wooden cylinders

Wed, Dec 5, 2007, 6:58pm (EST-3) [email protected] (gilles)
i am trying to drill a 1/4" hole in a dowel 1/2 diameter about 5"long
<snip> i am bulding wooden trucks but can never have a purfect cylinder
thanks.

OK, how about telling us why you need this cylinder then, besides
making wooden trucks? Details, you guys always leave out details. If
we know what you plan on using the cylinder for, you might get some
decent advice.



JOAT
Even Popeye didn't eat his spinach until he had to.

"gilles" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>i am trying to drill a 1/4" hole in a dowel 1/2 diameter about 5"long it
>nevers seems to go tru straight i have a milling machine i have purchase a
>bit about 6"long at lee valley and a dowel self centering jig but even with
>all of theese gaget it is still not purfectly straight any ideas gentlemen
>please help me out i am bulding wooden trucks but can never have a purfect
>cylinder thanks.
> [email protected]


I'd be inclined to drill the hole first and then turn the "dowel" using
centers that fit the hole...

John

"gilles" wrote:

>i am trying to drill a 1/4" hole in a dowel 1/2 diameter about
5"long it
> nevers seems to go tru straight
<snip>

This is a job for a lathe and a 1/8" x 3" drill bit.

Chuck up dowel, drill hole 3" deep, turn piece end for end, drill
again.

Remove piece from lathe, get beer, admire your wor, drink beer.

Forget about trying to drill thru hole in one pass, it's not going to
happen.

Lew

On Wed, 5 Dec 2007 18:58:28 -0800, "gilles" <[email protected]> wrote:

>i am trying to drill a 1/4" hole in a dowel 1/2 diameter about 5"long it
>nevers seems to go tru straight i have a milling machine i have purchase a
>bit about 6"long at lee valley and a dowel self centering jig but even with
>all of theese gaget it is still not purfectly straight any ideas gentlemen
>please help me out i am bulding wooden trucks but can never have a purfect
>cylinder thanks.
> [email protected]
>
>
you could try using a pen drilling vise on a drill press...
I have this one and really like it:

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=54855&cat=1,41659


mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

The drill bit is likely wandering. Even in steel you can have a
corkscrew shaped hole. A slower feed will minimize the wandering
somewhat. In the metal industry I think they would do an initial hole
and then ream it to size,

One approcah would be to drill first with a smaller diameter and then
drill it out with the correct sized bit. It would be best if the final
bit had good edge cutting ability like a brad point with outer points
of a forstner bit,

On Dec 5, 6:58 pm, "gilles" <[email protected]> wrote:
> i am trying to drill a 1/4" hole in a dowel 1/2 diameter about 5"long it
> nevers seems to go tru straight i have a milling machine i have purchase a
> bit about 6"long at lee valley and a dowel self centering jig but even with
> all of theese gaget it is still not purfectly straight any ideas gentlemen
> please help me out i am bulding wooden trucks but can never have a purfect
> cylinder thanks.
> [email protected]

"Curran Copeland" <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> I've been trying to figure what part of a truck he is making myself,
> only thing I can figure is maybe wheels or stacks for a simi.

The wheelset and spring combination that are located under railroad cars
are called trucks. Most wheel sets in trucks consist of two wheels on a
common axle. Both the wheels turn the same speed* and the axle turns in
the sideframes of the trucks. That's what allows movement.

If the OP is doing this, than he definately needs to assemble the trucks
roughly and then turn them on a lathe. That's the only way to make sure
it's properly centered.

* Railroad wheels have a taper so in curves and such one side of the
wheel is smaller at the rail than the other. This doesn't always match,
which is one of the reasons you hear squeals.

Puckdropper
--
Wise is the man who attempts to answer his question before asking it.

