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Author Topic: Making your own ball drill?  (Read 9815 times)

azus

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Making your own ball drill?
« on: May 14, 2009, 03:39:57 AM »
Is it possible to make your own drilling equipment?
Me and a co-worker discussed this. Instead of buying a drill with jigs bits and all that, would it be cheaper to make your own?
Buy a pillar drill cheap. Then make your own jig for the ball, then buy drills and measuring equipment and youre done.
Wouldnt that work?
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Edited on 5/14/2009 11:40 AM
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JessN16

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Re: Making your own ball drill?
« Reply #1 on: May 14, 2009, 12:40:03 PM »
quote:
Is it possible to make your own drilling equipment?
Me and a co-worker discussed this. Instead of buying a drill with jigs bits and all that, would it be cheaper to make your own?
Buy a pillar drill cheap. Then make your own jig for the ball, then buy drills and measuring equipment and youre done.
Wouldnt that work?
--------------------
I like my coffee black, just like my metal.
What would Chuck Norris do?
(\ /)
( . .)
c('')('')
Cute Bunny! copy bunny into sig to help him achieve world domination

Edited on 5/14/2009 11:40 AM


It's going to be awful hard to beat the cost of a simple press-and-jig setup, and I'm not talking about the professional, bowling-specific kits sold by Innovative or Jayhawk.

The jig is the key ingredient. If you can make a reliable, in-spec X-Y jig on your own, then go for it. I can't, and in my opinion only a very skilled machinist could do it. A used jig can be had for $300 or $400, sometimes even less. When you count man-hours used to actually make one from the ground up (to say nothing of calibrating it), I bet you can't beat $300 on your own.

As for the drill, I'm using a $250 press I got from Amazon.com, made overseas by a company called Mountain. It's almost identical to presses offered by Grizzly and I would bet the same company makes both. The only downside of the Mountain is all the measuring gauges on that press are metric rather than inches.

A $400 Delta press from Lowe's will do the job. So now the question is can you make a jig AND build/find a drill, and do both for less than $700.

The next investment are the drill bits themselves, and they're not cheap. I was lucky enough that the guy who sold me his used jig also sold me his used bits at the same time and I got the whole package for less than $700. So I got a jig, bits and press for less than $1,000.

When my wife and I add onto our house in a couple of years, we're going to be building a real shop/basement below the new wing, and at that time I'm going to actually invest in a real pro shop setup. Until then, I'm going to use my cheap stuff. As long as you keep everything adjusted for accuracy, you can do just about everything you need to do with such a setup.

Jess
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azus

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Re: Making your own ball drill?
« Reply #2 on: May 14, 2009, 04:04:32 PM »
It's going to be awful hard to beat the cost of a simple press-and-jig setup, and I'm not talking about the professional, bowling-specific kits sold by Innovative or Jayhawk.

The jig is the key ingredient. If you can make a reliable, in-spec X-Y jig on your own, then go for it. I can't, and in my opinion only a very skilled machinist could do it. A used jig can be had for $300 or $400, sometimes even less. When you count man-hours used to actually make one from the ground up (to say nothing of calibrating it), I bet you can't beat $300 on your own.

As for the drill, I'm using a $250 press I got from Amazon.com, made overseas by a company called Mountain. It's almost identical to presses offered by Grizzly and I would bet the same company makes both. The only downside of the Mountain is all the measuring gauges on that press are metric rather than inches.

A $400 Delta press from Lowe's will do the job. So now the question is can you make a jig AND build/find a drill, and do both for less than $700.

The next investment are the drill bits themselves, and they're not cheap. I was lucky enough that the guy who sold me his used jig also sold me his used bits at the same time and I got the whole package for less than $700. So I got a jig, bits and press for less than $1,000.

When my wife and I add onto our house in a couple of years, we're going to be building a real shop/basement below the new wing, and at that time I'm going to actually invest in a real pro shop setup. Until then, I'm going to use my cheap stuff. As long as you keep everything adjusted for accuracy, you can do just about everything you need to do with such a setup.

