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Drilling with the cross slide

slow-poke

slow-poke

Ultra Member
I'm curious how common this is?

I have yet to try it, I just need to get an AXA to MT2 tool holder.

Comments welcome.
 
I plan to once I get my Z axis DRO setup.
 
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Dean Smith and Grace made an attachment for it (unfortunately the only attachment I don't have :( ) There's a position stop on the cross slide ways so it ends up in the perfect position every time. Drills are held very securely eliminating the risk of messing up the tailstock taper.

Might be a useful accessory to make. Big block of (ideally) cast iron, fit to the ways, then machine the rest in situ - straight bore to take various MT sleeves.
DSG power drilling attachment.jpg
 
Yes, I’m setup for drilling from the tool post (I think of cross slide drilling, as described above on the DS&G, also common for a Mazak). It works fine. I wouldn’t say it is any sort of a game changer. It is nice for deep holes (can move the carriage pretty quickly). As others have said, it depends on what lathe you have. I believe it is a good method for holding larger drills, but there is a limit as the rest of the lathe may not support that activity.

I don’t have a DRO on my lathes, but it is easy to eyeball the drill, then tweak position as needed be (a roughing operation anyway). A slightly different tool post drilling arrangement is to use insert drills (not spades, though they are fine as well), then you can drill and bore with the same tool/setup. Most insert drills seem to be Weldon shank (can probably get them as MT, I don’t know).

I find as I get more spade and insert drills, I’m rarely using the traditional MT shank drills (the newer technology really seem to work great - long life, good surface finish, quick).
 
I don’t follow the benefits of this - how is this different from a drill chuck in the tail stock?

A motorized drill on the cross slide is useful - I have a post on making one of those from an electric hand drill on here someplace…
 
Here is that thread on a cross
slide drill.
Janger

Thread 'Drill fixture for lathe'

Well we seem to have lost some content due to the server crash. The ones I’ve noticed we had a ELS thread, a C0636 & other 14x40 lathe thread and this thread to get going again.

I’m working a drill fixture for lathes to allow holes offset from the Center axis. Pics….
 
Janger said:
I don’t follow the benefits of this - how is this different from a drill chuck in the tail stock?

A motorized drill on the cross slide is useful - I have a post on making one of those from an electric hand drill on here someplace…
Click to expand...
Well if you have CNC:
1) The program can peck at it while you clean the swarf from the bit each time it retracts.
2) Easy to program an exact final depth.
3) Short pause on retraction to squirt some cutting fluid.
 
For drilling without a motor, I can't really see an advantage either way. I prefer to drill from the tailstock. In my mind, tail stocks are all about drilling, reaming, tapping, and centers.

Offline, @thestelster and I have discussed the torque impacts of offset tools without any real resolution. There isn't any doubt that it's there, but how significant it is depends on the machine and tool post. In my view, the tailstock is a safer bet because its rigidity is both greater in the vertical plane and has no side offset. For those with big machines, I personally doubt this difference matters. Whatever is easier and more convenient I guess.

For smaller less rigid machines, I wouldn't do it - not so much because it is or isn't an issue, but mostly because it's too much trouble to figure out or determine whether it is or isn't an issue for any given operation.

My two cents for whatever it's worth.
 
without cnc... power feed and more s
Susquatch said:
For drilling without a motor, I can't really see an advantage either way. I prefer to drill from the tailstock. In my mind, tail stocks are all about drilling, reaming, tapping, and centers.
Click to expand...

I see a few advantages (in the context of cross slide drilling like the DSG above), It's as or more rigid as the TS and you are never going to mess up the tail stock taper by spinning a drill, and you can drill using power feed. How much those matter will depend the lathe and situation. Maybe more so with big win big drills big lathes. Power feed would be oh so nice and its faster/easier retracting the carriage.
 
when drilling deep holes with the tail stock I often retract the drill by loosening the tailstock from the ways and yanking the whole thing back. I pull back on the drill chuck to avoid any taper disconnects. Clean, oil, and reverse it back in to close to the hole bottom. Then start drilling by turning the tailstock handle again. Seems like a hack.
 
Mcgyver said:
I see a few advantages (in the context of cross slide drilling like the DSG above), It's as or more rigid as the TS and you are never going to mess up the tail stock taper by spinning a drill, and you can drill using power feed. How much those matter will depend the lathe and situation. Maybe more so with big win big drills big lathes. Power feed would be oh so nice and its faster/easier retracting the carriage.
Click to expand...

I was only thinking tool post mounted tool holder with an MT3 Taper holding a drill chuck.

Anything is possible with specialized tool holding.
 
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Janger said:
when drilling deep holes with the tail stock I often retract the drill by loosening the tailstock from the ways and yanking the whole thing back. I pull back on the drill chuck to avoid any taper disconnects. Clean, oil, and reverse it back in to close to the hole bottom. Then start drilling by turning the tailstock handle again. Seems like a hack.
Click to expand...

That's my process too John. I call it "tail stock bumping". Bump the tailstock, Drill, back off x thou, pull the tailstock back, clear chips, bump the tailstock, dial back in the previous back off minus, a few thou, drill again.
 
The biggest advantage for me is speed and convenience. My bed is 54" between centers, and the tailstock lives at the far end. To haul that sucker back and forth is a bit of a nuisance. I have several wooden boards on the bed to hold notes, tools, tool holders. So if I need to use the tail stock, I have to move all that stuff out of the way, thoroughly clean the bed ways, squirt way oil on the ways and push that 80lb(?) tail stock to the head stock, attach the drill chuck, lock it down, center drill, loosen the tail stock pull it back, attached a bigger drill, move it forward, lock it down, loosen the tail stock, attach......if you get my drift!!

With the chuck on the tool post, it's lickety-split. No mess; no fuss. Plus power feed!
 
I built a "combination" set-up to use the tail stock as the tool holder and a hook set-up that attached both the tailstock & apron together so apron would drag the tailstock at feed speed and then unhook the tailstock for a quick drag out for bit cleaning...re-hook and hit the feed lever again.... I was drilling barrels out for liner installs and it worked good up to about 12" deep holes but bad jam ups started after that. It worked but was still a failure for what I wanted.
 
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