# need more travel to drill pen blanks



## scottm (Nov 30, 2014)

Hi everyone, I'm new to pen turning and I'm trying to find out the best way to drill my blanks. I don't have enough travel on my drill press or tail stock (2 1/8" on each). So far I've used my drill press and moved the drill bit a bit lower in the quill to drill out the last part of the blank but this is a bit time consuming. I'm looking for some suggestions on how I can drill that last 1/4-1/2" and a new drill press is not in my future. Thanks!


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## Dan Masshardt (Nov 30, 2014)

Drill on the lathe.  Just keep moving the tailstock up.   It's slot easier than moving the drill press table up I  think.


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## ed4copies (Nov 30, 2014)

Got any small bowl blanks?

6 x 6 x 2 ish

Drill until you run out of travel, clear the blank and lift it, put the 2" riser under it, drill again---repeat as necessary (often of you are doing peppermills,  only a couple times for most pens)


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## WriteON (Nov 30, 2014)

Welcome aboard. I use the lathe for drilling. Works like a champ.


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## monophoto (Nov 30, 2014)

My drill press quill has a 2" throw - in theory, that matches many (but not all) pen kits, but in practice, that's not really enough to align the bit and allow it to make a clean opening at the bottom of the hole.

My lathe has slightly more travel, but even that is limited, and there are kits that require even deeper holes.

So my take on this is that apart from spending a lot of money on specialized tooling, there is no simple answer.  

When I'm drilling on the drill press, I use an approach similar to Ed's suggestion.  But instead of bowl blanks, I keep a pile of scraps of 3/4" timber under the bench.  I drill the hole as deep as it will go, lift the blank and slip a timber under the bottom, and then continue drilling.  If necessary, I can add more timbers to get additional depth.  And because the timber scraps are reasonably sized (4x6" or more), they will sit squarely on the drill press table.

On the lathe, I follow Dan's suggestion - I drill as deeply as I can, back the bit out to clear the swarf, but before advancing the quill, I move the tailstock until the bit bottoms out in the hole, and then slowly drive the ram to make the hole deeper.

Of course, another interpretation is that this merely illustrates that we never outgrow our need for newer and better tooling - - -


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## endacoz (Dec 1, 2014)

Or buy an old Shop Smith or a Taiwan clone of it like I did.   $75.   4 and 3/8 inches quil travel and you can drill horizontaly if you'd like.

But currently I have been drilling my seam ripper kits 3.5-4" on my lathe.  As I Just bought and really like this PSI dedicated pen jaws chuck!  I bought the large one to do bottle stoppers and more.

Large Dedicated Pen Blank Drilling Chuck at Penn State Industries


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## Sawdust1825 (Dec 1, 2014)

+1 on using the Shopsmith and PSI blank chuck. Much easier than any other method I tried. Watch CL for a used Shopsmith.


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## mike4066 (Dec 1, 2014)

I had the same problem with my little benchtop drill press.  I would drill down ~2 inches, clear it, then slide the blank up the bit, put a block under it and continue the rest of the way.

But drilling on the lathe works out much better for me. I get much cleaner holes without any wobble.


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## jleiwig (Dec 1, 2014)

I've never actually advanced my quill in my tail stock when I drill. I just leave it unlocked and push it in by hand, then pull it back out to clear and back in again. Works the best of any method I've tried.


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## Jim Burr (Dec 1, 2014)

ed4copies said:


> Got any small bowl blanks?
> 
> 6 x 6 x 2 ish
> 
> Drill until you run out of travel, clear the blank and lift it, put the 2" riser under it, drill again---repeat as necessary (often of you are doing peppermills,  only a couple times for most pens)



Until my 1642 showed up...this is how I did it. Works well.


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## Paul in OKC (Dec 1, 2014)

Ditto on the the drill press ideas. I used to do that, drill, stop the bit, slide up the bit and put about a 1" block under, continue drilling.


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## scottm (Dec 12, 2014)

Thanks everyone for all your thoughts. I've been using the drill press and sliding a 3/4" board under the blank. Before i slide the board under i make sure to leave the drill bit in the pen blank. with the drill off I then raise it up to slide the board under. This seems to be working well and keeps the hole the correct size.  Thanks for all the help!


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