Looking for Suggestions on Screw Holes

[Bully]

I am currently trying my hand at making my first tool. It's a truing jig for Remington and Savage actions. I have a piece of 4" aluminum and have it cut to length. I drilled and bored the center and am ready to drill the holes for the screws. My problem is that I'm short on tools. I don't have a drill press or a milling machine. Just a lathe. I need 8 holes drilled on what amounts to the "X" and "Y" axis.
I'm pretty good with a hand drill however this isn't something I want to leave to chance.
Any thoughts on how I can make this happen?
Thanks.

 

[Shawnba67]

I made mine on a drill press, it is harder than it seems to keep them straight. I would ask around a small machine shop. A mill would make quick work of it. I made mine to attach to spindle like a chuck would. If I make another Id like to try one that I can just chuck up. Your mileage may vary

 

[55fairlane]

I personally would say your between a lathe and a hard piece of cast iron......

Do you have technical college or a vocational school near by with a machine tool program? Normally they love outside work and do jobs on the cheap.....

Do you have a machinist club in your local area?

Otherwise, I think your down to, but a mill, but a milling attachment for your lathe, or make friends with a tool maker

Aaron

 

[Cloudrepair]

There are many ways to do it in the lathe.
If you can chuck it up for the work it can be shorter then it's easier to find a way to hold it in your jaw or on the tool post or the cross slide.
Layout the part and that will help in setup.
Find circumference decided by four for each set of holes I've done a few on the lathe and a Y shaped center finder can be nice help.
Here's a pic of a spider I made with the lathe a little longer and another set of screws and you have one big enough for actions if they will fit in the chuck through hole and it would be just as easy to hold and do with the lathe.
Edit oops posted wrong pic let' try again

 

[hoz53]

I am currently trying my hand at making my first tool. It's a truing jig for Remington and Savage actions. I have a piece of 4" aluminum and have it cut to length. I drilled and bored the center and am ready to drill the holes for the screws. My problem is that I'm short on tools. I don't have a drill press or a milling machine. Just a lathe. I need 8 holes drilled on what amounts to the "X" and "Y" axis.
I'm pretty good with a hand drill however this isn't something I want to leave to chance.
Any thoughts on how I can make this happen?
Thanks.

well the holes dont have to be absoulutely precise for that tool do they. You can do it in the lathe if you want to take the time to set it up -if you dont why not buy a cheap little drill press. youll find they are very handy to have around for lots of things and you wont be out much. i wouldnt want to do without my drill press and am thinking about a few more cheap benchtop ones.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Use your turning tool to scribe a straight line and drill them by hand. Go across the face, turn it 90deg and scribe another one. Make crosshairs on the face then scratch down the side. Youll have 4 lines to follow and thatll be straighter than you could eyeball it in a drill press

 

[simo hayha]

If you roll her over........ She can't get pregnant.......

 

[GLZ]

If you roll her over........ She can't get pregnant.......

Are you sure? I thought that's how you made a lawyer.

 

[Ggmac]

No suggestions besides buying a drill press or an old attachment for turning your lathe into a mill . Each are about $200
Precesion isn't cheap or done by eye .

 

[Toolbreaker]

Are you using a qctp and holders? If so, find a small length of round stock (steel preferably) that will fit in and clamp into one of your holders and drill it through with the tap drill you'll be using. After drilling through, clamp that piece in one of your toolholders & indicate it's length to run true with the cross slide. Now, you have a drill bushing for your handheld drill. Use the elevator screw on the toolholder to set the bushing's height at your jig's centerline, and run the drill bushing up as close to the jig as you can get it before drilling. Also, lock your lathe into back-gear/low gear before drilling to keep the chuck from rotating.

As far as getting the 4 sets of holes equally spaced around the circumference of the jig, use a threading tool to scribe 2 lines around the jig's circumference for your screw spacing and 4 longitudinally along the length 90* apart for layout of the hole centerlines. A simple rigged-up pointer located on the cross slide will allow you to rotate the chuck 90* to locate your next longitudinal line from the previous line by eye fairly accurate.

You guys in the back...stop laughing . You gotta work with what you got sometimes.

 

[Ggmac]

Every once in a while a post will remind me , usually not instantly, of what I've had to do long ago . Things you forget when machinery is plentiful.
Thanks to all .

 

[Bully]

Are you using a qctp and holders? If so, find a small length of round stock (steel preferably) that will fit in and clamp into one of your holders and drill it through with the tap drill you'll be using. After drilling through, clamp that piece in one of your toolholders & indicate it's length to run true with the cross slide. Now, you have a drill bushing for your handheld drill. Use the elevator screw on the toolholder to set the bushing's height at your jig's centerline, and run the drill bushing up as close to the jig as you can get it before drilling. Also, lock your lathe into back-gear/low gear before drilling to keep the chuck from rotating.

As far as getting the 4 sets of holes equally spaced around the circumference of the jig, use a threading tool to scribe 2 lines around the jig's circumference for your screw spacing and 4 longitudinally along the length 90* apart for layout of the hole centerlines. A simple rigged-up pointer located on the cross slide will allow you to rotate the chuck 90* to locate your next longitudinal line from the previous line by eye fairly accurate.

You guys in the back...stop laughing . You gotta work with what you got sometimes.

Precisely why I keep coming back here.

 

[tobnpr]

Use your turning tool to scribe a straight line and drill them by hand. Go across the face, turn it 90deg and scribe another one. Make crosshairs on the face then scratch down the side. Youll have 4 lines to follow and thatll be straighter than you could eyeball it in a drill press

^^^
X 2

 

[carlsbad]

Take your QCTP off. Sit the fixture on the Cross slide, use a long rod that threads into the t nut to hold it down TIGHT. Put the drill in a collet and use the lathe as a horizontal boring machine.