# Turning on a drill press



## crquack (Oct 10, 2008)

Has anyone tried it? Therre are commercially available kits:

http://www.houseoftools.com/product.htm?pid=170935

Such experience I have with this has not been good...


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi crquack

I did get one from Grizzly and played with it for a day and then cut it up and used it for a live center end for my lathe.. 




crquack said:


> Has anyone tried it? Therre are commercially available kits:
> 
> http://www.houseoftools.com/product.htm?pid=170935
> 
> Such experience I have with this has not been good...


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## BernieW (Sep 12, 2006)

My brother-in-law had one. He said it is not worth it. He said it was terrible trying to turn with that thing. He tried to give it away and couldn't. I wouldn't waste my time or money on one of those. That is what lathes are for.


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## crquack (Oct 10, 2008)

This is uncanny! That is exactly what I was planning to do!
Here is an improvised set-up to see if the process was feasible to true up my disks. The substandard tools notwithstanding I was not impressed...
BTW the live center was cannibalized from Lee Valley sanding atttachment.


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## crquack (Oct 10, 2008)

I should add a couple of explanations:

1) The tool rest (1/2" bolt) has a collar on it allowing to control the tool in two planes. Without it I found it almost impossible to keep the tool where I wanted it. Even so, the inability to keep the tool still is a major failing.
2) The pipe tool was fashioned after I saw a similar effort on one of the wood-turning videos. It is a simple 3/4" pipe. I did not do anything fancy like harden it. I really did not want to spend $50 on a roughing gouge just to test a theory.
3) The other tool is a bit of an afterthought. I was going to try and turn some small-diameter brass if the wood proved successful, so it is basically a metal cutting tool (actually the profile fits more steel than brass but I was not thinking clearly that day). It was made from a cut-off drill bit. Again, no hardening (yet!). I tried to cut grooves with it in a scraping sort of fashion. It was not great.
4) I had the drill running at 720 rpm which is the lowest range for this tool. Should I try higher?
5) The mandrel is also cannibalized from a drum-sander set-up sold by Lee Valley. The disk is held securely by two left-hand threads on a 5/16" diameter. However, if a catch occurs, the disk slips - a highly desirable safety feature given the otherwise iffy nature of the whole thing.
6) The disk was cut from a common 2x6 and started 5" diameter. I take it to be either pine or fir. I have never heard of turners using softwood, but to my simple mind it should have been easier to turn than alternatives.

That some such arrangement is desirable was demonstrated by the fact that although the disk was cut by a router centered on a 1/8" diameter hole, by the time the hole was enlarged to take the 5/16" mandrel the disk was no longer running concentric. Thus the ability to true up would, for my purposes, be useful.

Finally, there is no doubt that a lathe would do a better job. However here we are talking about a $20 solution as opposed to $800. It had to be tried!


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