- Joined
- Dec 28, 2015
- Messages
- 115
Gun drill would be great if I had the coolant system for it!!
You can use a gun drill in a lathe. Use a boring bar holder on the tool post and hook up the coolant to the back end. Have to drill a pilot first, but doable. That small a hole leaves a little to the pucker factor, though! In the gun drill, I run .25 bit at about 3500 rpm and 1.5 fpm. Obviously can't do that in the lathe, but.....
Please use caution with this! As somebody mentioned when I first posted on the mechanism, the lathe's power feed mechanism has some weak parts (possibly the rack and/or pinion), and you might be asking it to do more than it's capable of. The threading mechanism is probably more robust. But in either case, the drill bit can clog with chips before you're aware of it, and cause some real trouble. I've always used the feed handle, so that I could "feel" what's going on.That's a great idea! Engage power feed and get er done! In all serious ness it's a great idea for most but I'm pretty tall and more comfortable at tail stock height.
Please use caution with this! As somebody mentioned when I first posted on the mechanism, the lathe's power feed mechanism has some weak parts (possibly the rack and/or pinion), and you might be asking it to do more than it's capable of. The threading mechanism is probably more robust. But in either case, the drill bit can clog with chips before you're aware of it, and cause some real trouble. I've always used the feed handle, so that I could "feel" what's going on.
I i worked in a shop that did a lot of gun drilling on a lathe, they has a set of chance gears to slow down the feed and used a general motors power steering pump for the fluid, i think we did 5000 parts for IBM. the most boreing job i've ever had. pun intendedGun drill would be great if I had the coolant system for it!!