Saddle Drilling Attachments

[Ian B]

Anyone used / have one of these? The benefits are obvious; drilling holes using the saddle's power feeds. How much hassle are they to mount & dismount - are they accessories that end up gathering dust as the work to mount them is more than the effort required to turn the tailstock's handle?

I've seen one for sale that'll fit my Harrison M400, and it is almost Christmas...

Ian

[Mark Hockett]

I do most of my drilling from the saddle, but my lathe is CNC. Here is a picture of one of my set-ups,


I also use one of these when I have an Aloris post on the lathe,


Set-up is fairly easy, just put a dowel in the chuck and use a dial indicator to center it. If you have a DRO you can log in the position or if you don't you can zero the dial on the crossfeed.

[Fasttrack]

I learn something new everyday! I've never seen those before but thats pretty neat!

[Al Messer]

I've seen some pictures in old engineering books showing drilling being done on the carriage, especially drilling deep holes, such as a gun barrel. If the price is reasonable, go ahead and buy it and if you cannot find a use for it, there is always Ebay.

[Frank Ford]

I like the toolpost mounted chuck for drilling, especially deep holes. Rather than getting carpal tunnel syndrome spinning the tailstock crank, I can do my pecking sequence really easily with the saddle traverse.

[CCWKen]

Yep, I could have used one of those yesterday. My tailstock ram will only travel about 2 1/2". I had to drill through 3" of stock so had to stop, move the tailstock and drill. Had to stop a couple of times to move the tailstock back out to clear chips. PITA. Even so, that's a mighty expensive accessory if not used frequently.

I like the idea of a chuck on a tool holder. I may ponder some on that.

[tsmartin_98]

I have used something like that. The thing you have to watch out for is the possibility of the tool post turning under a heavy feed. This has happened to me and I've been thinking about mounting some kind of backstop on the carriage to prevent this.
TS

[BadDog]

If you've got a "T" slot compound (or cross?) you could just remove the tool post (all of 5 seconds tops?) and install a chuck holder based on an old style boring bar plinth. This could be easily built and bored in place to guarantee CL height. Then use a chuck mounted on appropriate straight shank and you’re ready to go. When bolted down, there would be no rotational force to deal with, and very little more overhead than a quick change holder.