Rotate a round part in vice

I'm interested in techniques for how to drill holes at different angles in a round part.
Like say I want to drill a hole and then drill a perpendicular hole.
There's some ways I could do this if I had special tools. If you have a super spacer it could get chucked up. Maybe an indexing head or rotary table would work the same way but I've never tried that.
I could also use a 5C collet if it was small enough to fit in there.
I've also had people print out the holes on a piece of paper and then wrap the paper around the part.
I've also tried making parts radially and transferring them to the axial part.
Is that all the ways or is there another way?

If the part is sufficiently long, clamp a vee block to the shaft. The vee block hangs out in the air. Use a square against the side of the vee block for orientation. Some vee blocks will allow the part and clamp to be inside the height of the vee.

A simple scribed line on the end of the part may suffice. Scribe the line and drill the first hole. Now rotate the part and use a square to align the scribed line.

Put a dummy pin in the first drilled hole and check for alignment after rotation.

You always have the right tools. You just gotta know how to use them.

jfenwick said:

I'm interested in techniques for how to drill holes at different angles in a round part.
Like say I want to drill a hole and then drill a perpendicular hole.
There's some ways I could do this if I had special tools. If you have a super spacer it could get chucked up. Maybe an indexing head or rotary table would work the same way but I've never tried that.
I could also use a 5C collet if it was small enough to fit in there.
I've also had people print out the holes on a piece of paper and then wrap the paper around the part.
I've also tried making parts radially and transferring them to the axial part.
Is that all the ways or is there another way?

Click to expand...

You have not indicated:
1. size of part
2. holes and location (and tolerances)
3. Machinery at your disposal
So I will suggest qty (1) tool that will, in fact, drill any number of holes, in any size part,
in any location:
3/8 in. Variable Speed Reversible Drill

Does round mean like a ball or like the od of a piece of round stock?

digger doug said:

You have not indicated:
1. size of part
2. holes and location (and tolerances)
3. Machinery at your disposal
So I will suggest qty (1) tool that will, in fact, drill any number of holes, in any size part,
in any location:
3/8 in. Variable Speed Reversible Drill

Click to expand...

A sketch of what you want would help understand guestion.

Big stuff, like a pressure vessel, is laid out with a square, level and tape.

I use the level vee block for small stuff.

Sent via CNC 88HS

As Digger Doug notes, the substance of your question is vague, as the actual part requirements and equipment available will dictate the methods that can be used in any given situation.

I use collet block chucks. Traver is just an example. Don't expect made in USA. Taiwan is the best you can hope for...
You can do 60, 90, 120 degrees. Modifications or copying the base and make new angles available.

Collet Block Chucks For 5C Collets | 49555 | Travers Tool Co., Inc.

Just clamp something square to it .index .
it will not make it a virtue though.

gbent said:

You always have the right tools. You just gotta know how to use them.

Click to expand...

^^^ THIS ^^^

Take a medium-sized, cheap, even used imported, Vee block.
Take the time to put a fair-sized hole right through the sharp point of the vee.

Buy or fab drill bushings. Good ones, hardened for "many" ohles aren't rocket science to fab and harden. One-time use need not even be hard.

Come at the round from the BACK of the Vee block.

And for years and years thereafter, you can do the do even outdoors in the ditch with portable hand drill motors and a bit of Ell angle chained to or clamped on for the guide to index for the next hole.

Play with the concept. With wood, even. You'll get it.

Wuddn' yah know it?

Folks even sell this kinda stuff. A decent CI one will just last longer than shiddy pot metal!

rons said:

I use collet block chucks. Traver is just an example. Don't expect made in USA. Taiwan is the best you can hope for...
You can do 60, 90, 120 degrees. Modifications or copying the base and make new angles available.

Collet Block Chucks For 5C Collets | 49555 | Travers Tool Co., Inc.

Click to expand...

Hardinge will make 5C collet blocks in the US, as a special item. Don't ask me about price, though.

I had a job where I had to drill 11 holes equally spaced around the OD. Not really conducive to any kind of indexer.
I had a CNC mill so I took a round slug and milled 11 equally spaced flats on it, bolted the part to the face and used the flats to register off of.

