Gentlemen,

What is an easy way to drill an 1/8 inch diameter hole in the CENTER of a 1/4 inch diameter wood dowel?

I do not have a lathe but have a drill press.

For my control system, I use a 0.300 inch carbon fiber arrow shaft.  Then insert a 1/4 dowel with an epoxied 1.5 inch 4-40 socket head cap screw in the dowel. 

I am not very good at center drilling the hole in the 1/4 inch dowel.

t michael jennings           
knoxville, tn.

  Ralph --- I don't think those will help  him. They only have internal diameters that are 3/16, 5/16, and 3/8 dia. He needs 1/4 dia.

  Here is an easy way that works for short pieces. (under 6")   I have done them this way for years.

   1) Clamp a piece of 2X4 to the Drill Press Table.
   2) Drill a hole the size of the dowel in the 2X4 as deep as needed to hold the dowel straight
   3) Place the dowel into the hole, it is now centered on the drill chuck
   4) Change to the drill size you want the hole to be and drill the hole, it will be in the center of the dowel if nothing moved. It will also be as straight as possible.

  Like all Drill Press operations you need to go slow. If you go too fast all guarentees are off. Try a couple for practice till you get used to it.  This is the easiest way I know of without buying more tools. The allignment will amaze you. Have fun.

  "Billy G" 

 Did it work for you?

  "Billy G"

The centering jigs that come with Robart and DuBro hinges work fine.

Just clamp the jig & dowel in a vice and hit it with a hand drill.

ps: Filing a little flat on the dowel doesn't hurt.

 With a lot of radial play in the spindle bearings this process will seem futile at times. In your case I would drill the initial hole as deep as possible. and use a #2 center drill on the dowel before the 1/8 drill. The center drill will help the 1/8 drill on it happy path to success. In time you will get the hang of it, it just takes becomming good friends with your drill press and seeing it's shortcommings. Have fun.

  "Billy G" 

If you don't need a super long piece, you might try chucking the dowel in the drill chuck and clamping the drill in a vise, centered underneath it.  For some reason spinning the work and feeding the drill into it seems to work better than the other way around.  You can drill a gun barrel that way in a lathe.

  Hi Phil, that is an interesting way to do it. Gotta try that one. Here is my way in pictures. Please keep in mind my Drill Press has 0 radial play.

 #1  2 X 4 clamped to table

 #2  Hole drilled to hold dowel

 #3  Dowel inserted into hole bit changed to hole size desired

 #4  Drilling required hole

 #5  Required hole dead center in dowel



  "Billy G" 

  What keeps the dowel from spinning in the 2 X 4  while you are drilling the hole in it?

  Bigiron

  Sorry Marvin, you see that pair of slip joint pliers on the table. Well the friction fit in the 2 X 4 and a light hold with those pliers does the trick. The jaws have been ground so they will leave little or no mark.

 "Billy G" 

I realize this is late in the game but might prove useful.  I have several V- Blocks made up.  Some cut with a table saw and some routed with a chamfer bit depending on the size I need.  I believe these are handy enough to have around that if I didn't have the tools to make them, I'd have someone else make them for me.

You can use them as a jig for holding a leading edge while building a wing or even a small one to keep round objects, like pencils, pens and modeling knives from rolling off your building board and landing on your foot.   

The diagram shows a handy way to find the center of any round object.  Just align the square with the bottom of the "V" and draw a line through the center.  Rotate the object in the block and draw another line and you will have the center located.

This jig will also allow you to find and mark the center ends of square stock.

You may also want to use the V-Block on end and braced against a fence on your drill press to drill your hole.

For you and others lucky enough to own a drill press another option would be to use a dowel cutter.  I've used the dowel cutter with a fence to make dowels for years for woodworking and even to make wooden beads for kids crafting needs.  After cutting the dowels  Chuck up a drill, drill the hole, then cut out the dowels.

I've seen the dowel or plug cutters at harbor freight and they were not very expensive.

I've used the other suggestions here on occasion and just offer the suggestions as an alternative.  I've marked my dowel ends as shown in the diagram and was able to drill a small hole with a Dremal tool.

Always keep it in mind that there is more than one way to render the outer covering of a feline.   

 Don

  Here is a little help -- a picture is worth a thousand words.


  "Billy G"   

After doing a few 1/4" ID carbon fiber pushrods, and doing one section using the titanium inserts from Central Hobbies, I can't see myself, ever again, trying to drill, carve, or otherwise fight with a dowel insert.  I won't even get into the joy of drilling the dowel and finally getting a usable piece only to find it won't slip fit into the pushrod tube.  The thinner carbon pushrods are easier to fit inside tight spaces too.

http://www.centralhobbies.com/control_linkage/pushrod2.htm