How can I drill a hole and keep drill straight?

[geoff]

In message , MM writes

Stay off the gerstensaft

[John Rumm]

Lol!

Having said that - coming out the side intentionally, and at a desired location is even harder! I had to do a few holes like that when I wanted to stick lanterns on the top of some of the brick pillars in my garden wall. The pillar was a couple of bricks square and about 7' tall. I needed a way to get the cable (some 3 core Hi-tuf) down from the top of the pillar without having to drape over the corbelled edge which would have looked pretty ugly. In the end I worked out the best solution was to start drilling top dead centre, and then come out about six courses down toward the back of one of the sides just behind where the wrought iron infill in the wall met the pillar. The cable would then exit at a shallow angle and could be clipped to the side of the pillar behind the metalwork. That meant standing on the top of the pillar with a 1m long

16mm SDS bit in the drill, and lots of careful angling and estimating. Tricky to do with your fingers crossed! ;-)

[MM]

Yep, I thought of exactly the same thing. But then I thought, well, by the time I have sourced the wood for the dollies, if I don't happen to have anything among my offcuts, then bought the castors (I already have the pram wheels), and so on, it would be lot easier just to drill two holes, job done! It's something I've been meaning to do for months, but I am now finally getting around to it. I bought the bolts yesterday.

MM

[MM]

What, schlepp an armchair in the back of the car instead of just asking for tips on the internet?

MM

[Dave Liquorice]

Yep, I have one bought for drilling through the bottom of a 4" thick gate hinge post for the 1" dia hinge bolt. 13' gate wouldn't fit in the garage let alone under the drill press. Worked a treat. Mines from Wolf but looks very similar.

[Jules]

*checks WD40 website*

Ahh yes, "spreading on toast" is one of the listed uses, too.

[MM]

I finally drilled the holes! I ended up using a dowelling jig, which I'd forgotten I have. This is quite a nice aluminium Wolfcraft one I bought in Germany about 30 years ago. I clamped one of the brackets with the 8mm guide hole to the leg of the armchair and that was enough to start the drill off going straight. I tried it for the first time today, pushing the pram wheels on to the "axles" and these through the holes. What joy! I was pushing the chair all over the place, knowing what a pain it was to carry it before. Amazing things, wheels.

MM

[Jules]

Ha! Success! Now you need to video it and shove it on youtube - seems to be the done thing these days :-)

[MM]

I still have that joy to look forward to...

MM