Holding in headstock

I would have drilled the holes in the ends prior to tapering....

But in your case, it might be easier to make a split bush with an internal taper to suit that of the cue....just dont drill it too fast if there's a long length sticking out of the otherside of the headstock.....

An alternative to holding in the lathe, make an internal tapered socket to fit over the end of the cue with an extra section drilled as a guide for your required drill diameter and then use a battery drill ( assuming the hole being drilled can be accomodated) to borecthe hole...

Is the hole through the spindle big enough to pass the cue end through?

If is, John's split bush idea will work fine. John's off-lathe fitted socket drill bush and batt drill idea is great too.

If you want to do it on the lathe, and the spindle hole is too small, you could turn the job around and put the drill in lathe chuck, then make a wood cradle with two uprights and "bearing cap" style clamp pieces to hold the cue at centre height along the lathe bed, sliding the cradle and cue into the drill.

Worth mentioning the possibility that long items held through a lathe's spindle are liable to whip unless constrained. . Damage to both job and operator is likely because the amount of energy pumped into a whip is dangerously high. I use a Black & Decker workmate to clamp a length of 2 by 4" with a hole in it at the right height and then pass the work through the hole. A long flexible item may have to be supported in more than one place, for example by passing it through a length of plastic pipe.

Jeff's method avoids the risk of whipping and if necessary you can remove the tail-stock to make more space on the left.

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 14/02/2019 16:03:35

Hi Bill just seen the other question about spindle dia. But to hold the cue I would make some extended soft jaws and bore them to the same taper as a cue to give a large surface area and grip true.

David

Make a lathe cathead. (also called a lathe spider) used to hold irregular shapes in a lathe

I'd put the hole in while the wood is still in the square, easer to hold either on the cross slide or in a pillar drill.

Then make a male and female threaded arbors which can be used to both support and drive the raw stock when it is turned between ctrs.

Cats head shown here in lathe chuck holding a gun barrel. It can also be used in a steady rest to turn a long piece of square or hex, etc

Simply made from a piece of pipe.

Edited By Paul Lousick on 15/02/2019 09:07:59

I think that's probably what I'd do. The soft jaws idea would also work if there's a way to bore them through whilst they're clamped inward onto something.

If there's a problem with the spindle bore, you might use a fixed steady to hold the end you're going to drill for the threaded joint, possibly with another bush if there's too much risk of the pads marking the surface.

Edited By Mick B1 on 15/02/2019 22:15:30