How To Use a Morse Taper Drill Bit in Your Drill

[GBWM]

Hi! Recently I had to use a 28mm Morse Taper 4 Drill bit in my drill. The problem was - it accepts only max. 13mm straight shank drill bits. So I had to modify my drill bit a little bit. Maybe this will give somebody an idea to deal with such problems

[DIYer]

Thanks GBWM! We've added your Drill Bit Modification to our Drilling and Drill Presses category,
as well as to your builder page: GBWM's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Drill Bit Modification by GBWM

tags: drill bit, modification

[NeiljohnUK]

Had a similar problem some years ago and needed a 32mm drill in a cleanroom, turned the first ~35mm of the taper and ejector tang down to 12mm, so I could retain enough taper to use in a lathe or drill press.

[WmRMeyers]

Hi! Recently I had to use a 28mm Morse Taper 4 Drill bit in my drill. The problem was - it accepts only max. 13mm straight shank drill bits. So I had to modify my drill bit a little bit. Maybe this will give somebody an idea to deal with such problems

Actually you're ruining a really expensive-to-replace tool doing it this way. You can buy or make shanks that have a straight section and a MT socket, so you can use the drill bit in a normal chuck and still have the Morse taper for use in machines that take it.

Sometimes, you have to do something like this, but it's not necessarily the best way to do it. Frank's method of just turning down a short section is markedly better. Unless you got a bucket of cheap/free MT drills, and have duplicates...

I should be so lucky!

Bill

[hemmjo]

In addition to the comments above in regard to turning down the shank, it takes a lot of torque to make that big bit work.

I got some old taped shank bit at a garage save for cheap. The tapers were damaged to the point I would not use them in my lathe. I turned the shank down to about 0.050" larger than would fit in the chuck on my hand drill. Then you can cut 3 flats, each about 0.050" deep so the bit fits in your chuck, then you have flats for the chuck to get a good grip on.

Use the 3-jaw chuck on your lathe as an indexer to make the flats. You can use a tool post grinder or a file to make the flats. Or you could use your belt grinder if you want to freehand it.

[GBWM]

@NeiljohnUK

That is a better idea indeed. I didn't think about that honestly.

@WmRMeyers
I bought this drill bit just to make one hole in my build using my drill. I was so happy when I found at a local "ebay-like" site such drill - there was only one (not counting all those new and expensive ones). It saved my life that day. Now it will rest somewhere between other ones and wait when the time will come for it to be used again

@hemmjo
Making these 3 flats would be quite difficult. But that's an idea too!

Sorry guys for not responsing earlier - I didn't get any notifications about replies... (always getting those at my e-mail).

[NeiljohnUK]

Indeed, sort of a hybrid morse taper/blacksmiths drill.

[hemmjo]

Snip...
@hemmjo
Making these 3 flats would be quite difficult. But that's an idea too!

It is really not difficult at all. Most drill shanks are not that hard. While you have the drill chucked up, place one of the 3 jaws vertical, Hold a good file horizontal, and take lets say 10 strokes. Turn the chuck by hand so the second jaw is vertical, 10 more strokes, repeat for the 3rd jaw. Repeat as needed until you have 3 nice flats. Always take care to hold the file horizontal.

Try it.

[GBWM]

It is really not difficult at all. Most drill shanks are not that hard. While you have the drill chucked up, place one of the 3 jaws vertical, Hold a good file horizontal, and take lets say 10 strokes. Turn the chuck by hand so the second jaw is vertical, 10 more strokes, repeat for the 3rd jaw. Repeat as needed until you have 3 nice flats. Always take care to hold the file horizontal. Try it.

10 full strokes of a good file. This sounds like setting Z-0.1 on a milling machine! I'll try next time when I will have such problem. Thanks for the hint!