Drill Press as a Lathe

[Richard Line]

I'm making a kind of small part (1 to 1 1/2 dia x 3 lg) and want it round, or at least pretty round. I don't have lathe or access to one. I started out using a block plane and spoke shaves to get it octagonal. When I started moving on to more sides it became more of a problem. Somewhere I remembered reading about using a drill press for this kind of thing, when a lathe isn't available. What I've done is run a hanger bolt down the center, locking it in place with a nut and washer and then putting that in the drill press.

At this point I've worked with some files (quite slow), sand paper, 80 grit (better), a milled tooth rasp (even better), and a conventional rasp (medium cut, pretty rough finish, not as fast as the milled tooth). I'm not about to try a chisel as there is no tool rest and I don't think the piece is held solid enough for using a chisel. The wood is from an ornamental plum tree that has been drying for about 3 years; it is fine, straight grained and fairly hard.

I've got the drill press on a moderately slow speed (700 rpm).

Any suggestions on doing this, or am I really crazy.

[george wilson]

I have used a drill press for a lathe many years ago,when I had no lathe. You need to rig up something strong enough to rest a chisel on if you expect to get anywhere.

[Don Parker]

You're not crazy. People do it. Since the workpiece is short, you probably don't need a live center at the bottom. Anything longer or skinnier, and you would need to do something about that. As long as you take it slowly and don't try to sand/file off too much at a time, it will work OK. Don't press very hard. I would actually increase the speed. It should sand or file smoother that way. Cut so that, if the workpiece catches your file (or sanding stick), it will fling it away from you, not toward you. In other words, you should be pulling the tool toward yourself, not pushing it into the workpiece.

[Richard Line]

Great, I'm not too crazy then. Don, your point about the direction of the file makes a lot of sense. I've been standing to the side, relative to the file. Turning it around and putting it on the other side should be safer. Faster is better, okay I'll give that a try. I haven't been pushing hard, just trying to take easy bites.

Thanks for the advise.

[John K Jordan]

Great, I'm not too crazy then. ... Faster is better, okay I'll give that a try. I haven't been pushing hard, just trying to take easy bites.

Richard, Not crazy at all! I was in Venice Italy and met a creative local craftsman - we could communicate by gestures only but when I gave him some small turnings and showed him some pictures he wanted to show me his tornio (lathe). It was a Dewalt electric drill which he clamped to the table and used a nail as a tailstock. It worked well enough!

This is the guy's shop in Venice:
vac_Venice_craftsman_IMG_3513.jpg

Anything that rotates the wood will work as long as you can hold it firmly. Some people shape wood with a rotating sanding disk with coarse paper against the rotating wood - go easy since this can cut very rapidly. Slower but more controllable is coarse sandpaper glued to a 2" wide piece of plywood - I did this myself years ago and recently read about it in an old book on toy-making.

Another idea is contact a local turning club - someone near you with a lathe and all the tools may be thrilled to make one of these (or several) for you. It would be very quick. I'd do it in a heartbeat.

JKJ

[Patrick Chase]

Don't press very hard.

This.

Drill presses are designed to withstand thrust loads but not side loads. If your press is of the cheaper variety then excessive side loads may not be good for the bearings. The same concern also applies when using drum-sanding attachments or when milling with a drill press that isn't designed for it (i.e. not a true mill/drill)

[Pat Barry]

Must be an electrified drill press, eh?

I would advocate doing the rasping and chiseling and even filing on the part before chucking it up into the drill press then only using sandpaper while it is spinning. Stick the sandpaper onto a backer board and work slowly and measure often. Getting a perfect cylinder will be difficult by free handing though but you should be able to get close enough.