To email me directly, send a message to puckdropper (at) fastmail.fm

"gilles" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>i am trying to drill a 1/4" hole in a dowel 1/2 diameter about 5"long it
>nevers seems to go tru straight i have a milling machine i have purchase a
>bit about 6"long at lee valley and a dowel self centering jig but even with
>all of theese gaget it is still not purfectly straight any ideas gentlemen
>please help me out i am bulding wooden trucks but can never have a purfect
>cylinder thanks.
> [email protected]
>
>
I drill 3/8" holes 4" deep in 3/4" dowel 6" long on a regular basis if that
would help. I use a v block jig set up on a drill press. The accuracy is
often off because I find that very few dowels are really round and any out
of round on the dowel will greatly affect the accuracy. I can keep the
accuracy to within 1/32" on a dowell, when I try though, so that is close
enough for what I do. If you need constant accuracy a lathe is the only way
to go, Drill a pilot hole in the blank, set it in the lathe useing the
pilot as the center and turn the dowel. Then redrill the hole to the proper
size, works like a charm.

I've been trying to figure what part of a truck he is making myself, only
thing I can figure is maybe wheels or stacks for a simi.
"J T" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Wed, Dec 5, 2007, 6:58pm (EST-3) [email protected] (gilles)
> i am trying to drill a 1/4" hole in a dowel 1/2 diameter about 5"long
> <snip> i am bulding wooden trucks but can never have a purfect cylinder
> thanks.
>
> OK, how about telling us why you need this cylinder then, besides
> making wooden trucks? Details, you guys always leave out details. If
> we know what you plan on using the cylinder for, you might get some
> decent advice.
>
>
>
> JOAT
> Even Popeye didn't eat his spinach until he had to.
>

On Thu, 6 Dec 2007 14:34:54 -0500, [email protected] (J T) wrote:

>Wed, Dec 5, 2007, 6:58pm (EST-3) [email protected] (gilles)
>i am trying to drill a 1/4" hole in a dowel 1/2 diameter about 5"long
><snip> i am bulding wooden trucks but can never have a purfect cylinder
>thanks.
>
> OK, how about telling us why you need this cylinder then, besides
>making wooden trucks? Details, you guys always leave out details. If
>we know what you plan on using the cylinder for, you might get some
>decent advice.
>
>
>
>JOAT
>Even Popeye didn't eat his spinach until he had to.

They need a purfect cylinder, bro.. maybe it's a cat truck?


mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

"Puckdropper" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "Curran Copeland" <[email protected]> wrote in
> news:[email protected]:
>
>> I've been trying to figure what part of a truck he is making myself,
>> only thing I can figure is maybe wheels or stacks for a simi.
>
> The wheelset and spring combination that are located under railroad cars
> are called trucks. Most wheel sets in trucks consist of two wheels on a
> common axle. Both the wheels turn the same speed* and the axle turns in
> the sideframes of the trucks. That's what allows movement.
>
> If the OP is doing this, than he definately needs to assemble the trucks
> roughly and then turn them on a lathe. That's the only way to make sure
> it's properly centered.
>
> * Railroad wheels have a taper so in curves and such one side of the
> wheel is smaller at the rail than the other. This doesn't always match,
> which is one of the reasons you hear squeals.
>
> Puckdropper
> --
> Wise is the man who attempts to answer his question before asking it.
>
> To email me directly, send a message to puckdropper
(at) fastmail.fm

5" long is a pretty good size for the width of a train car, It must be a
nice size model with a lot of detail.

on 6/12/2007, John Grossbohlin supposed :
> "gilles" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>>i am trying to drill a 1/4" hole in a dowel 1/2 diameter about 5"long it
>> nevers seems to go tru straight i have a milling machine i have purchase a
>> bit about 6"long at lee valley and a dowel self centering jig but even with
>> all of theese gaget it is still not purfectly straight any ideas gentlemen
>> please help me out i am bulding wooden trucks but can never have a purfect
>> cylinder thanks.
>> [email protected]
>
>
> I'd be inclined to drill the hole first and then turn the "dowel" using
> centers that fit the hole...
>
> John

That was what I was going to suggest!

Great minds think alike - or fools never differ!

Mekon

I can drill 5" or so pretty accurately on my mill drill. but I use a
6" long solid carbide 1/4" endmill. dill at 3k and clean out often it
works pretty well. but if I change to a good brad point bit it will
wonder.