Drilling a long hole in timber

[GMM]

I need to send a (network, not power!) cable through a door frame. The plan is to go through the plaster beside the frame (a couple of inches before an adjoining door), at a bit of an angle to come out on the edge of the architrave on the other side. The total depth of this hole will be 200 - 250mm (well, 8 - 10 inches anyway) and most of it will be through timber. Soooooo....I was trying to find a drill long enough to get through that lot. Plenty of masonry jobbies to be had, SDS or not, but they're not very good on timber. The only things I can find are extended flat bits (which might be tricky to get going at the angle I need) and augur bits, which might be fine but really should be in a brace and a) I haven't got one and b) I couldn't turn a brace in that position.

Why doesn't anyone sell a standard HSS/spur/multipurpose bit this kind of length? More importantly, what's the right way to do this?

Cheers

[Cash]

GMM,

You can get 'long series' suitable twist drills from reputable tool suppliers long enough to do what you want, or you could just grind the thread off the auger bit and stick it in an electric drill [1] keeping a fairly heavy pressure on it as you drill the hole. (A bit brutish, but this trick has often got me out of a bit of bother, and I now keep a few of the common sizes (that have been adapted that way) in the toolbox).

[1] Just make sure that you get one without the tapered square on the end - or if that is not possible, just cut the taper off.

Cash

[John Rumm]

Flat bit and extension bar will do what you want - just drill as far as the wood with a masonry bit, and carry on with the flat bit.

Failing that, the brute force and ignorance solution would just romp through with the SDS. It may not drill the wood as such, but it won't stop it!

[Dave]

One way or another, find an engineers supply store and ask for a long series twist drill, of the dimeter you need. You didn't mention what diam. hole you want to drill. The smaller the hole, the shorter the twist drill. A 3/8ths. inch long series drill will be about 12 inches long.

I am not all that clear as to where the start and end of the hole will be.

1. Start of the hole will be a couple of inches away from the woodwork of a door frame. The end of the hole will be at the edge of the woodwork of the (same?) door frame.
2. Start of the hole will be a couple of inches away from the woodwork of a door frame. The end of the hole will come through the woodwork of the (same?) door frame.

Either way, you will have to start drilling from the end of the hole described above and come through the plaster about 2 inches away from the door, to the start of the hole, as described above. I hope you understand that.

To find out what sort of angle to drill the hole to in respect of the end to start point. Lay the twist drill on some stiff card that marks both door edges and the couple of inches away from the door and measure the angle and if you have one, set a protracter to that angle and use it as a guide when looking down on it.

HTH

Dave

[The Medway Handyman]

Why would you want to remove the thread off an auger bit? Just stick it in a suitably powerful mains drill and it will go straight through. Plaster might dull it a bit, but who cares?

Tapered square? WTF is that?

[Steve Walker]

All my auger bits have a square tapered section for gripping in the two jaws of a brace.

SteveW

[Frank Erskine]

On Sun, 12 Jul 2009 21:52:09 GMT, "The Medway Handyman" had this to say:

It was used for many many years to hold a bit in a carpenter's brace. It gave a positive grip, but is rarely seen nowadays - most 'bits' seem to be SDS. (Somewhere) I still have a 'tank cutter' with a tapered square shank, intended to cut (pretty obviously) a hole in a metal tank, infinitely variable from about 3/4" to 5" diameter. It has a 1/4" pilot drill (which is probably best replaced with a plain 1/4" steel spindle inserted into a hole made with a 'proper' drill!), and an adjustable radial cutter. My carpenter's brace is long defunct - ISTR that it cost 4/6d from Woolworths about 50+ years ago - actually it was very good! The posh 'ratchet' ones cost about 7/6d...

[ARWadsworth]

I have used

without a problem.

Adam

[nightjar]

....

They do.

those are not long enough for you, the same company will make you just about any drill you want.

Colin Bignell

[gray]

What about one of these

have a range of these, 12mm dia and about 20 inches long.

Costs about £75 each.

Cut the morse taper off, and stick it in a drill.

[Jules]

I just walked into my local DIY shed a few months ago and picked up a foot-long 3/8" drill bit off the shelf - wasn't expensive, either.

Or, as network cable's flexible, you could probably drill from both sides of your frame with a shorter bit - you'll be able to get everything

*almost* straight with some careful measuring and the cable will have enough give in it if it's not exactly spot-on.

cheers

Jules

[Cash]

The problem is that the thread will tend to 'pull' the auger in the direction that you don't want it to go - taking the thread off resolves this - sometimes "brute force and ignorance" (which seems on occasion to be your trade mark [angle grinder man]) just doesn't equate to a reasonable job!

Now this really shows your lack of knowledge - go and have a look at an auger bit that fits into a brace (if you actually now what that is) and you will find that it is square and tapered in its length - which is totally unsuitable for fitting in any drill that only holds round stock.

Now I could have been really technical and pointed him to B&Q to get an auger that has a pointy bit on one end and 6 straight sides on the other - but There We Are Then, we can't all be perfect can we?

Now I now why I was fed up with reading the Life and Times of the "Grizzly Handyman" and consigned him to the darkest cave on the computer. ;-)

Cash

[Owain]

On 13 July, 22:57, "The Medway Handyman"

One of the advantages of brace & bit is that my parents couldn't hear me drilling holes through the bedroom floor. :-)

Owain

[Harry Bloomfield]

Not actually tried it, but could an ordinary blunt ended SDS masonry be used, but with the blunt spear end ground so it would cut into wood?

[Cash]

Harry,

I've never tried that but I would suspect that it would tear rather than cut due to the shape of the end. I might grind an old masonry bit over the next few days and give it a go to see what happens.

As a matter of interest, the Tungsten tip on a new masonry is relatively 'sharp' and may just work given a bit of pushing and a good electric drill.

Cash

[Harry Bloomfield]

To grind it you will need a green grit wheel, but I suppose you already knew that.

[Cash]

Oh yes they *DO* . They come in very handy when there is no power on site and the batteries have run down on the portable drill - or even when you have to drill a 75mm hole in a piece of wood.

Now please don't tell me that this cannot be done by hand - because it can with an expansion wood bit.

And if you've never heard of, or seen one of these, then I would suggest that you stick to the 'rough' stuff - or use the angle grinder.

Cash

[The Medway Handyman]

Don't make me laugh you idiot. You can buy spare batteries for cordless drills - if you have half a brain. I can just see the chippies on site "oh my one & only battery has died, where did I put the brace & bit"?

The last one I saw was on the Antiques Roadshow.

If you can do it by hand then it can be done with a decent cordless. Faster, with less effort.

You must like making work for yourself, grinding down 40 year old auger shafts when you can buy hexagon shafts anywhere, using a brace & bit because you don't have the sense to buy an extra battery.

[Frank Erskine]

On Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:57:10 GMT, "The Medway Handyman" had this to say:

Nobody?

How would you know, if you've never come across tapered square shanks?

Little wonder then, that there's allegedly a 'carbon' problem in this world. And obesity :-)

[John Rumm]

Dare we ask why you wanted holes in your bedroom floor?