.co.uk/zyto/

can't see that swinging a 12" lump of steel!

I think you fit the drill in the headstock and use the tailstock
adjustment to provide the drilling effort.

I was about to say I don't think my headstock has a taper (its an
externally threaded nipple) however you have made me wonder enough go go
take the chuck off and have a look to see if it has an "inside" ;-)

Well you learn something every day ;-) It does indeed have a taper on
the inside of the headstock - only a 1 or 2MT by the looks of it, but
some of my drill do indeed fit it.

Now you will have to re-centre your chuck:-(

For the quality of work done on this machine, screwing it back on its
mount has done that with enough accuracy ;-)

My pillar drill has a slot in the quill where you insert a wedge to tap
out the drill/chuck. Presumably you can shove a rod through your lathe
spindle to release any taper shank drills.

Yup looks like it.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/