A few days ago, I shared a post on Facebook cuz I was stoked.....STOKED, I tell ya! Our neighbor helped get a drill press our daughter had given me from their place over to my shop. The process was long and difficult, it required 4 wheel drive and snow chains to get the neighbor's pickup to the shop, but, in the end, it was mission accomplished!
This is what I've been waiting for in order to drill deeper holes in some of the projects too long for the radial drill press which is a table model.
While this drill press does need a new belt, the only other thing it was in need of (some would call it a dire need, but not me) was some lubrication to get those old, old pieces and parts moving again the way they were intended to move.
The biggest worry, though, was whether it would even work when plugged in. Not to worry, though. It fired right up and purred like a kitten. Those old electric motors are, quite simply, amazing!
Long story short....well, kinda short....the length of a piece was no longer an issue to be able to drill at least a pilot hole with a forstner bit to get things started.
Heck, I even used the forstner bit extender to get the deepest pilot hole I possibly could, and that worked like a charm.
The depth of the bit and extender allowed for a 5 1/2" pilot hole. Now I just needed to figure out how to get all the way through rest of this piece.
Not to worry on that front, either. Some call 'em spade bits. Some call 'em paddle bits. I'll go with spade bits. This one is 1 1/4". Even with a little extra length, I had to use a bit extender to be able to get all the way through. I'm beginning to think I might just need to invest in a longer shank spade bit. Oh, well.
The issue with lengthening the bit is the drill press had a lot more torque being placed on it than it could handle. So, I pulled out the old handy dandy Black and Decker industrial drill, loaded the bit, and went to work.
To hold the piece secure, and to make sure it didn't twist and buck while drilling the hole, the piece got secured into that handy dandy long throat Black and Decker vise I've featured in other blog posts. Have I said before how much I like this vise for this kind of work? Just in case I haven't said it before, I'm saying it now whether it's a repeat or not....I really, really like this vise for this kind of work!
That drill is a BEAST! The spade bit is getting a little dull, but the drill powered it right through!
Next step is to route out the recess for the lamp base followed by sculpting and shaping with the angle grinder and long neck die grinder using those specialty carving accessories that go along with them.
Later, Dudes and Dudettes!
No comments:
Post a Comment