17 Inch drill bit extension

[Frank S]

Today I founmd myself in need of a tool to measure distances between an axle and the lock pins for the spread axle set up I am making for a semi trailer.
Right away I found that my selection of pipe and round bar lacked just a smudge of fitting together properly that being the internal weld seam of the 3/4' sch 80 pipe
I looked through my selection tooling for a way to remove the seam. First I thought of using a reamer but I didn't have 1 close to the right size so I looked in my drills and found a .755" bit with a 1/2" shank. Perfect now it needs top be 22" or more in length. For this I decided to use my favorite round bar stock. Favorite because there was several 100 feet of it just lying around on the property when we moved here, also because it is reasonably tough material and can be formed into almost anything
First I chucked a piece that just happened to already be 17" long in the lathe center drilled both ends then I turned it down just enough to insure that it was round and straight then bored 1 end to 1/2" about 2 inches deep
I then ground a flat on the shank of the drill and inserted it into the extension in the shop press I staked the 2 pieces together by aligning the flat of the drill with the punch on the press, this way I can remove the .755 bit at any time

For removing the seam I ground the point like this because I wanted more of a cutter than a drill