How do you drill through a spindle?

If you have a lathe available (you did mention the spindle being turned already), then you have a great way to drill a hole along the center axis.

Goto SINOCOREDRILL to know more.

You use a drill chuck (like this one at Rockler), to hold your drill bit. You chuck the spindle, rotate and move the tailstock towards the headstock to do the drilling.

Depending on how you chuck the spindle, it may be easier to put the spindle in the headstock and the bit in the tailstock or the other way around.

I've used this technique on fairly short spindle stock, probably wouldn't work well if your spindle was a 20" long, half-inch diameter piece, as the spindle wouldn't have sufficient support.

For more information, please visit Spindle Drill Rigs.

A quick image search found this picture to illustrate what I'm talking about, though it looks as if the material is brass:

There are a lot of different things you can do to the end of the drill in this situation.

To do what you describe by hand, a sharp corner is going to grab and possibly break the drill. I suggest using a drill with a neutral rake, minimal clearance and even a chamfer or radius on the corner. This doesn't mean its dull, it means it has different, less aggressive cutting geometry and the cutting edge will be stronger and live longer. Grinding small flats on the leading edge of each flute will create a stronger edge that is far more controllable than a sharp edge - less grabbing and longer life.

If you use OldCarGuy's suggestion, keep in mind the masonary drills create a lot of heat when used for said purpose. It's a good suggestion, though - the carbide is a lot stronger than a typical drill. Masonary drills don't have cutting geometry, though - they basically push material out of the way when used on steel. I assume you have no way to grind carbide otherwise there are a few things you can do to a standard masonary bit to make them cut fairly well.

It's possible that you have work hardened this area of your part so you might be in for a bit of work now. Keep the generated heat to a minimum.

If you are not making chips, you're just making heat.

Scott

If you are looking for more details, kindly visit Water Well Rigs.