Dick,
If I were ruining wood do your really think I would continue to do so?
I core all components on my butts when they are are just under 1.5" and install them to a 30" core at that size and any marks from the steady rest are gone after one or two taper passes on the saw. I have found that turning at 450 rpm does the job real good and it does not take more than a few minutes for me to control the feed by turning the hand wheel and overhauling the quill every 3 1/2" inches. Are you implying I am hurting the wood or something?
The difference between my 30" dowel and the core diameters is over .010. Once the cue parts are glued on the dowel and the unit is tapered between centers I don't think it matters much if it was bored before gun drilling or if the primary hole is center drilled with a 3/4" center drill after is was aligned it a steady rest to a 3/8" center that was established on the wood when the piece was faced close to the jaw of the lathe chuck.
All of the points you bring to the discussion are valid if you are trying to make a gun barrel or something like that but are not relevant to this end in cue making IMO.
Tail stocks are adjustable and have areas for shimming them on the Y and Z, at least mine does. I have done this using my precision Thompson Rod as mine was indeed off pretty good at +30" on the X. Dial indicator and a shim kit and you can get them pretty close.
Gun drills are very useful tools and they make them in different configurations for different purposes. I guess when I ordered my two gun drills from Sterling and requested the tail stock unit advertised on their website for cue making and the like, their design engineers must be Klingons and Romulins as you know us beings from other planets must stick together.
The mere fact that they are designed and sold for tailstock use renders your whole argument that your ways is the absolute and ideal null and void. There are more ways to skin a cat.
If you are happy with your procedures and work practices that's cool I am down with that dude.
I still like you and think your cool but I respectfully disagree with your point of view and your presentation.
Progress in any human endeavor always is curtailed by those that close their minds to those who offer their ideas. Especially when nothing is asked in return for sharing said ideas.
Rick G
You're correct that I went overboard in demeaning the use of the tail stock and pushing the tool post method. What got me upset was your statements about your methods as being so much quicker in setting up and more accurate
once completed which is 100% B/S. Using a center rest without a bearing is so inefficient as to border on being ridiculous as you now must dial in each and every piece of wood you intend to work on where if you were using a bearing you center the bearing once and then you can take the center rest off and re-install 10,000 times and it is still just as accurately set as it was initially. It never moves. So instead of all of the time spent mounting the rest and then indicating the dowel to run true, you just mount it which takes 30 seconds at most. When I said that running with 3 points with wax burnishes the wood differently in different areas I didn't mean that you couldn't turn the marks out. Most know that but while this burnishing is occurring, you are losing your accuracy as now the dowel will have play in your rest.
As far as having to align the drill in two different axis's as so time consuming is all rhetoric also but as usual, untrue. You have to set the height for the drill one time on the quick change and then every time you drop it in place it is at that height. Boy, that sure took a long time. As far as aligning the drill to the hole in the material takes no more than 20 or 30 seconds either as long as the starting hole was bored accurately. The drill won't enter the hole if the drill isn't aligned.
As far as Sterling making both side oil holes and rear oil holes goes, this is true. They may have on their site that they do this for people who prefer not to use the tool post as they are already making this style but they are for gun drill boring machines where the head of the drill goes into the machine and the drill turns instead of the barrel. They also have a bushing support near the head of the drill to support it. An external hose for an oil supply would soon be wrapped up pretty badly in this situation.
Now, you said that your approach is quicker as you just put your drill in the tail stock where as I must align the tool post. That is quicker BUT how long does it take you to mount the center rest and center your dowel in the steady rest? My way - 30 sec. top to mount and use. Aligning your drill - almost instantly, Aligning the drill on my tool post, maybe 30 sec. So*** I can set up for coring and be drilling in less than 2 minutes. I don't know how long it takes you as I don't know how long it takes you to indicate in your dowel on the steady. Now we are both set up and ready to drill, I flip a lever,start the drilling and when completed I flip the lever back. You on the other hand must feed the drill by hand at an inconsistent speed, stop every 2.5 to 3 inch, crank your tail stock ram back, push your tail stock forward and repeat. While your doing this cranking and re-positioning, and monitoring I'm over on another lathe putting on a ferrule or making a shaft or what ever I feel like doing. So, even if the end results were identical, by using your equipment efficiently, as it was designed for, the tool post method and a steady rest set up properly is so much more time efficient that they're not even in the same ball park.
By the way, this statement from you is what stared all of this
"Then just install the gun drill in the tail stock chuck and have at it. No walking. Don't use the tool post to anchor your gun drill, the slightest angle variance in X alignment of the drill will make the job fail." I've only had one fail out of hundreds that I have done and it wasn't because of alignment.
Thank you,
Dick
They are under power....
