straight line on round pole

Get somebody to help you and pull a chalk line.

Sounds like you've got it. Tom Someday, it'll all be over....

Mark them out, then drill them.

Mark them (easy) with a piece of L section angle iron as a guide.

Before drilling them, make a cross-hole drilling jig. Plywood base, thick vertical board. Put a close-fitting hole for the rod into the vertical, and put a drill guide hole (maybe a guide bush, if you're doing a lot) vertically onto the exact centre.

Support the free end exactly level too.

-- Die Gotterspammerung - Junkmail of the Gods

Perry,

Make two "V" blocks to hold the pole. Fasten the V blocks about 12" apart on a 1x base that is wide enough to make it stable while holding the pole. Now lay the pole on the bench (or other flat surface) clamp it so it doesn't roll and lay a pencil down on the bench (flat) and scribe a line the length of the pole to use as a guide.

Now put the pole in the V blocks, mark the spacing you want between the holes and drill away. If you want you can line the V's with some double-back tape pieces to help keep the pole from rotating while you're drilling but I don't really think that or any clamping is necessarrry unless this is a very long pole.

Bob S.

In model rocketry we used to make straight lines on curved surfaces by holding the curved pole against a door jam and then drawing a straight line using the jam. Just my .02

That's where I learned that trick, too. Make sure you use a square part of the jamb, not the moulding. Unless you have a helper, use some masking tape to keep the rod from rolling around while you draw the line. Oh, and avoid doorjambs with dings--the ding will almost certainly be where you want to drill a hole. Sharpen your pencil, or use a knife. If you have a really fat rod, find something else to use, like the underside of a kitchen counter; it's hard to get the pencil where you want it if the rod diameter is too large relative to the depth of the jamb. DAMHIKT.

Chuck up a 1 1/2 inch boring bit. Drill through a 3/4 inch block of wood. Cut the hole in half on the table saw and a parallel line 1 inch opposite. Drill a hole at 90 degress for running your bit through. ASCII art to follow:

Perpendicular drill-hole (Put your pencil / drill bit through here) _________/________ | u | | _ | |_______/ \_______| \ 180 degrees of the 1 1/2 inch bit