Accurate hand-held drilling

That's enormously kind of you, but inspired by all the "it's easier than you think" comments here I've already embarked on the task. Seven handles fitted so far with only one hole going slightly (and invisibly) astray.

Bert

Thanks, Brian, but plugging walls is not what I'm doing: I'm drilling holes in kitchen cabinet doors for handles.

Bert

If you want repeatability then a jig is the way to go, depending on design it means you mark it out once to manufacture it then use it to repeat on ev ery door or drawer front. Nothing looks worse than two adjacent handles out of line even worse if you have a set of drawers.

Richard

Agreed, but fortunately the doors I'm using have guide-indents on the inside faces to mark the hole positions.

Bert

• + +++++++ + + + +

I have one of those, got it to drill the hole for the 25 mm bolt of the bottom eye of 13' wide field gate. Post is 4 x 6 (ish) and the hole needed to be snug to the bolt and had to go through the longer dimension, worked a treat. I've used it since but can't remember what for...

Bit overkill for kitchen unit handle holes but they have smaller one:

I'm not convinced that something around the actual drill bit won't rock or bend the drill bit if not used very carefully. The above two align the whole drill and make it act like a drill press.

Dave,

Thanks for that. The small Accumobil guide is pretty much exactly the sort of thing I was envisioning.

Bert

For these situations I make a drilling guide from a bit of scrap ply or similar. You mark out your positions on the template carefully. Then drill that. Then you can simply line up your template on the drawer and then drill though its pre-drilled holes.

I'm fortunate in that the actual drilling positions are already marked. What I've been slightly concerned about is drilling through from the rear of the doors (which is where the marks are) exactly perpendicular to the drawer front. So far, using a home-made 90-degree drilling guide consisting of two blocks of faced chipboard which I know meet each other at an exact right angle, I've fitted ten handles. Of the twenty holes, eighteen were spot-on, one was slightly out and one more seriously so. The two failures were invisibly correctable, but they annoyed me just the same, the more so because I thought I drilled them in exactly the same way as I did the correct ones. Perhaps I was just flagging a bit by then.

Bert

There is a danger of over thinking these things a bit at times.

Generally if you drill near enough square you will be fine. Use a drill bit with a mm or so clearance over the bolt size and that gives some wiggle room. Remember that there is likely a flange or base on the handle that will hind any slight exit wound. If you are particularly worried about the surface chipping out, then just hold a scrap block of wood against the exit surface when you drill - that will keep the hole edges supported and stop then breaking out.

John, thanks for that. I started off using a drill of the exact size for the bolts and was pleased to find that my first few efforts were spot-on. Later ones did need opening out to a slightly larger size and the one that did go seriously astray had to be elongated in best bodging fashion by putting the bit into the hole, running the drill, angling it sideways in both directions and then removing the internal bit of chipboard between the lengthened surface apertures. A practise not particularly good for the drill I imagine but it worked - and the horribly-shaped hole remained nicely hidden by the handle.

Bert

Yup, with a jig you can get it repeatedly and consistently wrong... ;-)

(DAMHIK)

If this is a problem for you, I suggest making a template using the markings on the back of the door, then transfer those markings to the fronts of all the doors. That way, you can drill from the front.

"GB" wrote,

An idea which had actually occurred to me; rather late in the day, but in time for the final two or three handles. Thanks.

Bert

I feel slightly better now, your posted projects always make me feel rather inadequate, especially when they are "quick jobs"

:-)

I do fess up to some of the notable goofs in my write ups... there is no shame in making mistakes, since if you make none you probably never make anything! (and often its the recovery from the mistake that is more interesting that the bits that went to plan)

A bit like making six right hand sides for three sets of shelves:

My 'forté' is the ability to mark up and drill holes in e.g. a case all in the correct places, then realise that the 'handedness' is wrong so tey all have to be drilled again - on the bright side, I do have a spare set of holes.

This week I was cutting a 3mx1m chunk of butcher block worktop for a fitted desk, I'd carefully worked out where a diagonal cut with circular saw needed to end, so the last few inches could be finished by handsaw.

Making taped the line of the cut to reduce any tearout, and flipped the worktop over to reduce tearout on the good side, and masking taped that side too, made the cut and then stood it on end to make the handsaw cut.

With horror I then saw that the cut I'd made from the underside was about 3" away from where I'd masking taped it - when turning it over I'd marked from the wrong end - thankfully it was only the masking tape that was in the wrong place, not the actual cut, but a worrying few moments!