I have a few quick questions: Do all wood lathes allow for drilling out the centre of a piece of wood? Do ANY? How can you tell? Is this really called boring?
Nico
Hi Nico,
It is called boring or drilling and most wood lathes can do it in theory (though a boring bar is different than a drilling bit). It’s a matter of getting the right chucks for the setup. I use a metal lathe to do my boring. Sometimes I hold the piece in the carriage (the piece that moves back and forth on the bed) and push it onto the drill held in the chuck or sometimes I hold the piece in the chuch and use the tailstock to push the drill in. On a wood lathe you could either back bore through the spindle or you could mount a three-jaw chuck to hold the piece and drill with the tailstock. Or you could hand hold a drilling bit and turn at low speeds (kind of dangerous, I think). Without a steady rest, however, it is difficult to make a clean deep hole, and I have never seen a steady rest for a wood lathe (which doesn’t mean that they don’t exist, mind you).
If you plan on doing it a lot, I would recommend a machine lathe.
Have fun,
Erik
There is no way I can afford a metal lathe, so that isn’t an option…
I was given a wood lathe for my birthday, but it is small (only 12" bed) so I was looking at a 37" bed lathe. They are both MasterCraft, they both have a hole through the spindle (the motorized end), but I don’t think either has a three jaw chuck… I will have to check. Is it possible to buy them seperately?
Yeah, you can buy them separately. Check out Harbor Freight ( http://www.harborfreight.com/ ) or Grizzley ( http://www.grizzley.com/ ). You could also do it without a chuck if you have a hunk of wood big enough to bolt to the face plate. Then you could cut off most of the excess, mount the piece between centers and turn down to the O.D. of the piece. This way wastes the most wood, but is cheaper from a machinery standpoint.
Also, I stand corrected on the steady rest issue. You shouldn’t have a problem finding one for a wood lathe; I did a search and found several.
The trick is to use a lathe that has a hollow tailstock, and to turn the piece between centres using a hollow tail centre. The drill can be fed in through the tail stock, but will probably need a deal of extension to give you the length required. Another possibility , if you do not have a hollow tailstock, is to use a hollow ‘T’ piece fitted into the toolrest banjo and lined up with the headstock. I refer you to a Fine Woodworking publication called “Things to Make”, or something very similar, for a good article on making a flageolet.
Having said all that, I use a metal lathe for drilling these days, and go back to the wood lathe for finishing work.
Alright, I think I understand, but one more question…
What would I attach the drill to if I am feeding it through a hole in the motorized end? (the tailstock? spindle? terminology is not my strong suit)
Actually two:
What sort of drill bits should I buy?
Nico
Hi,
I did some boring with a wood Lathe. I used a 3/4" chuck on the tail stock, mounts using a #2 morse taper shaft, I don’t know if your lather uses a morse taper. I got a gun drill bit on ebay for $15 to drill the pilot hole. This is a drill used for drilling out gun barrels, it has a hole runing up the shaft to run coolant through to the cutting point. I drilled a hole in the side of the shank to blow out the chips. It worked quite well. You then modify a spade bit to bore the hole bigger.
Are you confused now??? 
Jon
oh lordy. . .here we go again! (grabbing an ice cube to cool off). . .
3/4" chuck on the tail stock
use a lathe that has a hollow tailstock
back bore through the spindle or you could mount a three-jaw chuck to hold the piece
hand hold a drilling bit and turn at low speeds
one of these days I’m going to find out exactly what your all talking about, and then the magic will be gone…until thennnn
Yeah, Tyg-- we guys just love to brag about our tools !
Hi Nico, I dont know if this will help you or not. But look at the Long boring kit on this page for an example.
Yeah Nico, what Guthrum said, the long hole boring setup drills pilot holes very accurately, BUT, you need to have a hollow tailstock to start with (that’s the other end to the motor) AND, a 5/16" hole is of limited usefulness for whistle making, you will also need a setup for enlarging the diameter.