Full 4th axis? Make them eleventy seven degrees apart if you want. Every part will be the same.

jfenwick said:

I'm interested in techniques for how to drill holes at different angles in a round part.
...?

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, given your stated tolerances, there is currently no way to drill holes to that degree of angular precision.

Maybe read a book about drilling holes in stuff?

Oh wait, I forgot that there are no books in California.

Once I was being given a tour of Google's campus in Mountainview and when we were going through the areas where the junior programmers worked, I noticed that they were just sitting at open tables with no space between them and there were no bookshelves anywhere. So, I ask the Chinese girl who is showing me around, "Where do the programmers keep their books?" and she responded, "Why would you need a book?" Welcome to California.

Booze Daily said:

I had a job where I had to drill 11 holes equally spaced around the OD. Not really conducive to any kind of indexer.
I had a CNC mill so I took a round slug and milled 11 equally spaced flats on it, bolted the part to the face and used the flats to register off of.

Click to expand...

11? no problem for a typical geared dividing head, just need the right hole plate. a dividing head is an "indexer" just not a "direct indexer", and there is no reason a direct indexer can't have an 11, 22, or 33 hole pattern, its just not common.

you made you own direct indexer, in fact nice work, cheers!

Those collet blocks are the first thing that comes to my mind. But, of course, you are limited to ones with 4 or 6 sides for multiples of 60 and 90 degrees. And, of course, you will need to have (buy) a set of collets.

The good old, spin indexer also comes to mind. With this device you can index in multiples of one degree. That gives you a lot more numbers if you are evenly spacing your holes. Five would be the first number that comes to mind, but others include 8, 9, 10, 12 and more. But some low numbers are still missing, like 7.

Next would be an indexing head or a rotary table. But with the indexing head you need a good set of plates with different numbers of holes in their circles. Most rotary tables will have a hand wheel that is calibrated in degrees with a Vernier that will reach down to the level of arc-seconds. You have to do the math. Either of these methods could be used for any number of divisions if you have the proper hole circle plate or do the math. And the accuracy can be the highest short of using a sine bar.

A sine bar will allow any angle with great accuracy but will require a flat feature on your part or some kind of straight edge clamped to it.

And there are tricks. A pin in the first hole can be aligned parallel to the table to drill a second hole at 90 degrees. But drilled holes are not all that exact and a pin can wobble in one so a lot of precision is not possible. A level with vials at 90 degrees to each other could be attached to the part so that one level vial is indicating horizontal. Then rotate until the second level vial indicates level.

If your part has a flat feature then it can be used against a square that is sitting on the table. This would be good for multiples of 45 degrees with most squares. Plastic triangles intended for drafting could be used for multiples of 30 degrees. Depending on the size of that flat feature, this method could get the accuracy down to a few arc-minutes.

TeachMePlease said:

Hardinge will make 5C collet blocks in the US, as a special item. Don't ask me about price, though.

Click to expand...

I think the Hardinge ones are mostly pneumatic or hydraulic, so a little trickier to rotate.

https://www.shophardinge.com/categories.aspx?catid=25

Most of the Harding ones are made by Lexair by the looks of them: Lexair, Inc. Pneumatic and Low Pressure Hydraulic Collet Closers

I use 3c Lexair blocks for holding parts during manual assembly at work.

Another option in this class is Compact Automation: Catalog - Browse

newtonsapple said:

I think the Hardinge ones are mostly pneumatic or hydraulic, so a little trickier to rotate.

https://www.shophardinge.com/categories.aspx?catid=25

Most of the Harding ones are made by Lexair by the looks of them: Lexair, Inc. Pneumatic and Low Pressure Hydraulic Collet Closers

I use 3c Lexair blocks for holding parts during manual assembly at work.

Another option in this class is Compact Automation: Catalog - Browse

Click to expand...

Nah, I got on with their live chat and asked them if they made manual collet blocks for 5C. They said they'd happily make them as a special. I can get you a quote, if you like.