Hey Dieselcheese,
Here we go mate
had to drag this out, havent used it in years. keeping it for when i retire, if ever, and need to keep busy.
the key to all of this is full support, the shaft needs to be supported both on the infeed and the outfeed side.
i set the unit up on a long straight hefty piece of lumber.
i glued and screwed tracks on the sides to guide a carriage block,- that carries the drill. nice and snug, but still easy moving, the longer the carriage- less chance of it binding too.
also an endstop- to stop me bashing into the doweller.
you have to build this all so that the center of the drill chuck lines up exactly with the center of the doweller, on both planes- makes sense
then on the outfeed side- i have 4 support blocks- with a slighly tapered hole - so that the dowel can easily find the hole andfeed in easily.
the bores are really kinda cone shaped- like a funnel.
then i bought a good 1/2" drill with very high speed.
the key here is max rpm, and slow feed rate- i would do 36" in about 1 minute,
as the arrow starts to exit the doweller, i reach around and grab the dowel with some sandpaper in my hand- and let it spin through that.
but it will get hot- and remember heat is the enemy of sandpaper- so move the paper around in your hand- working with a cool spot all the time
works well, cos you dont have to worry about the infeed being lined up.
i never put a drill on the outfeed side to pull the shaft through- i would just pull them out backwards- and start the next one.
the piece of ply with the 4" hole, was for my dust collector hose- it sucked away all the shavings and most of the sanding dust.
gotta keep the blades razor sharp.
i, like most guys can get a good edge on a cutting tool- but consistancy is the key here- so i actually bought one of those sharpening jigs from lee valley- that hold the blade at the correct angle- then they just roll on a sharpening stone- very effective!
