is this wrong ?

desi2960

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
i am going to core a blackline maple one piece butt with laminated maple. as i was setting up my screwdrive hightower delux, it came to my mind that if i put the tail stock in front of the tool post, got everything set then turned on the screwdrive i could use it as an automatic feed for my drill gun. has anyone else done this.
 
i am going to core a blackline maple one piece butt with laminated maple. as i was setting up my screwdrive hightower delux, it came to my mind that if i put the tail stock in front of the tool post, got everything set then turned on the screwdrive i could use it as an automatic feed for my drill gun. has anyone else done this.

My hightower feed does not have enough power to push the gun drill. By hand and mounted in the tail stock is just easier and faster.

A big metal lathe would do it just fine.

Kim
 
I have the Hightower Deluxe also, and I use the tailstock mounted method and elbow grease. Just kinda lean on it. It dosen't quite have enough torque if you try the powerfeed. Try it out on an old house cue but to get the feel of it.
 
which delux

i have the newer screw feed, and i have plenty of power to feed the gundrill., the older deluxes with the 12 volt feed with the pinion gears might not work.
 
i am going to core a blackline maple one piece butt with laminated maple. as i was setting up my screwdrive hightower delux, it came to my mind that if i put the tail stock in front of the tool post, got everything set then turned on the screwdrive i could use it as an automatic feed for my drill gun. has anyone else done this.

I have the Dayton power feed with a tattoo power supply setup on a taig based
bed. I have the gun drill mounted on my crosslide with a QCTP. I use a Hightower Deluxe headstock with a chuck on the front and rear with a 1/2 hp motor.

A few weeks back I cored 40 forearm blanks of various wood types with a .650 gun drill with no problems. I played around with the feed speed and had the headstock on the 3rd speed. As long as I had enough air to eject the chips it cored with no problems.
 
I wouldn't

i am going to core a blackline maple one piece butt with laminated maple. as i was setting up my screwdrive hightower delux, it came to my mind that if i put the tail stock in front of the tool post, got everything set then turned on the screwdrive i could use it as an automatic feed for my drill gun. has anyone else done this.


I haven't looked at the hightower lathes but I would imagine that the tailstock has a dovetail lock of some sort on it. when it is clamped, that is the only time the tailstock is inline (centered) with the headstock/spindle/chuck. When the clamp is loosened to slide the tailstock there is an amount of clearance there that would multiply by however long the tool (drill) is. Lets say you have a 3" drill in the tailstock and it is loose so it can slide freely like you'd need it so your carriage feed can push it, at this point you wiggle the tailstock and indicate how much play there is, and it's (for easy maths sake) .030". Doesn't seem like much till you throw a 30" gundrill in and that play now becomes .300". Gundrills like to follow the hole there in, but they will walk if there is side load on them. All drills will, and they will take the path of least resistence. If you want to drill with power feed I would probably set up a QCTP (I like dorian, they seem to repeat very well), note all the settings to go back to, and use the carriage. I've seen guys at work try similar things to what you are saying, and there has always been some kind of carnage. Difference being they tied a strap to the carriage and pulled the tailstock. Just my 2cents, thought I'd give my experience and ideas.
Tom
 
I'm from Missouri....

Kim

Really. I thought Chuck was the one from Missouri.
Put enough tension on the lead screw power feed belt and it should do the job. I will say that a good percentage of the broken coring drills I have heard of happened while using that method. So user beware!
 
thanks cueman

the reason i did it this time was the wood, that spalted maple could be cut with a butter knife. i will never try this on any real hardwood....
 
