Kreg pocket holes not drilling cleanly

Greg Guarino · 2012-08-20T19:24:19+00:00

I'm a Kreg novice. I've now used the system for 2 projects and a couple of small utility shelves. It's very convenient. But the holes, especially in solid wood, don't drill cleanly. Specifically, the left-hand edge of each hole (that's the side that the drill bit cutting edge would be "emerging" from, as opposed to the side that the bit edge would enter the wood) comes out raggedy-looking. Here's a photo, which is not terribly detailed: cleaned them up a bit with a utility knife before I took the photo. They end up with thin "fingers" of wood over the hole at the left edge. If I ever use pocket hole s even inside a cabinet, I'd like them to be a little neater.These holes aren't going to show; this is a "frame" to hide the ugly plaster hole left by the guys who put a through-the-wall air conditioner in my Mom's house. In this case, the wood is maple. But it did the same sort of thing in pine. I think I used a cordless drill this time, but used a corded one (higher rpm, I think) with similar results on the last project.I will add the tally on this bit is only maybe 100 holes. Any ideas?

Aug 20, 2012 63 Replies

Rate this thread:

krw 14 years ago

Good grief. The device designer may not have cared if the device ran the battery into the ground (hence the "doing something stupid" comment). NiCds don't care (with the restrictions stated elsewhere).

Vote

-MIKE- 14 years ago

I'm wondering the same thing about you. I've said probably 6 times that the equipment won't allow the batteries to be run down but you keep bringing it up.

Vote