I'm thinking of getting my own drilling rig and learning to drill my own stuff. I have no intention of doing it as a side job or charging other people to work on their stuff; it will be a hobby. I already make my own golf clubs, and I enjoy knowing that I build what I use (not to mention my golf scores dropped a fair bit once I started using custom-fit clubs from my garage).

Can someone point me to any of the following:

1) Where to get the proper tools?
2) Where to get the proper instruction books (for instance, I know my PAP but don't know how to find it)?
3) What I need to know so I don't kill myself trying to do the work?

Thanks for any help anyone can provide, and thanks for not asking why I'm reposting an old topic.

Jess

Moon57, I learned with a rudell, but the catch is we were mostly only drilling 3 piece balls at the time. The equipment was adequate at the time for the ball construction at the time. But it was slow, which is good for a beginner. I didn't own that press. It was owned by the center.

When I first became an owner in 1990, I purchased a used ovalmatic and drill press for 3000, a scale for 1000, fitting ball for 800, and assorted other tools for 1000 more. 5800 total. The drill press was replaced with a 1500 mill/drill as ball cores became multi density and started causing bit wandering issues.

I didn't throw out the 20k figure, crankncrash did. I personally don't know where he gets that. I suspect top of the line everything would get me to 13-14k. My intent was to show that you don't need to spend 20k but to be realistic about the 4k you'll spend if you buy new, entry level ball drilling tools.

If you're drilling plastic balls and learning, a cheap press and jig are fine. I think most will be dissatisfied with the reults of using cheap equipment on high performance balls over the long run.