I have an old Craftsman lathe under the bench that was left in the house from the previous owner, Its missing the tool rest but otherwise works fine. I thought about selling or giving it away, but was wondering if I should keep it and through drill my plugs with it?? Can someone give me the low down on drilling with a lathe? What do I need to change? How do I know what parts will fit this lathe? Or should I just stick to the drill press? I know alot of you guys drill with a lathe, whats the pro's and con's?

Thanks for any help that comes my way.

can you find the model number ?
most of the old craftsman lathes take a morse taper #1
pick up a craftsman jacobs chuck part 25354 and a 5/32nds bit about 6 inches long and you should be ready to go

if you find the model number, you can see the parts list on the sears web site and it will show what size the spindle is ( MT1 or MT2 )

Thanks adson, I'll dust it off today and look for some info.

If it has a decent length bed then I would buy a drill chuck and use it for that. I prefer to do my drilling on the lathe. Just have to find out what Morse taper you have so you buy the right chuck.

BTW I am sorry i never got back to you about that plug. I will PM you again, soon.

I think its a 36" bed. In addition to the drill chuck, do I need a 4 jaw chuck to hold the stock I'm trying to drill?


No worries Paul, whenever you have a chance.

no you don't need a chuck on the other end
you just center the blank on the point of the tail end and slowly slide the tail towards the drill bit.
a 1/2 inch at a time and then clear the chips
not clearing the chips will make the bit wander

no. you hold plug in hand and push plug into drill that is in drill chuck that is spinning in head stock. Tailstock holds a live center and is put in end of plug and tailstock is pushed towards head stock and into drill. 36 inch bed is perfect. Like stated above by adson.

Does it look like this one..... that's all I use this one for....

OK, so I dug out the old lathe today and could have swore it wes a Craftsman, but couldn't find a name on it. There is a model # on it ( I'll google it later ). The head stock seems to be a shaft that goes right through the pully and has a stop coller on the outside of the housing. I'm not sure if I will be able to use this as I planned for through drilling.

Looks similar to mine. Is the shaft hollow? If so you can knock out the spur with a long pin or rod and insert a drill chuck.

Yes, it is...I'll give it a try. Thanks.

As usual...I was wrong. The shaft is solid. Theres a set screw that holds the spur onto a flat spot on the shaft, then its round as it goes through the bearing at the cast housing, the pully and then the rear housing. It sticks out of the reat about 3/4" and has another flat spot where a stop is fastened to hold it all in place. I'll post pics later.

looks like an old Dunlap lathe , they were sold by craftsman

As usual...I was wrong. The shaft is solid. Theres a set screw that holds the spur onto a flat spot on the shaft, then its round as it goes through the bearing at the cast housing, the pully and then the rear housing. It sticks out of the reat about 3/4" and has another flat spot where a stop is fastened to hold it all in place. I'll post pics later.

In that case one option is to get a female threaded chuck and install a straight shaft with matching threads to go into the chuck. Use the set screw that hold your spur, to hold the straight shaft. You could probably find everything you need in an MSC or Mc Master catalog. Hope that make sense.

Thanks, I am going to look into possibly threading the end of the shaft to fit the chuck. (which I will get this week).

no you don't need a chuck on the other end
you just center the blank on the point of the tail end and slowly slide the tail towards the drill bit.
a 1/2 inch at a time and then clear the chips
not clearing the chips will make the bit wander

Ditto on this as it's the most important step in drilling true center. You can buy a plastic jig that will align and find the center of your stock. You really have to make an effort to back off every 1/2 inch you drill to clear the wood out of the bit or the bit will walk and will not drill true center.

Is it best to use a shorter bit and flip the stock over or to use a long parabolic bit? I use a short bit when doing this on a drill press, drill from both sides and chase with a long bit to ensure a straight true hole.

I'm still trying to get the end threaded so a drill chuck can be added. None of the local machine shops are interested...they're all "Too busy"

And the search continues!

I'm still trying to get the end threaded so a drill chuck can be added. None of the local machine shops are interested...they're all "Too busy"

And the search continues!

No, no you don't thread the end. You buy a morse taper with the chuck built into it. Then you just put it in the headstock and bingo you have a drill chuck.

look at this. This will explain what I am saying.

As I explained in post#12, this has a straight shaft no taper with flat spots on each end. So I am going to remove thr spur off one end and have it threaded and I'll purchase a chuch with female threads and screw it on. This sounds like it'll work if I could get it threaded.

Sorry. I thought I had the solution. My mistake.

looks like an old Dunlap lathe , they were sold by craftsman

Ditto, Definately a Dunlap by Sears. I have one that my Father in law was nice enough to let me use. Mine is from the 40's. Been turning on it for 10 + years.
It is starting to show its age though... Looking to get a variable speed Jet in the near future.
I don't think this lathe is well suited to thru drilling. Too many modifications necessary. I've thought about it, but never tried.

Good luck.

send me the shaft and tell me what thread you want, how long, and I will do it for you. Probably better off getting the chuck first and send me the whole kit and kaboodle so I can make sure it fits right.

Thanks Paul, I'll have the chuck by the end of the week. I'll get it to you next week or the week after.

let me know when the time comes