- Joined
- Feb 5, 2015
- Messages
- 662
This is a fairly trivial project but a useful one. Sometimes when center-drilling in the lathe, I can see the drill wobbling slightly, indicating that the tailstock drill chuck is not well aligned with the spindle axis. (There is a fix for that, by the way, which I’ll post sometime.) I decided to attempt to improve the performance as well as shorten the distance between the drill point and the tailstock ram.
I had a well-used morse taper tailstock center that had seen better days. I ground off the point, installed the dead center in the headstock using a MT-3 to MT-2 adaptor that came with my Emco lathe. This was the best way of holding the part since it couldn't easily be secured in a collet or chuck. This method also provides the best accuracy for alignment with the spindle axis.
After facing the center with a carbide cutting tool, I carefully drilled a pilot hole with a carbide drill and then bored it. (I used a small broken carbide end mill that I’d reground as a boring bar.) When I was satisfied with the pilot hole diameter, I loctited a center drill into the bore.
When the drill dulls and I wish to replace it, the tool can be heated on a gas or electric range and the center drill extracted easily. The new center drilling tool works way better than the drill chuck. When the drill is introduced to the work piece, there is no discernible wobble.
I had a well-used morse taper tailstock center that had seen better days. I ground off the point, installed the dead center in the headstock using a MT-3 to MT-2 adaptor that came with my Emco lathe. This was the best way of holding the part since it couldn't easily be secured in a collet or chuck. This method also provides the best accuracy for alignment with the spindle axis.
After facing the center with a carbide cutting tool, I carefully drilled a pilot hole with a carbide drill and then bored it. (I used a small broken carbide end mill that I’d reground as a boring bar.) When I was satisfied with the pilot hole diameter, I loctited a center drill into the bore.
When the drill dulls and I wish to replace it, the tool can be heated on a gas or electric range and the center drill extracted easily. The new center drilling tool works way better than the drill chuck. When the drill is introduced to the work piece, there is no discernible wobble.