Anyone use a drill press for brush restores?

[cooncatbob]

I have and old Rockwell Delta drill press but it just has a 4 step pulley on a 1800 rpm motor.
Even on the slowest speed it spins pretty fast.
The 1953 South Bend 9A machine lathe has much slower speeds.
I use this lathe for turning square stock round and boring the sockets for the brush heads.

I then move things over to the wood turning lathe which I made in the mid 80s from plans in Fine Wood Working magizine.

 

[pdmcadams]

That's a nice setup! Color me impressed...

 

[Ski-Patroller]

Any suggestions on using a forstner bit, if you want to use a 7/8" bit, but the existing hole is closer to 3/4. I'm thinking, put a wood plug in the hole, but I'm looking for something simpler.

 

[gearchow]

There are folks here way more competent then me to answer this, but this is how I know to do it in my little heaven on earth.

For drilling out a larger hole in something that already had a large hole in it, this is the gist of it, but in reality difficult to implement easily, especially with what you want to drill.

Measure the diameter of the handle, clamp a nice thick board to the drill press, drill a hole that size in the board, drop your handle in, it's now centered on the drill press.

You can also center the hole to the drill press by putting in the correct diameter bit in the drill, insert it into the hole. The drill press is now centered on the work piece.

But how you keep the handle from spinning and keep from chipping out the edge is beyond me.

Your idea of filling in the hole first is probably the most practical method, epoxy in a 3/4" dowel and find your center (as in above).

Are you sure you can't be happy with the smaller knot?

-jim

 

[kevinm]

I'm an avid convert to using Forstner bits; I have 3 in different sizes and recently restored a few brushes, and it was so much easier with these than with a regular drill bit. So the Forstner for the heavy work and the Dremel for the finer work, works well for me.