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Started to post this in the Spoon Bit Woes thread and then decided I should get my own.

When I start the chamber after I've drilled the pilot, I have to apply so much pressure with the tail stock that the glued point comes unglued. I'm using 5-min epoxy to attach the points and waiting 20 mins + before drilling once they've been glued. I also test the strength of the connection before approaching the lathe by applying some lateral pressure with my fingers just to make sure. I'm drilling a 5/32 pilot, followed by a ground 3/8, followed by a Pohlman spoon bit. The glued point comes off when I start with 3/8. More than once, this has resulted in the tail stock stabbing the bottom of the pipe and leaving an impression.

Any ideas?

DUCT TAPE!

But seriously, I have no clue....

I hope this helps.

Use super glue.

Put a dot of glue where you need it, and spray the briar chip you are gluing on with instant cure. Put the briar chip on the dot, and it'll instantly be glued on. Now go back and put lots of super glue in the gap all the way around the chip. Spray with instant cure. Go drill.

When done, grab the chip with a pair of pliers and pop it off. You need to go back to the sanding disk to get the glue off.

Tyler wrote:Use super glue.

Put a dot of glue where you need it, and spray the briar chip you are gluing on with instant cure. Put the briar chip on the dot, and it'll instantly be glued on. Now go back and put lots of super glue in the gap all the way around the chip. Spray with instant cure. Go drill.

When done, grab the chip with a pair of pliers and pop it off. You need to go back to the sanding disk to get the glue off.

+1
This is how I do it. I've never had a chip come off. Just make sure that you "fillet weld" the sides of the chip. Little glue on the sides of the chip. That instant cure stuff is an absolute must. I can put on a chip and place it on the lathe in a few seconds, not minutes. I have patience issues when it comes to adhesives....

Thanks! Super glue it is!

I've had the same problem, but with super glue. What is "instant cure", Tyler? I've never seen it here in SA.

Since you are in SA, I don't know how to help other than to tell you a better name to look for the stuff with is:

Cyanoacrylate accelerator, or CA accelerator.

Recent threads on freehand drilling got me thinking.... I really want to learn this technique, but I still need to get the right tools (spoon bits) and someone to teach me (that's already planned).
However, I wonder- I see a lot of pipemakers with a relatively short pipemaking experience (the way I see it a couple years is just the very beginning) doing freehand drilling. Now, a question adressed mostly to those who've been doing this for quite some time, but to anyone else too: do you think freehand drilling is really a useful technique at such an early stage? I know for a fact that standard drilling techniques give you enough possibilities and configurations to last you several hundred pipes. So why jump at it so early?
I know freehand drilling opens a whole lot of new possibilities, but shouldn't you really work with the standard methods for some time before you go further? Isn't that just a kind of trend we're seeing now among new pipemakers?
Maybe I'm totally wrong and I should start freehand drilling right away, so feel free to tell me

I don't see any reason why a new pipemaker can't start off freehand drilling if they have access to the right tools. It's certainly not necessary though.

Thanks Tyler. No way I'm going to get something like that here!

Charl wrote:Thanks Tyler. No way I'm going to get something like that here!

If they sell superglue in SA, I'd be surprised if they don't sell accelerator. (Superglue=Cyanoacrylate)

Mmm, will go and have a look, but I do have my doubts!