For much of my smaller production spindle work (most done a Delta midi) I drill tons of holes on the lathe, and have more or less accepted the occasional replacement of both the lead screw and quill as a cost of that business. Anybody have any thoughts?
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Drilling Issue With Quill
- Thread starter Neil Super
- Start date
Without knowing what you are turning it is hard to give specific advice. Have you considered using a drill press with shop-made jigs or clamps if necessary to expedite quick mounting and dismounting?
For many of the items I turn it is easier and quicker for me to drill items while they are mounted
on the lathe. I can quickly remove the tail stock center and install a drill chuck and bit and be drilling
a hole in seconds. Time is one of the most valuable assets we have these days.
on the lathe. I can quickly remove the tail stock center and install a drill chuck and bit and be drilling
a hole in seconds. Time is one of the most valuable assets we have these days.
Try using some grease! I've been turning for 35 years, never even thought about replacing a quill or lead screw. The parts are made of steel, should last forever if properly cared for.
I agree with Mike, if it is already on the lathe, it's just quicker. Most of the things I drill on the lathe require the hole to be drilled "in line" with the piece, so drilling on the lathe helps with this. Dull drill bits drive me crazy so I've been hand sharpening drill bits and found out it's not as hard as I thought it would be, lots of info on the interweb.
Neal, sometimes I start the hole with the quill and when the hole is about 3/8ths or so deep, unlock the tailstock and push the tailstock toward the headstock to drill the hole. Pulling the tailstock back to clear the swarf. Main point of safety is to always hold onto the Jacobs chuck in case it decides to come out of the quill.
When you had to change out your quill and lead screw, what were the symptoms, and where was the wear?
cc
Neal, sometimes I start the hole with the quill and when the hole is about 3/8ths or so deep, unlock the tailstock and push the tailstock toward the headstock to drill the hole. Pulling the tailstock back to clear the swarf. Main point of safety is to always hold onto the Jacobs chuck in case it decides to come out of the quill.
When you had to change out your quill and lead screw, what were the symptoms, and where was the wear?
cc
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I would be interested in knowing what you are drilling and what size holes and how deep and what kind of wood. My first thoughts are dull drills and too much pressure, but with really high volume I suppose that parts do wear out. Molybdenum disulfide wheel bearing grease is good for high load applications so try that on the screw. I like the suggestion made by Clifton to slide the tailstock by hand.
I totally agree that if you are doing a single piece, drilling on the lathe is the way to go. That is the method I generally use. On the other hand, if you are doing a large production run of identical pieces and you are concerned about wear of the lathe quill, it may be faster and cheaper to batch the work and do each step on all pieces before moving to the next step. A trivial example would be if you were making many identical pens from identical square pen blanks. It would make sense to fabricate a simple fixture with a vertical square hole in it and clamp it to the drill press bed. The pen blanks could be simply dropped in, bored and popped out in a few seconds each.
When considering production runs of items it comes down to what your labor cost is compared
to your maintenance costs. I maintain a number of spare parts for my lathes and replace parts
as needed when they fail. Time is money. If your time is free, feel free to donate it. If your time has
value you need to develop the most cost effective process with the equipment and tools you have
or consider the cost of additional tools and equipment for each production run and or future production
runs if the cost will justify the investment.
to your maintenance costs. I maintain a number of spare parts for my lathes and replace parts
as needed when they fail. Time is money. If your time is free, feel free to donate it. If your time has
value you need to develop the most cost effective process with the equipment and tools you have
or consider the cost of additional tools and equipment for each production run and or future production
runs if the cost will justify the investment.
Small machining error can become magnified in your thread when drilling quite a bit under pressure. I discovered this after starting several bowls with a forstner bit a while back. A slight bulge in my quill became large enough to make cranking it very difficult. After disassembly, filing and lubing, it threads in and out better than when new. Sharp bits and a close quill inspection may be your answer too!
Some lathe tail stock designs have a tendency of collecting small wood shavings and wood dust
while retracting the quill into the tail stock. It helps to take the tail stock apart and clean the parts
on a routine basis to maintain the proper operation of this assembly. The tail stock gets a lot of use
on a lathe especially if you use it for drilling operations and segmented bowl assembly etc. It also
helps to wipe off the taper prior to inserting into the quill each time you swap out a tool that fits into
the tail stock. This simple step will increase the life of the taper inside the quill, they do make MT
taper reamers which come in handy if you need to clean up the inside of your quill after it has been
abused from years of use.
while retracting the quill into the tail stock. It helps to take the tail stock apart and clean the parts
on a routine basis to maintain the proper operation of this assembly. The tail stock gets a lot of use
on a lathe especially if you use it for drilling operations and segmented bowl assembly etc. It also
helps to wipe off the taper prior to inserting into the quill each time you swap out a tool that fits into
the tail stock. This simple step will increase the life of the taper inside the quill, they do make MT
taper reamers which come in handy if you need to clean up the inside of your quill after it has been
abused from years of use.
Lubricants? straight 30 weight oil. Make a huge difference.
A spray can of lubricant comes in handy to reach those hard to get to lubricating points.
On a reeves drive system displacing the contaminants with a shot of lubricant on a routine
basis goes a long ways in keeping things moving, this also works on the tail stock moving
parts. Compressed air works nice to get the wood dust out of the hard to reach area's, just
make sure you follow up with lubricant on the moving parts. If you don't have a good dust removal
system the fine wood dust will collect in every opening in the lathe.
On a reeves drive system displacing the contaminants with a shot of lubricant on a routine
basis goes a long ways in keeping things moving, this also works on the tail stock moving
parts. Compressed air works nice to get the wood dust out of the hard to reach area's, just
make sure you follow up with lubricant on the moving parts. If you don't have a good dust removal
system the fine wood dust will collect in every opening in the lathe.