I haven't looked at the hightower lathes but I would imagine that the tailstock has a dovetail lock of some sort on it. when it is clamped, that is the only time the tailstock is inline (centered) with the headstock/spindle/chuck. When the clamp is loosened to slide the tailstock there is an amount of clearance there that would multiply by however long the tool (drill) is. Lets say you have a 3" drill in the tailstock and it is loose so it can slide freely like you'd need it so your carriage feed can push it, at this point you wiggle the tailstock and indicate how much play there is, and it's (for easy maths sake) .030". Doesn't seem like much till you throw a 30" gundrill in and that play now becomes .300". Gundrills like to follow the hole there in, but they will walk if there is side load on them. All drills will, and they will take the path of least resistence. If you want to drill with power feed I would probably set up a QCTP (I like dorian, they seem to repeat very well), note all the settings to go back to, and use the carriage. I've seen guys at work try similar things to what you are saying, and there has always been some kind of carnage. Difference being they tied a strap to the carriage and pulled the tailstock. Just my 2cents, thought I'd give my experience and ideas.
Tom


Slop in the tail stock doesn't matter with a gun drill.... it will go straight if it is started correctly.

Kim
 
i am going to core a blackline maple one piece butt with laminated maple. as i was setting up my screwdrive hightower delux, it came to my mind that if i put the tail stock in front of the tool post, got everything set then turned on the screwdrive i could use it as an automatic feed for my drill gun. has anyone else done this.

I know this thread is older but I was bored and found this searching around the forum....
yall should be proud of me just for using the search function :D

http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=117059&highlight=powerfeed
 
I'm from Missouri....

Kim

So is Chuck. :lol:

But on the serious side there are people doing it with both types of power feeds. If you have the stretch belt power feed instead of the tension type of belt power feed it will not do it. But people are doing it that way with the direct drive older type and the tension belt type.

With that said understand that I do not guarantee coring drills not to crack and that method breaks more of them than hand feeding.
 
not the method for harder woods

i want to restate i only did that because i was cutting spalted maple that vas VERY soft. i would not recommend doing that to any harder wood.

BUT i did do

i have a delux with one of hightowers screw style tail stocks, to core a 12 inch piece of stock i have to turn the crank 240 revolutions, thats 240 in and 240 out. ENOUGH
so, i bought a 24 volt dc motor with gear reduction to 50 rpm's, with forward, reverse and off switch, and i had a hell of a time finding an ac to dc transformer that had enough amps to safely run the motor. then a couple of pulleys to fit the motor shaft and the shaft of the tailstock. then belts that fit. the trick was removing the handle of the tailstock and finding a somewhat safe place to drill holes in the tailstock body, to mount the bracket that holds the motor, that would not compromise the strength of the tailstock.

now coring on my delux is as simple as a flip of a switch.

if any of you are still using the lever style tailstock. you might want to give hightower a call. the difference between the lever and screw style tailstock is like night and day. i believe its so much more accurate in drilling. it is really worth the few extra few bucks.
 
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i want to restate i only did that because i was cutting spalted maple that vas VERY soft. i would not recommend doing that to any harder wood.

BUT i did do

i have a delux with one of hightowers screw style tail stocks, to core a 12 inch piece of stock i have to turn the crank 240 revolutions, thats 240 in and 240 out. ENOUGH
so, i bought a 24 volt dc motor with gear reduction to 50 rpm's, with forward, reverse and off switch, and i had a hell of a time finding an ac to dc transformer that had enough amps to safely run the motor. then a couple of pulleys to fit the motor shaft and the shaft of the tailstock. then belts that fit. the trick was removing the handle of the tailstock and finding a somewhat safe place to drill holes in the tailstock body, to mount the bracket that holds the motor, that would not compromise the strength of the tailstock.

now coring on my delux is as simple as a flip of a switch.

if any of you are still using the lever style tailstock. you might want to give hightower a call. the difference between the lever and screw style tailstock is like night and day. i believe its so much more accurate in drilling. it is really worth the few extra few bucks.


What do you mean by the "screw" style tailstock ?? Any pics ??
 
It is very similar to a mini lathe tailstock..............

Kim

That's what I kinda thought. I wish someone would post up some detailed pics of how that mod is done. Many people have that mod but nobody will ever post any detailed pics of how to do it...

Lee Casto
 
screw style tailstock

this is a stock photo of a screw style tailstock, the one you will get from hightower will have a chuck installed but will look a lot like this.
i will post photos of my rube goldberg auto feed asap.
 

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