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Accurate drilling into odd shaped pieces

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Accurate drilling into odd shaped pieces

#1

Accurate drilling into odd shaped pieces

Craig Daymon

I'm working on a mirror that will look like a flower with the mirror in the center. It is a mirror meant to be sat on a table/dresser.

The stem is mahogany and about half of a offset-turned doughnut I made a while ago, with a flat sanded on the thicker end to attach to the base. There is a 1/2" tenon at the back of the bloom to attach it to the stem, but I need to accurately and securely hold the stem so that I can drill the hole (without destroying the stem).

I'm looking for any suggestions as to the best way to proceed. I have a 17" drill press and, of course, the lathe as drilling options, and assorted hand-held drills. Was planning on using 1/2" Forstner bit, but maybe that is a bad choice as well?

Thanks in advance.

Oh, the base is Curly Maple dyed green. The blossom is Camphor Burl with a Masur Birch 3" center (same size as mirror) and there is a Kingwood half sphere on the back where the bloom portion of the tenon is glued into.

A bearing from an old hard drive is epoxied into the center of the blossom behind the mirror and also epoxied into the Kingwood knob. Base, stem and knob will be fixed (logically) and the bloom will be able to spin, though probably shouldn't exceed 5400 RPM. :-) Those bearings are incredibly smooth and quiet.

I'll try to remember to post pictures.

Re: Accurate drilling into odd shaped pieces

#2

Re: Accurate drilling into odd shaped pieces

don stephan

Having no small difficulty envisioning the situation, but I've often drilled challenging pieces by holding in woodworking clamp resting on the drill press table.

Re: Accurate drilling into odd shaped pieces

#3

Some more description of piece to be drilled

Craig Daymon

In the February 2014 issue of American Woodworker, Neil Scobie wrote an article titled, "Offset-turned Doughnut Sculpture". The main component of the piece is a side grain turned doughnut, the inner circumference on a different center than the outer, resulting in a doughnut that is thicker on one end than the other.

Mine's wasn't nearly as well rounded as Neil's. I cut in half, cutting through the thinnest and thickest parts of the ring. I sanded a flat on the thick end and want to drill into the thin end to mount the blossom.

What results is a piece rather challenging to hold for drilling, especially as I hope to do.

Hope that helps.

Re: Accurate drilling into odd shaped pieces

#4

Re: Some more description of piece to be drilled

john lucas

I guess I would need to see a photo of what your trying to do. I can't visualize what your trying to do. I've drilled a lot of holes in odd pieces.

Re: Accurate drilling into odd shaped pieces

#5

Re: Some more description of piece to be drilled

Craig Daymon

Sorry, still no pic. Maybe this will help John.

I'm sure you've seen, read and probably have laying around there someplace, Neil's article on making the off-center doughnut. In the article, there are pics of 2 different sculptures Neil made out of the doughnuts, one looking like a pair of horns. (Page 31, upper right-most image, #14.)

Now imagine cutting the horns into 2 separate horns, cutting through where the ball attaches to the horns in image #14, and then cut the point off and sand a flat.

That is essentially my stem for my flower. I need to drill a hole into the center of that flat in order to attach the blossom.

On the thicker end of the horn/stem, I sanded a flat so I can mount it on the base and rounded over the end.

Re: Accurate drilling into odd shaped pieces

#6

Re: Some more description of piece to be drilled

john lucas

I'll look up the photo in the morning (don't want to wake the rest of the family by turning on the light to my library). What I do in situations like that where I have a difficult hole to drill and an area too small. First I drill or turn a hole in a piece of wood that will fit around the piece to be drilled. this prevents the drill from blowing out the piece.

then if I realize that it will be too difficult to get 2 holes to align perfectly is to drill the holes over size. then I use a piece of threaded rod as my dowel that smaller than the holes just enough so that I can get them aligned with it in place. then I use epoxy to fill the holes and put the threaded rod in and somehow clamp the pieces.

Clamping and aligning can be fun. If I can't just wrap tape around the joint I will hot glue 3 or 4 small pieces to the outside to align it. Then I might do the same thing with a few other pieces to act as stops for clamps to pull it together.

Re: Accurate drilling into odd shaped pieces

#7

Problem solved...sort of

Craig Daymon

Sort of, in the sense that I managed to drill the holes needed to, but not in the sense that I would recommend this procedure.

Brute force.

I put a 1/2" Forstner bit in the drillpress, turned it on, held the piece firmly and PUSHED very hard upwards. I did touch up the bit with a diamond slick before drilling, but it was still very challenging as I was going into end grain mahogany.

The holes (2 actually, one where the stem attaches to the base and the other where the blossom will attach to the stem) hold the tenons firmly, so I must have done a reasonable job holding things in place. I'll use epoxy to glue the pieces together, so any slack will be gap filled and solid.

Thanks and I'll try to get pictures up after the finish is on. Deciding now if I should turn a honey bee to put on the stem and a lady bug for the base.