Does anyone know of a fast easy way to bore out graphite arbors?

I usually get a drill bit slightly smaller than desired and bore out on each end to the middle (holding the arbor in my hand and running it up the bit on a drill press). Then I finish by hand with a small round file. I can do a "fair" job this way but it is time consuming and not as accurate as I would like.

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

The very easiet way does require a lathe. You simply measure the blank diameter where you intend the arbor to reside and bore the arbor to the that diameter with the appropriately sized bit. (Drill slightly undersize rather than over and hand ream to fit - this tiny bit of reaming only takes seconds if your bore is close.)

Typically I can fit 2 arbors of this type to any blank in less than 5 minutes total. But yes, it does require a lathe if you wish the bore to be perfectly centered and true.

There are some jigs for doing this on a drill press. You will most likely find them from any of the companies that sell supplies for the guys turning pens.

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Tom:

Thanks for the advice. I checked out the pen drilling jig idea and ordered one. Hopefully this will do until my addiction gets to the point that I plunk down a thousand or so for a good lathe and attachments.

Lee