I've recently been getting into pen turning. I'm fine with most of the process, but I've run into a major annoyance. I just can't seem to drill my blanks properly any more! The first two projects I did perfectly well on a drill press, but it's not reliable. I share it with a number of other people and it frequently goes out of alignment, resulting in flared holes.
To get around this problem, I bought a two-jaw self-centering square-edge chuck for the lathe so that I could drill them using a tailstock drill chuck. However, this seems to also be producing flared holes - often a millimetre or more too wide. I'm pretty sure the square chuck isn't to blame as the hole seems to be perfectly centred.
Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong here?
My process is this:
1. Fit the square chuck and drill chuck into the lathe
2. Bring the tailstock up to the square chuck.
3. Leaving the tailstock loose, place the drill bit between the square chuck jaws
4. LOOSELY close the square chuck around the drill to centre it (there's quite a bit of play in the tailstock)
5. Tighten the tailstock and loosen the square chuck, ensuring the bit does not move out of alignment as I do so
6. Fit the blank into the square chuck, bracing the end against the base of the chuck
7. Run the lathe at its slowest speed
8. Advance the tailstock using the hand wheel
9. If the blank is long, stop and move the tailstock up using the part-finished hole as a guide
10. Once I've drilled almost, but not entirely, all the way through, stop and remove the blank
11. Cut off the excess using a band saw to reveal the drill hole and avoid blowout
This seems to me like it's the safest way I could accomplish this task, and yet the hole is still flared! The flaring seems to be at the end furthest from the drill. I've mostly been drilling resin blanks so far.
Is there something about the lathe I need to fix or check?
Am I using the wrong kind of drill bits? (standard wood bits)
Am I using too large a drill? The near end of the hole fits the tube perfectly
Or am I just expecting too high a degree of accuracy?
I'd be grateful for any tips anyone could give me, as I don't really want to waste any more blanks without knowing what I'm doing wrong.