Drilling holes in a straight line question?

Re: Drilling holes in a straight line question?

Henry (Raleigh NC)

Drill 4 holes into a piece you could handle on the drill press, to use as a template for your hand drill. A piece of 2x4? This assures holes are in line, properly spaced, and perpendicular.

Spacing the 4 lines is up to you now that I have solved the rest of of your problems ).

Henry

Re: Drilling holes in a straight line question?

Garthfromsandiego

I frequently use the long edge of a piece of 3/4 plywood, 4" wide as a straight edge. I envision clamping this to your slab and using a plunge router mounted to a square of plywood or just a square of plywood with a drill bushing with hand held drill to accomplish your task. Mark the plywood straight edge every 30" and the centerline on the sliding piece. Align the two marks and drill. If using a plunge router use a smaller diameter bit then drill to proper size. Be sure to clamp the sliding piece before drilling/plunging. Drill bushings are available from industrial supply houses such as McMaster-Carr. Good luck!

plunge router 3/8" bit, then drill to size

Yes!!

Re: Yes!!

Barry Irby

About a minute after I posted this question It dawned on me to do exactly what you proposed.

What is bothering me is I think of these things after thinking of everything else.

Here's a tip coming back at you. I hesitate but it might be a Pro tip. When drilling holes with a hand drill to a certain depth many people use a piece of tape on the drill bit to create a flag to let them know when to stop. This has failed me once or twice. The tape flag creeps up the drill bit and pretty soon you have drilled right through and ruined your piece. I have also used the little split rings on the bit with a set screw. My experience is they don't hold well one the flutes and well, See Above. What I have come up with is little pieces of plastic pipe. PVC or CPVC, 1/2" or 3/4". Install the desired bit in your drill and cut a sleeve of pipe that fits over you bit and bears against the chuck. It will arrest the progress and not allow you to drill out the bottom. I keep and handful of scrap pipe and cut it to fit the occasion. Fast, easy, cheap, and 100% successful.

Re: plunge router 3/8" bit, then drill to size

Barry Irby

Dick and Garth, After I screwed up four out of 16 holes I went back with a plunge router and a half inch bit and drilled out the holes then used a plug cutter to make half inch plugs, plugged the holes and re-drilled the holes using a block with a hole in it similar to the one suggested by Henry, but with a single hole.

Why is that when there isn't enough time to do it right, there is always time to do it over?

Thanks to all of you for the help.

Re: Drilling holes in a straight line question?

kneale brownson

However you accomplish the proper spacing, I'd drill the holes with small bits that would have less tendency to wander before I used the final size.

I was wondering (about the wandering)

Barry Irby

I was drilling these holes to line up with slots in steel channel. I use a 1/4" bit to mark the spot with a pin prick. If I had just drilled the quarter inch hole right through the slot and come back with the larger bit after moving the steel out of the way, would that have worked? IE. would a pilot hole have kept the bit aligned?

Re: I was wondering (about the wandering)

Clifton C

I have better luck with non wondering drills in fine grained wood. Open grained woods like oak and ash, well, that's a different story. End grain, another story. There have been times when I had one shot to get the drill hole in the right spot, getting set up took longer than drilling. Here's a few picks of one adventure. The lines on the drill block and the lines on the work don't have to match or line up, just split the difference. Not sure this idea would work in your situation, but it might spark an idea. Hot melting the block directly to the wood would have worked, but then it's a pain to get the glue off, blue tape (or green ) makes removal a simple task. A small bead on the corners is all that's needed.

Re: I'd actually start with 1/8" bit, slowly