Drill press turning

Where there’s a will, there’s a way! Good looking drill press turnings!

-- Tom Finnigan - Measures? We don't need no stinking measures! - Hmm, maybe thats why my project pieces don't fit.

Nice work. As long as everyone is OK, the lathe will come some day.

-- Dave, Downers Grove, Il. -------- When you run out of ideas, start building your dreams.

Who needs a lathe when you can make thise on the drill press. Looks great.

-- Witty signature line still pending

Great idea for the live center in the table hole

-- Norman - I never never make a mistake, I just change the design.

Thanks guys…all ideas and inspiration comes from here along with feeding my addiction!

This is a super idea. I’d love to turn a few small simple things like tool handles but don’t have a lathe in the shop. I’d appreciate it if you posted a couple of pictures of your set-up and which live center you purchased and how you attached it to the table. I’ll be watching this post in the event you add a couple of picts. Thanks!

-- The smell of wood, coffee in the cup, the wife let's me do my thing, the lake is peaceful.

Sure! Let me throw a little more coffee down the hatch and ill post up some

Here is the hole in the table and I elongated it just a tiny bit with a step bit

The live center I bought from Woodcraft

The live center in place

The wood was pre-drilled before

Wood in place with countersink in the chuck

Snugged up with a clamp and ensuring it was straight before tightening the table. Then it’s on to turning!

I noticed a few times it would slip a little after turning a few minutes and I would have to stop and snug it up with the clamp but no biggie!

Hope this helps!

It does.. Thanks!

-- The smell of wood, coffee in the cup, the wife let's me do my thing, the lake is peaceful.

looks great

are the pictures sideways because this was turned vertically on the drill press? ;) (just kidding)

-- ㊍ When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.

For the life of me I can take the pic with this phone and they look straight…upload and they are sideways! I tried rotating them and nothing! Finally I hit post and walked away…lol

So what did you use for the tool rest?

-- --bch

Clamped different size wood to the table to reach whatever height I needed

I did some turning with my drill press, but without a live center so the chuck would always fall off. It’s hard on the spindle bearings though; mine eventually started making alarming noises. Now that I’ve acquired a vertical mill (a mill/drill, really) I use that instead.

I did it a little different though, I drilled the workpiece, put a carriage bolt through it and tightened it with a nut and washer, then clamped the exposed threads in the chuck. I also made a few laurel burl shift knobs by first epoxying the threaded insert into the wood blank, then chucking a short stud screwed into the insert.

-- Malcolm Laurel - http://MalcolmLaurel.com

I did that starting off…got tired of ducking behind my barrel every time I turned it on. I made a drum sander for it with a long bolt, slipped some old swaybar bushings on it that I had lying around, put a thick washer with a teflon nut on the end to squeeze the bushings tight on the cartridge. Then cut the bolt head off and filed the threads down and chucked it up. Worked like a charm til my 4 yr old came down to the garage. It’s currently MIA

Not too worried about the bushings as this is an older drill press. I could see it wearing something out over time tho