Drilling a Driveshaft
 

Hey Guys , I need to make some driveshafts for some cubs i have and since i haven't drilled holes in roundstock in a good while , AND my eyes do not see near as well as i want them to , does anyone have a foolproof way of drilling the holes in roundstock ???

Thanks ,

Darrell

Yes,

I would use a drill press and a vice. Mark the center line of the shaft with my caliper. Get it centered and tighen the vice, then center the vice on the line with the tip. Use a stubby center drill(buy from a macinist supply house). The use a regular drill- depending on the final size I might have a reamer laying around to leave a clean hole.


Michael

Thanks for the advice Michael.

I am thinking about getting a lock collar and drilling a guide hole in it and use something like that ???

What type of roundstock is good to use? I do need to make one for my 127.

I meant the combined center drill/counter sinks you use on the lathe (mainly).

You can use any steel for the driveshaft. I generally don't like messin' with CR as it doesn't leave a good finish naturally on the lathe. Depending on cost.. sometimes I opt for W-1 or O-1 if its not real expensive. Then Hot rolled and last CR.

Don't use hot-rolled...the tolerance on the OD is generally worse than anything else you'll find. I have used cold-rolled in the past with no issues (yes, it warps and does weird stuff when you machine it, but drilling a hole through it won't cause this problem) but I prefer 4140. It machines nice and is considerably stronger than ordinary low-carbon steel.

If you've got an extra driveshaft coupler, you can make a drill guide out of it. I have a picture of the one I made somewhere, but I can't find it. It's basically just an old driveshaft coupler welded to a piece of angle iron. Clamp the guide to the drill press table, align it, put in the piece of metal, and drill the hole. The picture would probably be worth a thousand words.

Thanks for the info Matt. Not sure if i have a coupler around here , but that is along the same line i am thinking.

I did do a search and found quite a few good ideas on how to do the drilling.