Free drilling and a laser

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 12:51 pm

OK, so I was thinking about free drilling. Natually, keeping the pipe lined up properly is the real trick, which got me thinking. What would make this a whole lot easier would be if the lathe or drilling motor had some sort of guide that you could line up on. My first thought was some sort of wire or post allaigned with the bit. And that may work. But then I thought of the laser levels I've seen and the whole thing just clicked! Using a laser to mark a line on the stummel makes a whole ton of sense. The laser will follow the contours of the pipe and won't bend or obstruct your view like a post would. Of course the post is cheaper, but still, the levels aren't that expensive. Fifteen or twenty bucks.

What do you all think?

custom300 · Post by **custom300** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 2:56 pm

I've done this and it works. In fact, I got a really cheap laser as a gag gift at some party. Investment $0.00 . I temporarily mounted it on a little stand behind the tail piece to see if it would work. The draught hole and the bottom of the chamber lined up great. I was actually thinking about drilling and tapping into the top of the tail piece and hard mounting it to there.

Always before, my construction lines got hidden underneath the scroll chuck jaws, and it could throw me 2-3 degrees out of alignment. It usually didn't create too bad a problem because I would drill a little deeper or more shallow to accomodate. But when I used the laser it was dead-on.

Good luck...let me know how your attempt goes.

Tano · Post by **Tano** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 5:37 pm

Hi Guys,
It would be interesting to see the setup in pictures. Do you think that would be possible?

custom300 · Post by **custom300** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 8:32 pm

It's really not a very clever set up, but I will try to get some pictures. It probably wont happen until this weekend at least. We are in a blizzard here, and my shop is not heated right now. Hopefully by the weekend I can get back out there.

custom300 · Post by **custom300** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 9:34 pm

Okay, this isn't exactly a picture, but it may give you a reasonable idea of my set up. Obviously, I line up the laser between two or three center points on the lathe/bit/and chuck...then I put my briar in the chuck and snug it...then adjust my construction lines to the laser and tighten the chuck. I recheck and then start drilling.

If you were doing a free hand, I would probably locate the laser on the other end of the lathe...assuming you have the bit chuck in a jacobs chuck...don't know on that.

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 3:04 pm

Yea, that's just what I had thought, using the laser on the other end for free drilling. The tripod makes it eminently eaiser, I bet. I may just end up nailing a board to somthing and duct taping the laser in place. LOL!