Tailstock Chucks - how to identify / pick the better one

friction is often from trapped chips, one way to reduce that is to back out of a hole and re-enter more often. with metal , cutting fluid helps , not wood.

also the number of parts involved can create "stacking errors". For example if you have a morse or jacobs taper shank holding a cutter or drill directly then you have two parts. If you add a chuck then the runout of the chuck is added, if the chuck is threaded on to some other holder then the runout of the threaded portion is added and so on, if you had an adapter from Morse #1 to Morse #2 that is another part. Sometimes you may be able to obtain greater precision by reducing that complexity.

in general if your work is held near the chuck you may have greater accuracy than if the work is extended fromt the chuck as the runout becomes "amplified" If the work is turned between centers than the runout of the chuck becomes not a factor but not all machining operations can work between centers.
also if you are for example drilling a 2 inch deep hole and your bit is 6 inches long then the tip will be off center by some untold amount. If that drill is not needed to be so long then a shorter one may have less runout. again the runout is being sort of amplified. I'm not sure if "amplified" is the right word, but you probably get my point.

You may find that the flutes of a drill are longer than necessary and the fluted portion is not as strong as the other end, less metal there.. if you are ok sharpening your own tooling it might be a choice to cut the bit shorter.


That said, I'd like to get a better picture of what you guys are doing and to understand better the specifics of pool cue lathes and turning. I'm interested in machining and woodwork and pool, but Im not pretending to be a cue maker, nor am I going to be any competition. I could see becoming more interested in it at a hobby level. I have the skills and equipment, for example, to make nice cue cases but I know little about cue turning.
 
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one way to get good quality is to look at the brand name. However there has been some pretty dramatic changes in the manufacturing industry, many companies were forced to go to china to stay competitive.
what I'm seeing a lot of is a reduction in quality from the same makers. I see a lot of examples. porter cable, milwalkee , dewalt, and many others, were recognised brands and at one time we would expect them to be better quality than now. If you are shopping used you may come across older british brands, or older US made tooling. in many cases it ay have sat on it's shelf 50 years still unused. I love getting old tools for this reason.
i bought a metric tap and die set made in Germany.. sounds great right? but the quality I bet it was made in china and maybe put in the box in germany. Its real garbage. especially the tap holders etc..

In the past being "German made" really meant something. I'm seeing many instances where people buy the brand but fail to realize the branding means less than it once did, now. Starrette was another brand that just automatically triggered people to think oh that's going to be a good quality tool, not always so now. Buyer beware. I like the idea of buying multiples and picking the best, That's smart.
 
if a drill bit is running out by it basically steering itself off course, one option could be to not use a drill but instead a milling cutter. the drill bit only cuts on it's end, the milling cutter can cut sideways, as a result it may have less of an effect where it is steering itself off course because it is able to correct itself laterally. drilling a hole and then reaming it is generally more accurate, not arguing that point either. depending upon the application , a milling cutter MAY eliminate the need for a pilot hole, PERHAPS saving a step. a forstner bit may be an option , milling cutters are generally for metal and a forstner bit is usually a woodworking cutter. There are some similarities and differences.
 
snookered_again said:
if a drill bit is running out by it basically steering itself off course, one option could be to not use a drill but instead a milling cutter. the drill bit only cuts on it's end, the milling cutter can cut sideways, as a result it may have less of an effect where it is steering itself off course because it is able to correct itself laterally. drilling a hole and then reaming it is generally more accurate, not arguing that point either. depending upon the application , a milling cutter MAY eliminate the need for a pilot hole, PERHAPS saving a step. a forstner bit may be an option , milling cutters are generally for metal and a forstner bit is usually a woodworking cutter. There are some similarities and differences.
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The end mill in a drill chuck usually makes a good bit larger hole than the size of the end mill. You can use an undersized end mill in your router to bore a hole. The bottom line is drilling undersized then boring is most accurate. But stub or machine screw length drill bits to drill the first inch or so will help hold the secondary longer bits drilling truer. Carbide three flute drill bits also wander less than regular drill bits.
 
A lot of people will use metal drill bits on wood, because they do work, but there is a difference. most of the Jobber drill bit index files have cut angles designed for wood, not metal. Most of us probably have a set of them in our shop because they are much more commonly found than an index file full of wood bits. Since the cut angle isn't right for wood they tend to sort of chew their way through. on metal, a properly sharpened bit will produce long curly chips in metal. if you drill wood you get basically wood dust coming up out of the flutes, not a continuous thread of material. the bit will become bound up as the dust won't leave the hole and becomes trapped.

 
snookered_again said:
A lot of people will use metal drill bits on wood, because they do work, but there is a difference. most of the Jobber drill bit index files have cut angles designed for wood, not metal. Most of us probably have a set of them in our shop because they are much more commonly found than an index file full of wood bits. Since the cut angle isn't right for wood they tend to sort of chew their way through. on metal, a properly sharpened bit will produce long curly chips in metal. if you drill wood you get basically wood dust coming up out of the flutes, not a continuous thread of material. the bit will become bound up as the dust won't leave the hole and becomes trapped.

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This isn't really as much of an issue as it sounds. Carbide center drills, then carbide stub drill, then carbide drill bit to depth, prefreably with a 135 degree point like Guhring twist drills. I drill all holes undersize and bore to final diameter.
 
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I wouldn't hesitate to use a twist drill on wood either, especially when you aren't near the final diameter. I do it all the time to drive screws and such. It just might help leave a cleaner hole if someone wants to drill to final diameter . one can always purchase just the one they use often. For metal drilling for threading I have a set of number and letter drills, that gives a lot more size choices.
 
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