how to drill a deep straight hole

[onedash]

I got some eurpoean style pen kits. The longer piece is to long for my benchtop drill press. Is there an easy way to drill deeper than your drill press is capable of?

I lowered the bit a little with the piece in the hole and finished it but I think the hole is less than perfect. It seems to be good enough once I glued in the brass tube but there has to be a better way.
I dont think I can convince my wife to let me get a new drill press. I asked and she said no...It probably didnt help that I went and got a new staple gun today (she said lets go get one!!) I have to bottom of my couch fabric all off because I had to fix a cracked board....

[eezlock]

drill a straight deep hole

You could swing the stock drill press table one side out of the way
and attach a jig, clamp. or other type device to hold the piece steady
and using a longer bit drill the hole to the needed depth. this might work.
eezlock

[cabinetman]

Eezlock had a good solution. Another is just measure the diameter of the verticle upright tube and replace it with a longer one ( I know how that sounds).



A THING OF BEAUTY IS A JOY FOREVER - John Keats

[Habe]

I think onedash means that the travel of the drill press is not long enough for the length of the pen blank. If that is the case then it's time for a bigger drill press

[onedash]

I think onedash means that the travel of the drill press is not long enough for the length of the pen blank. If that is the case then it's time for a bigger drill press

Right...

Thats what I figured.

[sacherjj]

I remember seeing a jig that works pretty well to double the through of your drill press. First, get a dowel the size of the hole you are drilling. Now drill that sized hole into 3/4" MDF of Plywood. Insert a piece of dowel and check fit. Now drill the first part of the hole into the pen blank. Flip the pen blank over and insert onto the dowel. Either use marks on the drill press table or have the other end of the pen blank marked to line up. Drill down to finish the pen. This should almost double the depth you can drill.

[Tom Miller]

I assume you're talking about a pen kit for turning on a lathe? In that case, have you considered doing the drilling on your lathe, where you'd have all the "quill" travel you need?

Regards,
Tom

[gjat]

Call me a simpleton, but this is what I've done.
-Set up a wood clamp to hold the blank so that you can elevate the blank once you've partially drilled the hole.
-Drill to the depth you can.
-Shut off the drill and raise the blank around the bit and re-clamp it.
-Make sure the bit and blank are lined up without binding by hand turning the chuck.
-Tighten everything down and drill again. You probably shouldn't have to drill more than twice.

That seems alot like what you're doing, but how often are you doing the longer tubes? You may just want to use a heavier body epoxy to ensure a solid grip and not spend a pound for a penny.

[LCHIEN]

I assume you're talking about a pen kit for turning on a lathe? In that case, have you considered doing the drilling on your lathe, where you'd have all the "quill" travel you need?

Regards,
Tom

Well, I don't have a lathe so mabe I'm completely out of my depth here, but Tom's solution seems right.
Chuck the drill bit in a chuck on the fixed tail of the lathe, chuck the blank in the head end (rotating), then use the tail-positioning to advance the fixed bit into the spinning blank and the drill will go into the blank dead center. You can use a bit up to half the length of the lathe bed and a blank up to half the length of the lathe bed and drill completely thru.

[bigsteel15]

Maybe I'm missing something here but if you're in trouble on a european style pen kit then I'd say you'll need a bigger drill press soon anyway.
The kits I've used all have the longest piece in the area of just under 3" long. My Ryobi 12" DP has just over 3" travel.
I'm guessing you have a small 9" benchtop unit in which case you're going to be cursing the 2-2-1/2" travel more in the future.
The dowel jig idea sounds good or even what gjat suggested.
Make or buy a pen blank jig and gjat's idea should work really nice.

[onedash]

I have a 12" (i think) craftsman benchtop DP. Its the biggest benchtop one they have.
I dont know exactly how far it will drill. I will check it tonight.

For these I guess it would be faster by slaping another piece between the table and bit. I have a piece of MDF now so I drill into that and have a clean hole. flipping the piece isnt an option. I just eyeball the center with the bit. Id say one out of 1-15 comes out off center but almost always good enough to still use.

[onedash]

This is the one Im eyeballing.
On sale now too...
http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...seBVCookie=Yes

[LCHIEN]

for some odd reason they have peculiar names for drill press specs.
The general term for what this thread has called travel and other terms is generally referred to as "STROKE"

I note the Craftsman page for the 17" one Onedash is looking at does not even list stroke in the specs.

If you are thinking of buying a DP then these are the key spec items:

Swing - half the swing is the distance from the drill axis to the column. In essence swing is the largest daiameter circular piece you can drill anywhere in using this DP.

Stroke - this is the travel of the quill up and down. The quill is the driven by the handle vertically and the pulley/motor rotationally.

Speeds - usually a series of belts and pulleys gives discreet speeds.up to 5 uses one belt, 10-16 speeds uses two belts. Speeds of 150-3000 are useful.

CHuck size - this is how bit a bit shank diameter can be held with the chuck. many larger bits have cut down shanks.

Esp. for benchtops, clearance between the table and the chuck is an interesting number but hardly ever quoted - limits how tall an item you can handle.

HP - more or less self explanatory bit watch out for craftsman, they use developed HP which is about twice the real number.