Edge Technology tool post drill chuck

Larry42

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I just got my new Edge Technology tool post drill chuck.
Looks very nice. Chuck feels very smooth, appears to be good quality.
I considered making one but the cost of a decent chuck and all the fooling around it would take me...
I decided to try theirs. Design is well thought out.
It comes with a 1/2" mounting bar, they offer additional sizes for $. I'll see how this works out. My tool post takes 5/8" or 3/4" with the extended size.
I just finished some parts that I had to peck drill. Too much twisting the tailstock crank.
 
I just finished going through the setup, following the enclosed directions. Pretty straight forward.
I used a dial indicator to make sure the tool post was square to the cross slide travel. Put the setup pin that comes in the kit in the 3 jaw chuck and the drill chuck and locked the adjustment screws on the chuck holder.
I did some drilling and tested the hole diameters. Off by quite a lot. Why?
Looking at the DRO I could see that the cross slide had moved. There is a fair amount of slack in it's feed screw! There is no way to lock the cross feed on this lathe. I think I see a way of making a lock. At any rate suspecting the Chinese 3 jaw I put the setup pin in it and it had .008 run out. Yikes. Not that 3 jaw chucks are ever dead on but...
So I put my trusty Chinese collet chuck on and a Chinese 1/2" collet. Put the setup pin in and had .0005" of total runout.
I re-mounted the drill chuck and re-centered it (very easy, quick.) Installed the 3 jaw. Step drilled some holes and checked diameter. Much better. Still had some drift showing on the DRO due to the slack in the cross slide lead screw, but not as much.
Some guys have told me not to be so fanatical about accuracy BUT I'm not going to make a cross feed lock. I know that twist drills rarely make dead accurate holes and that any machinist worth his salt has a $500 set of reamers, but I don't. Not that I'd qualify as a machinist.
Hope this helps you Cooter Brown.
 
You are using a twist drill in a lathe tool post, this is a first operation, if you require .001" diameter accuracy you will be sorely disappointed.

If you want an excellent method of holding a drill in a lathe toolpost try this, I did it today for 25 parts drilled .980" Diam X 10 1/4" deep.

Place a block of material in the tool post, place a spot drill in the chuck and spot, place a drill in the chuck and drill, place a reamer in the chuck and ream to finished size, drill and tap some set screw holes through to the bore. Install drill and tighten set screws and drill away. This works a charm.
This is POM which is easily drilled, I would not try drilling a 33/34" hole in stainless with this machine but a <1/2" hole would work fine.
Nothing is more boring and tedious then drilling 10" deep holes from the tail stock by hand.

Lock the X axis through the entire process so that it does not move.

 
I just put up a center drill in the chuck and come up to the part being drilled and sight the center on the part vertically and horizontally and make a little divot with the center drill; it is obvious that the drill and part centers coincide, make a little correction if necessary and go for it --- this has worked for me for nearly 60 years now.
 
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