DP question

[TD]

I've got a little Ryobi bench top DP that does a great job on the little stuff I do. Today, I needed to bore some very straight 3 inch deep holes in the end of a 1x6x18. With the bit in, I just had 12 inches of clearance between the bit end and the base, so I ended up using the handheld. I got it close enough, but not perfect. Was there any other way to attack this short of unbolting the column from the base and rigging a temporary column extension? I actually thought about doing that but for two flippin' holes? No way.

Larry

[Lew Hodgett]

Rotate the drill head 180 degrees so that it sticks out over the edge of the bench.

Lew

[Tom Veatch]

assuming the ends of the 1x6 are square and a long drill bit (6-8" long) is available, I believe I'd use the DP to drill holes at the desired location in the end of a short section of 1x6 ( 2 to 3 inches long?). Then clamp the short section of 1x6 end to end with the longer piece and use it as a drill guide to locate and align the holes in the long piece. A couple of pieces of scrap running the long way on either side of the 1x6 will give a place to apply clamps as well keep the short piece aligned with the long piece.

Not a very robust drill jig since the holes in the short piece will rapidly be enlarged/elongated and useable for drilling only a very limited number of holes in the long piece. But I've done similar for very short production runs with good success.

Tom Veatch Wichita, KS USA

[else24]

I did what Lew suggested when I had to do that. The problem is, when you do that you've got no table now to get you square with the drill bit, so I ended up using a square and clamps and a mickey mouse setup to do it, and I ended up just like you; close enough, but not perfect.

Dan

[TD]

[Luigi Zanasi]

Can't you turn the table 90 degrees so it's vertical?

Luigi