Simplest Way to Drill in the Center of ANY Rod!

That’s a pretty neat tip but to be honest, I’ve never had an issue drilling rods with a drill press and a V-block. Just centre the V-block by lowering the bit (not powered up) into the centre of the block, clamp the block down in that position and you’ll get a perfectly centered hole in any size pipe.

Exact center for Eyeballing it with first piece.

Using almost identical method you can get 100% centered hole, but only almost;) What you should do is 1. Fix the smaller chuck in the vise just like you did 2. Insert and tighten a strait rod into BOTH chucks 3. Clamp the vise to the table Now both chucks are aligned and you can drill exactly in the center of whatever you put in the bottom chuck using drill bit in the top one (or you can swap this and put the part in the top chuck if it's bigger etc). But no center punching is needed and the result is much more accurate, comparable to what you would get on the lathe...

As a machinist for half a century, we all know that there is no such thing as "exact" measurement. We should also understand that a much higher percentage of home shops have a drill press than a lathe! For a lot of home DIY projects this is actually not a bad idea?

I put the drill press in the vice then spin the bench, works great and great workout.

A quick suggestion . At the 1:54 mark. Don't guess the square of the center drill. Put the centre drill in the mini chuck then hold the bit of the center drill still stickign out in the main chuck and only then do up the vice holding it . That way providing you don't move the vice when you open the main chuck again and put your work piece in you will know it is perfectely in line with the center.

Nice tip. Just a little thought for the comments on eyeballing the center punch. The human eye is fantastic at noticing eccentric circles and is accurate to within a few thousands if an inch. That's less the the runout on most chucks. There is also a handy alternative on the same theme if you can clamp your vice. 1 mount a center drill in drill press chuck 2 connect mini chuck to center drill 3 clamp mini chuck in vice. Lock vice in position. 4 both chucks are now aligned dead center and perfectly parallel.

If you wanted it to be actually simple put something straight between your drill bit and the round item. Press down gently with the bit. When the straight item is level you have found centre. This is probably one of the most complicated ways of doing it.

Once you drill the hole in the guide, measure with calipers the distance from inside the hole to the od. Measure many times all the way around. If it varies, there will be a high and a low with 2 spots opposite each other that are the same. Make sure these 2 spots that are the same are touching the face of the vice and that will make it centered as close as possible with this technique.

I would say this gentleman just showed a lot of people how to drill a hole in a round rod that own a drill press and not a $3000.00 Lathe. This is probably not going into a Space Rover. This is a great video and it was free. I have always said, " You Can't Bitch About FREE. Great Video Thank You

Nice trick for quickly getting stuff done that doesn’t have to be exact down to the micro Thank you!!

Totally true and so simple to make, thanks for share JohnnyQ90!

This is the kind of tutorials I appreciate and respect the most. Those that show you how to proceed with the simplest and least amount of steps. Not building complicated gadgets, but performing simple tasks like this one, that allow for bigger projects. Thanks!

When watched it is so obvious, but what a neat trick, thanks for sharing. Ray H. ( From the U.K. )

Nice. For someone who doesn't have a lot of equipment, this is a good sound way to get it done. I'm going to share with my friends.

Loved the video, and very clever

Slightly better way is to put the drill bit in the drill press chuck first, then lower it down and tighten in the vice. That way you know it's perfectly centre and directly upright

It's also pretty smart how you rotated the small piece on the sand paper so you could see where that centre was too.

Thanks! I have a piece of junk for a drill press though. Chuck is always getting out of center,, but that end mill bit trick just gave me an answer to my dilemma on a project I stalled on 3 years ago. A BIG THUMBS UP and again thanks!

That's pretty ingenious, Thanx for the great video!!!