Great Drilling Aid

Maybe it was my Jacobs chuck or the forstner bit but every time I'd try to drill a deep hole with my forstner bit extension, it was like a real chore to turn the tailstock handwheel. Almost as if I needed a cheater bar to tighten the Jacobs chuck enough to stop the extender shaft from spinning in the jaws.

Tried out the Strongbore system from Carter Products today and WOW oh WOW, easy peasy. Almost effortless advance. Sure is nice when performance meets expectations.

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Nice but how does this thing work??

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Originally Posted by robert baccus

Nice but how does this thing work??

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It's a direct MT-2 connection in the tailstock. Then you add either a 3" or 6" extension, then another extension that is the receiver of the drill or forstner bit. It becomes a continuous 3/4" bar instead of trying to connect the jaws of a Jacobs chuck to a 3/8" stub of a traditional bit extender. Stiffer.

When you are doing a very large piece and run out of lathe for drilling you can drill, add a length, drill and add more. I have been turning some 25 inch pieces and us it all the time. It is strong and you forester bit tends to run more true.

Looks much better than using Forstner extensions! Where did you get it?

from carter products www.carterproducts.com

What are you drilling the holes for? Do they need to be the nice perfect holes that Forstners drill? For starting the hollowing process, I use the cheapo spade bits. They drill fast. Way faster than a Forstner. Yes the hole is not good at all, but since I hollow after, it need not be. Plus, sharpening a spade bit is way easy.

If I need the nice perfect hole from a Forstner, I drill with the spade first, use a bit 1 size smaller. Then use the Forstner. Makes the Forstner work way less. I think I'll get the Strongbore. My extensions don't work well either. Thanks for the info!

Thanks David for the review. I think it would be perfect for drilling out pepper mills. When I did it, the bit wandered off center with the extensions/chuck assembly.