[Starleper1]

How do you drill holes in the end of a longer piece that cannot be set upright in a vise? I'm yet to find a solution to this that is actually accurate and repeatable.

[Geof]

Piece of what? Round, square, rectangular, ????

[Starleper1]

sorry flat bar/square etc...

[Geof]

That is more awkward. I have done small diameter round by gripping a drill bit in a vise and putting the bar in a drill chuck and pretending I was a lathe. You just need a bushing mounted to guide the end of the round bar and if you start with a spot drill it will self center.

Buy yourself a little bench drill and mount it with the spindle horizontal.

[HuFlungDung]

This is a good application for an old horizontal mill. A right angle attachment on a turret mill can also be used, if it is the type that can be swivelled around to align with the X or Y axis.

[TOTALLYRC]

If the part is not too long and you don't have whole bunch to do, an angle plate with a few clamps and stop would do it nicely. A fixture would be helpful if you are doing a lot of these.

Mike

[Vern Smith]

If the quantity is sufficient replace the tool post on the lathe with a drill press vise and shim for height. The cross slide will give you the X centering.

Vern

[Starleper1]

I like that idea ^^. One of those times where your sitting there thinking, Why didn't I think of that?

Thanks.

[handlewanker]

Easy peasy, just turn your drilling table 90 degrees and mount the shaft vertical to the now vertical face of the table.

Otherwise if you only got a lathe, hold the drill in the chuck and grip the part in the tool post like a tool.

Also depends on the length of your job.

If it was 10 foot long, use a drilling machine laid on it's side with the table turned on it's side.

I don't suppose you'd want to use an electric hand drill?
Ian.

[almo0797]

Did you get any futhr with this? I have a similar application for large flat plates. See metalworking machines forum

[kling8]

Ive used a drill that has a magnetic base attached to it, one unit, move the drill into location turn on the magnet and drill the hole, with this you may need to center drill prior to drilling to hold location, but handy tool when it works

[Vern Smith]

A lot depends on how many, how often, and how accurate? I found that I was doing a lot of edge or maybe better put, awkward set ups so I tried to come up with a solution that was easy to install, versatile, and fairly accurate. When I say fairly the example photos were done 3 at a time with little problem holding .01 tolerances.

The vertical plate is 6061 one inch thick, it replaces the fixed vise jaw and is drilled/tapped to accept dowel pins as well as most any 1/4 - 20 hold down method imaginable. As you can see, when all else fails a good old clamp can be employed as well. The locating points are the front of the plate, the end plate ( goes on either side), and the top of the work. The vertical height is adjusted by supporting the bottom or hanging the piece on pins, which ever works best. If you are doing more then 50 or so I would suggest arranging fixed spaced vertical separators to prevent the inevitable problems that come with stacking tolerances.

Vern