Drilling a ½ Inch Hole in a ½ Inch Bar

[rgsparber]

I needed a pair of blocks to securely clamp a 3/8" boring bar on my lathe in my old lantern type tool post.

The solution for me was to drill a 3/8" hole all the way through a 3/8 x 1 x 1 piece of hot rolled steel as shown below.



I simply center punched the location on one edge as close as I could get it. Then sandwiched that piece between two pieces of the same material, holding it together with tape. Clamped the sandwich in my drill press vise and drilled the hole. The drill bit broke through both sides of the work piece as it was a bit under .375, but the steel I had made the sandwich with kept everything in line and kept the bit from breaking out of the work piece into the vice jaws. Each of the side plates had a tiny "groove", not much more than a scratch, where the bit cut them a little as it made its way down the work piece.

Hemmjo,

Good techinque using padding to keep the drill from snagging. I have made similar jaws and they hold round stock very well.

Thanks,

Rick