pilot hole

To mount a pull on a drawer front I drilled the two holes, then realized that the material thickness was slightly greater than the length of the machine screw, so a counter bore was required. Didn't want to attempt to temporarily plug the hole, so first drilled a hole through some scrap, clamped that to the inside and used it as a guide.

For the remaining drawers I didn't bother with the guide, but instead first drilled a pilot hole, counterbored the inside, then drilled out the pilot hole to the finished size. This was all done freehand with an electric hand drill. While drilling out the pilot hole I wondered whether the bit would track (I was using brad point bits). Apparently they did. Is that common or did I just get lucky?

Presumably it's well known, but a neat trick I came up with to avoid splintering out the backside of the drawer front when drilling the original hole is to put scrap behind it and then wedging it against the front using a stick slightly longer than the distance to the back of the drawer. It's quicker than clamping and can be done with the drawer in the cabinet.

Reply to
Joe Riel
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Joe Riel wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@san.rr.com:

Either you got lucky, or your pilot hole was smaller than the brad points on the larger drills.

When using brad point bits, you should drill the larger diameter hole (the counterbore) first, then the smaller diameter hole (the through bore). The point of the smaller bit will self-center in the dimple left by the point of the larger bit. Same thing applies to Forstner bits.

When counterboring an existing hole to enlarge its diameter, you should use a twist drill if you want to be sure it centers.

I would think that a clamp would be easier and faster than cutting a piece of scrap to length...

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Reply to
Doug Miller

The pilot hole was smaller.

I don't believe I could drill the through finished hole accurately from the back with a hand-drill, not without a jig. Marking the location is also significantly more difficult. This was on a finished drawer.

I didn't do any cutting. Just picked a piece slightly shorter than needed from the scrap pile and added a couple of extra small pieces to take up the rest of the space. A problem with a clamp is that it can mar the edges since I was drilling with the drawer in the cabinet; that is, the edge of clamp would get pushed into the face of the cabinet as the door slid back. Yeah, there are ways to avoid that, but the wedged stick was about as simple as it gets. Maybe I need better clamps; that will be a separate post.

Reply to
Joe Riel

Normally you drill the counterbore first then the screw hole.

Reply to
woodchucker

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