Jess[/quote]

My co-worker is a mechanist, so he can weld and do all that kind of stuff. And i think we may be able to work on the jigg if we have some free time at work.

If you would buy a decent kit, from various sources and not the package from innovative and jayhawk. How much would it cost? I live in sweden so it may be hard for me to get all the parts though...
--------------------
I like my coffee black, just like my metal.
What would Chuck Norris do?
(\ /)
( . .)
c(')(')
Cute Bunny! copy bunny into sig to help him achieve world domination
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JessN16

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Re: Making your own ball drill?
« Reply #3 on: May 14, 2009, 04:27:30 PM »

quote:
My co-worker is a mechanist, so he can weld and do all that kind of stuff. And i think we may be able to work on the jigg if we have some free time at work.

If you would buy a decent kit, from various sources and not the package from innovative and jayhawk. How much would it cost? I live in sweden so it may be hard for me to get all the parts though...
--------------------
I like my coffee black, just like my metal.
What would Chuck Norris do?
(\ /)
( . .)
c(')(')
Cute Bunny! copy bunny into sig to help him achieve world domination


You can get a new drill press for $250 - $500 that will do the job.

I've seen used jigs go from $180 up to $700. Depends on where you find them, what shape they're in and how desperate the seller is to sell.

The drill bits, which you're going to have to buy and not make, are expensive. New ones run as much as $40 per bit. If you can find used drill bits, jump on that deal, even if you have to sharpen a few of them. If you can't, just buy the two or three bits you need to drill your own stuff and then expand your collection as needed.

As for where to get this:

1) Press -- Amazon.com, local hardware stores, Harbor Freight, or find a local industrial shop of some kind that is getting rid of an old press.

2) Jig -- Here, Jayhawk, Innovative, eBay.

3) Bits -- Here, Jayhawk, Innovative, eBay.

The reason piecing a kit together is so much more expensive from Innovative or Jaykawk is typically due to two factors: One, the plunge depth of those presses they sell goes as high as 5 or 6 inches. Two, a lot of their stuff are mill drills with a movable table, which allows you to drill oval holes.

The plunge depth of a drill press seems to be the single greatest cost component. My Mountain press only plunges 3 5/8 inches. So if I want to drill a 5-inch-deep hole, I have to hit it once, then loosen the chuck and drop the bit into the hole and inch and take a second bite. It works but it's bothersome. Fortunately I only have to do it on thumb holes and some weight holes.

I looked at two identical presses from Dayton, identical except for plunge depth. The first one plunged 4 inches and the second one five inches. There was $200 difference in the cost of the press over that one little inch.

Most every one of those Jayhawk or Innovative presses have a deep plunge, and the ones that are a kit with the jig also have more accurate pitch gauges and are just put together a lot sturdier.

Jess

Edited on 5/14/2009 4:27 PM
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Moon57

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Re: Making your own ball drill?
« Reply #4 on: May 14, 2009, 05:47:11 PM »
Hey Azus, don't pay any attention to Harry Trollsagna. I made my own jig and so far have drilled over 60 balls using it. I don't have any trouble getting the pitches I want and I usually get within 1/32" of the span I want. Sometimes I have to redo something but it's a small inconvenience. Oh, BTW Harry Trollsagna I did happen to shoot 300 last Sept with a RotoGrip Venus I drilled myself. Now I'm not saying I would use my setup to drill balls for money as the setup time is alot longer than what a good jig takes. Tell your machinist friend to think vertical v block and use a chucked up 1/8" drill rod to center the chuck and set the pitches. I'm sure he'll get the idea right away. Believe it or not I made my jig out of 3/4" plywood screwed and glued together. My drill press has the "short depth throw" problem noted in the other posts, but I did get it on sale at Harbor Freight for $150, so I deal with it. If I had let the naysayers talk me out of trying to drill my own stuff I would have missed out on alot of enjoyment and satisfaction. So I say go for it.
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Moon
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So many questions, so little time but I'm having fun.
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