How can I drill a hole and keep drill straight?

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember MM saying something like:

Experience.

Align the drill bit against a set-square.

Some ideas I have heard: clamp something with a right angles to the workpiece, and use it to guide the drill bit downward Fix a spirit level to the drill in a suitable place If drilling horizontally, put a washer over the drill bit. If the drill is level it should not slide along the drill bit.

And experience ;-)

Simon.

This kind of thing works quite well. I fixed the collar to an old drill because IIRC it was a bit of a pain clamping it on every time.

It can also help if you get someone to watch the "other" axis for you. So if drilling down, you get the drill vertical in the left / right axis, and someone watching from the side gets it vertical on the front / back one.

Drilling into wood often wanders at the start as the bit tries to follow the grain. Drilling a hole in something hard - like steel - then clamping that in the correct place to act as a guide should help stop that. And use a set square both ways to check you're drilling at right angles to the surface.

MM coughed up some electrons that declared:

Obtuse:

Get a scrap of 2x4" or similar and drill a perpendicular hole in that using the methods others have described.

After n goes, when you're happy with one of the holes, clamp that to the piece and use as a re-usable guide.

I did something similar when I needed to drill 2 perfectly aligned holes in the wall to take studs - I also used the timber to hold the studs whilst the resin cured.

I did have a cheap "press" that takes a normal drill to help with the guide hole, but if not, at least you get to practise until it's right without messing up your target pieces :)

Cheers

Tim

I take it you have a hand drill already? If not, my DeWalt one has a spirit level built into the end which is quite useful for this kind of thing. Not as good as a drill press, but better than nothing, and buying something like that might be an option...

(of course I don't know what you're making, but U-shaped metal straps* nailed or screwed to wood work well for securing pram axles; maybe that's an aternative to drilling?)

• commonly sold for securing plumbing to joists

cheers

Jules

A few ideas (untried) for a guide:-

a) It doesn't have to be solid. Make a sturdy rectangular tube out of scrap wood, then mark out and drill two opposing sides, or

b) If you know someone who _does_ have a drill press, get them to drill some 2x4 for you, or

c) Mark it out and drill from both sides to the centre, or

d) I wonder how perpendicular the holes are in those bricks that use them instead of a frog? Pack with a bit of tubing or a few spills if the wrong diameter.

Chris

MM

This is to make my armchair easily movable. I aim to attach the pram wheels (two at the back) when I need to move the chair. At present I lift the chair and carry it. It weighs a fair bit. It's an IKEA squarish pine chair anno 1980-ish with removable cushions. I don't want castors, as they leave indentations. So I want to drill a hole through each "leg" at the rear (approximately 10cm wide) and mount the pram wheels on demand using 130cm 8mm bolts. The chair is only moved out of the way so as to get the hoover in. Having hoovered, I wheel the chair back and remove the wheels! Okay for another week.

MM

If you have the necessary experience and skill, just do it. You don't have to be THAT accurate.

Otherwise, you're going to mess it up. Take it to a friend who DOES have the right tools.

Interesting! As the wheels are only temporary, can't you make a couple of wooden dollys with some castors on the bottom and just use those each time? They won't sit in any one spot for any length of time, so getting around the 'indentation' issue.

cheers

Jules

I recall a school woodwork lesson (many years ago;-) where we had to drill the hole down the centre of a piece of timber which was the main upright in a table lamp. We worked in threes - one person drilling (using brace and bit), and the other two looking on carefully from the sides, 90 degrees apart to ensure the bit direction is lined up with the axis of the timber. Mostly it worked very well (I think we were no more than a few mm off in any of our 3 table lamps). Some groups managed to produce 3 table lamps where the cable came out through side part way down;-)

Yes, we had a drill press (or pillar drill as they seemed to be called back then before the Americanisms took over), but we were never allowed to use it until we'd done one successful equivalent operation by hand.

just buy a cheap trolley jack.....

Drench the carpet with WD40 ...

... and the bottom of the armchair with water. Instant anti-gravity* effect.

• no doubt already claimed by the manufacturers on their website.

I think that antigravity effect is possible if ye look on WD40 as a similar material as butter and you also have the assistance of a cat (normally found on armchairs).

Now you're talking...