[themoose]

 
 [font=&quot] One of the hardest thing to do is drilling a hole in the exact center of a bolt or a small piece of round stock .I[/font]f you've ever tried to drill a hole this way, you know how difficult it is to get the hole in the center all the way through the stock. This method makes it easy… you could even do it with a hand drill! Center punch the stock and then put it into a vice and very carefully start the drill at the center point. You don't have to drill very deep, just enough to adequately start the hole. Now un-clamp the round stock from the vice, and remove the drill bit from the drill. Place the round stock in the in the drill chuck, and place the drill in the vice. Now with the stock spinning, and the drill bit securely fastened in the vice, carefully mate the two surfaces once again. As the hole cuts, an amazing thing happens, the drill is self aligned as it proceeds through the bolt. The reason is that any angular error, is subtracted out of the equation every 180 degrees of rotation

[Coley]

A metal lathe also does a great job even without the center punch.

Put the round stock in the lathe and put the drill bit in the tailstock equiped with a chuck.

Use the cutting bit against the side of the bit just as it enteres the round stock to keep it straight.

I make sandblasting tips for my local plater and use this method.

Now to cut the cross hole for the sand to come in.

Start the hole with a small flat file and the start the bit.

Loosen the round stock and center the bit start in the vise.  Then proceed to drill.