Drilling a hole in a 8 ball

[twopints]

got some billard balls at a swap meet i wish to make some machine handles (think shift knobs) has anyone ever drilled into one of these? any hints ???

 

[shocwav3]

I use some soft jaws I machined a half circle into on each jaw in order to capture the ball. They drill pretty easy. Your traditional "v" style softjaw will hold it just fine (I would think) if you drill it nice and easy.

 

[ash]

I did that for a handle on a circular saw.

Use two wooden blocks an drill a hole with an aproximately 1.5 inch drill.
Use the two blocks on your drill press vise to clamp the ball.

Cheers Albert

 

[Doug B]

I drilled a 13 ball for a shift knob once. Clamped a short piece of pipe slightly smaller than the ball into the drill press vise layed a shop rag over that and set the ball on it. I drilled a pilot hole about 1/2 the dia. and then up to the correct diameter.

 

[Big-Foot]

1-7/8" hole saw through a scrap piece of 2x4.
The ball will drop partially into the hole.
I just used my hand to hold the ball in position and go slowly with the feed of the drill press.

I almost always shoot a pilot hole first with a #30 or 1/8" drill bit.

 

[KCarGuy]

I Drilled some Old "Pub" Pool balls, which are slightly Smaller than the standard Pool Balls.
So they are much more comfortable as Shift Knobs.
After drilling at Tapping 2 of them (inside is plastic, so the threads can strip)
I started using Rubber Expansion inserts, they are threaded already (in different sizes)
and as you tighten them on the shifter, they expand and hold tight.
My Local Ace hardware carries them.

 

[NASTYZEN]

You may get a little bit of chipping on the perimeter of your hole. Try to champher it before tapping to avoid this.

 

[Crusty Nut]

Plus, the older ones are made out of something that really stinks when drilled. Maybe Bakelite? I have just drilled and tapped several and not had one instance of thread failure when used as a shift knob in aggressively shifted hot rods.

 

[Big-Foot]

No problems drilling and tapping right into the ball itself for me. Here is a picture of a 7 Ball that I had in my old Cobra Racecar.. Never had it come loose..

P.S. this is the second time I have posted along with a picture from the Cobra. I don't have a clue what happened to the last post as it seems it may have been deleted for some reason..

 

[kcaz507]

I just made one the other day. I used 2 pieces of 3/8 rubber hose in my vice jaws to prevent damage to the ball. I drilled a small pilot hole then drilled the correct size hole. I tapped the hole to the proper thread pitch and then drilled a countersunk hole for a nut to go in. I took a piece of all thread cut to size an put 5 minute epoxy on the threads and on the nut and screwed everything in place and let the epoxy cure. When it was cured I took a second nut and put it on the exposed thread (no epoxy on this side) and spun it on the shifter and locked it down. I dont know if its the best way, but its holding fine. The shift ball was a promo from Camel cigarettes, I thought it was cool even though I have never smoked, I have had it for years and finally found a proper use for it.

 

[toolstools]

Off topic, is that camel ball in a 5 speed jeep? Specifically a Cherokee? Looks pretty b.a man.