so I have wasted $$ and about 1.5 feet about 3/4" solid brass rods. I have a WEN drill press which inst the most expensive but it gets the job done except for this job. I have brad point bits, and having a the worst time drilling down the center of the rod. I have seen online that you reverse the bit and put it into the vise while you put the rod in the chuck. However my chuck goes to 1/2 and will not hold 3/4" stock. I dont want to spend even more money swapping out for a larger chuck. I have 3 types of center finders for circular items. I cant seem to figure out why im not getting a center point and then lighting up the drill bit onto the brass rod. Maybe someone can give me some pointers so I dont keep buying more and more brass rods and basically turning them into trash. The center finder are from woodpeckers so they should be top quality. I also found something cheaper from amazon. Maybe the drill press is off but it is level on my workbench and seems to be squared. Happy to provide photos but it would be nice to know what im doing wrong.


End goal is building a lamp. I need to drill 1/2" hole in one end of the 3/4" brass rod, and then 3/8" at the the end for the lamp socket.