Down the center drilling questions

[Doug B]

Tim, in the last 2 pics of your tutorial here : worldofwood.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=articles&action=display&thread=348

How do you keep the blank centered on the dowel point when the hole is drilled? I don't see how that is going to work.

Also, I don't know if I'm brave enough to grab the blank while drilling it. I might opt to hold it with a quick grip clamp - that is what I do when trimming the blanks with a barrel trimmer and it works well.

[TDHofstetter]

In the last two pics... the blank is reversed & you're drilling back in from the backside. It won't stay absolutely centered - the metal point will keep the first (drilled) end PRETTY CLOSE TO center, but the drill's point settling in the centerpunched hole in the second (still undrilled) end will keep that end right-on centered. Part of it relies on the two ends being parallel to each other, and the pressure of drilling should automatically center the first end PRETTY DANG CLOSELY. When you meet yourself in the middle, it's not a precise match, though - it's off by some rabbithair. Thus far, every time I've used the rig, when I broke through that center web & turned off the drill press, I could slide the blank right up the drill bit without any palpable step or increase in resistance due to misalignment... it really IS pretty close to perfect, every time.

It could probably be improved upon by replacing the dowel point with a short 7MM brass rod with a point in its center. Then when you flipped the blank over, you could slide it right down over the rod & know it's as centered as it can possibly be.

Seriously - grabbing the blank won't hurt you. It'll startle you at first, but it won't raise a welt or anything. Won't even sting - there's just not enough friction there to hurt ya. It's just like hanging onto a handheld lamp-drilling chuck - you're countering the drilling force with hand pressure, an easy thing to do unless your hands are REALLY out of shape.

Grab the blank with your LEFT hand. Your right hand will be feeding the quill, and your LEFT-hand fingers will wrap around the blank in the correct direction. Grab it with your right hand & you could knock your fingers up into a fist accidentally.

You could use a QuickGrip, but then there are two challenges to face - either you need a third hand to switch on the drill press (a foot switch would fix that) 'cause one hand is pinching the blank with your quill lever & the other hand is hanging onto the QuickGrip... or you leggo the QuickGrip to switch on the drill press, and the weight of the QG will try to tip the blank out of alignment. A small handscrew would work better than a QG, 'cause it'd be lots better balanced.

Tell ya what. Set up a rig like this one. Slip a leather glove on your left hand. Pinch the blank between drill bit & dowel center, start the drill press... then hold the PALM of the leather glove against the blank. You'll get a pretty good idea how it'd feel to do that with your bare palm.

Now do exactly the same thing with your bare palm. When you start thinkin' "that's really NOT too bad", wrap your fingers around the blank & have at it. It's perfectly fine to ease into the idea of grabbing spinning wood with your bare hand.

[Doug B]

Thanks Tim! I think I have enough info now to go try to set something up. There are times when I would like to control exactly where the drill bit goes in and exactly where it comes out which will not necessarily be right down the middle and parallel to the blank...kinda like a biased drilling of the blank if you will. That applies to some wood blanks, but is even more important for me with Antler blanks.

I can see where this jig will work if I can figure out what to use on the bottom piece. Unfortunately, there will be different sizes I'll have to contend with as a lot of my pen kits are not 7mm and some even as big as 27/64ths

Thanks again for your help.

[TDHofstetter]

Ah, yes - antler blanks, which may be end-sawn darn near any direction and not necessarily parallel to each other, could definitely be a problem to drill. I'm thinkin' this jig would have a good shot at it, as long as you've got two distinct centerpunch dimples (or tiny drilled holes) to work from. Only better thing I can think of would be an independent four-jaw chuck, used in lathe drilling. That'd be a PITA to set up & break down for each blank, though.

[Doug B]

Yes, I've got an idea for replacing the dowel pin in the jig that just might work. It might be a day or two (or more) before I get it done, but maybe even tomorrow. I'll keep you posted as to how it works out.

Thanks again Tim.

[TDHofstetter]

When ya bring it back... BRING PICTURES.