Possibly Imperial/Metric conversion ? What sort of timber are you working in? Some will tear and drag rather than cut cleanly, which can lead to slight unexpected hole size variations.
Buy proper tools not cheap crap!
You've mentioned problems from overheated bits before. Not technique, is it?
Oh, well. Cast aluminium bits....
J.B.
its redwood grade, so I guess maybe pine.
I know :( I need a solution for this job though, I now have a lot of holes to fill. Most of the toolstation stuff I've had has been ok, but a couple of items have been right junk. I'm loath to hand chisel out plugs individually, it'd take me all day twice over. Its not like I only have a few holes here :)
I dont think I've had overheated bit problems, at least not till this one, but folk have suggested overheating before. What speed should I be running a 13mm plug cutter at?
Mmm, it looks very like brass to me, though they swear its titanium coated, but whatever it is its not much use. From the angles on it its hard to see how it would do a lot.
Not as bad as their drill-pilot-hole-clearance-hole-countersink-in-one bits though.
Cheers, NT
I'm not sure how you could chisel out plugs individually and get an acceptable result.
What is the thing you're plugging holes in?
Perhaps you're in "bodge it" territory. Can you increase the size of your holes and use a larger plug (BTW, how can an auger bit "wander"?)? Can you splay out the sides of the plug cutter and use the resulting conical plug? You might have to soften the cutter to prevent it breaking (or do it when it's hot)...
Cough. I generally sink it in a piece of appropriate scrap timber on fast or slow speed in my old drill, whichever gives the best finish....
J.B.
how many plugs do you need to cut (will have a bearing on how practical this solution is...)?
I recently needed to plug a hole left by (incorrectly positioned) 5mm wood bit.
you can't get 5mm plug cutters (well, at least not in our local tool shop, nor Axminster) so I got a 6mm one, cut the plug, held it in the chuck of my mains drill and sanded it down against some 80 grit paper taped to the workmate. Keep checking until it just fits, then flip the plug around and sand down the remainder of it.
this would work if you bought an over-sized 14mm or 15mm plug cutter.
I used the mains drill as the cordless couldn't match the speed, and it would have taken forever.
Of course you realise that the solution to the problem in the future is to buy something like one of Axminster's tapered plug cutter & tct bit sets.... :-)
-- Richard Sampson
email me at richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk
Fiddly & as you say unlikely to produce an acceptable result. Could be perhaps roughly chiseled to over-size and sanded down as I have just described in a previous post...
Incidentally, have you noticed that purveyors of plug cutters often say "must be used in a drill press" - e.g. axminster "it is virtually impossible and dangerous to attempt to cut them with a hand-held drill"?
"b*&!?cks" I say! of the hundreds of plugs I've just cut I have not even come close to a scary moment, and once I got the starting technique cracked it was a doddle!
don't know how easy the larger sizes of plug cutters would be though.
-- Richard Sampson
email me at richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk
Wouldn't it have been easier to enlarge the hole to 6mm? If it's a mistake, it would hardly make a difference.
That's because they don't have a pilot.
I've not attempted it, but with the pillar drill handy I've not needed to.
Biggest I've got is 1".
Sadly not, I did consider it though.
Having drilled the hole incorrectly in the face frame of my prized hard work (I know, measure once, cut twice...!!! but in my defence the hole was precisely where I had carefully measured it to be, just failed to take account of the clearance required for screw-in hinges mounted side-by-side so hole correct, measurement correct, calculation wrong) I really didn't want to risk a c*ck-up on the enlargement front and wanted to keep any visual impact minimal.
So, 5mm plug it had to be...
Fortunately it was finished in danish oil & wax, so the finish touch up was a doddle and it really is barely visible.
-- Richard Sampson
email me at richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk
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