Questions tagged [drilling]
The process of boring a hole into or through a piece of wood.
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How do I make a drill hole the same depth every time?
My drill press doesn't have a "stop".
How do I make a drill hole the same depth every time?
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How do I ensure my drill is perfectly vertical before cutting a hole in my desk?
I want to cut a hole in my desk (3/4" furniture grade plywood with an oak veneer) to run cables through. I'll be using a hole saw and my cordless drill. Since this is going to be very visible, I want ...
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What are the advantages of countersinking screws?
What are the advantages of drilling a countersink rather than just trying to force the screw head past the plane of the wood?
What are situations when you would or would not countersink?
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Why are keyed drill chucks still available for modern tools?
Barring support for older tools why are keyed chucks still manufactured? Hopefully not just in my own ignorance but I view keyless chucks as just a useful equivalent without being tethered to the need ...
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How do I drill a hole exactly in the center of a circle?
I have a 2" diameter, 11" length dowel. I want to drill a 5/16" hole exactly in the center of each end, 2" min depth. It needs to be precise because it is for axles that the dowel needs to spin freely ...
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How to cut the centre out of a large round of wood
I have a large round of wood (horizontal slice of a tree) which is about 20 inches across (circle diameter) and 8-9 inches deep.
I want to take the centre out of the wood, either by cutting a circle ...
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Replacing small drill bits without buying new sets (or preventing breaks)
It seems that every few months, I've broken all my pilot hole drill bits because they're so easy to break (and so frequently used). So, every few months, I buy a whole new pack of drill bits and throw ...
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Tiny core bits for broken screws
I have on several occasions broken screw heads in pieces where I can't readily access or cut into the joint they're securing. Is there such a thing as a tiny core drill bit for cutting around what's ...
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Best method for drilling a larger diameter hole at an angle
I spent the weekend making a simple wine rack out of cedar for my mother as a gift.
I drilled 1.5" holes in a cedar 2x6 to make something like this:
So to keep the bottles inverted (keep the cork ...
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Is this a specific kind of hand drill?
I have been collecting tools from my grandfather's old workshop. One of the items appears to be a hand drill. What is odd about this is that if you look up hand drill they either function similar to a ...
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Can I use a plungable router bit on a drill press?
I'm currently working on a cutting board. With a core box bit, I made rounded grooves close to the edges of the board. I would like to have bigger grooves on the corners. I'm thinking of using a ...
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How do I choose a drill press?
A drill press seems such an essential tool -- even outside of fine woodworking I have found need for it a great many times -- but as I dive into woodworking I see even more of a need for it. The ...
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What is the best way to enlarge a hole with my cordless drill?
Whenever I try to make a hole slightly larger with my cordless drill, the drill bit catches and wanders, and doesn't stay centered. Normally I use twist bits, but I'm pretty sure I would have the same ...
rob♦
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Why is my countersink bit making hexagonal holes?
Every time I use my countersink bit, it creates a hexagonal hole.
I've tried a hand drill, an electric drill, drilling fast, drilling slow, soft pressure, firm pressure - virtually every time it will ...
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Best method for drilling thousands of holes?
I make small hand-craft timber products from my garage and I've recently been approached by a wholesaler, who is looking to purchase large quantities of a very simple product I make.
The product is ...
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Drilling a straight, centered hole down square-cross-section bar stock?
I'm trying to drill a centered, straight hole in a piece without a big drill press and a bunch of clamps and brackets, which seems to be the usual way to do it. I can manage straight, but centered is ...
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Can you overwork an impact driver?
I recently got a 20v driver and impact driver set. Never had an impact driver before but I cannot imagine life without it. It makes it really hard to split wood by over driving and I love that.
But I ...
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Is there still a place for "hand drills" in a modern woodshop?
I've seen hand drills hanging on walls in restaurants and at rummage sales.
Is there still a place for "hand drills" in a modern woodshop?
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Why don't most modern drill presses use some form of VFD instead of manual belt-changes to adjust speed?
I was honestly surprised to see that most modern drill presses still use belts and pulleys (and the manual changing of them) to accomplish variable speeds. Does this design offer certain benefits that ...
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Drilling a hole parallel to the face in a tight area, right angle drilling?
I need to drill a precise hole into a small cavity which happens to the parallel to the face of the piece of wood. To better illustrate this I made a simple diagram to be absolutely clear on what I'm ...
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Do auger bits have advantages?
While not the focus of the question I wanted to point out that when it comes to drill presses I almost always see forstner bits suggested here at WW (for good reason of course).
Much to my surprise ...
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How to keep a hole saw together?
A few times I have purchased hole saw kits, there is one center piece and bunch of different sized saws every time I have tried to use one them by the second or third hole they are coming apart... It ...
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What size pilot hole should I drill for for a specific size of screw?
I am trying to install a safe using 8mm coach screws (legislation dictates this is the minimum required size) into Jarrah.
What size pilot holes should I drill? Is there a standard reference chart? I ...
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Long travel drill guide
I need to drill a 10mm hole 200mm through timber 50mm wide. If these dimensions sound odd it's for a pin through a right angle finger join to another piece of the same size.
I start centred 25mm from ...
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Best way to drill a concentric hole with a lathe
I'm new to turning and recently decided to make some pepper mills. Starting with squareish stock I roughed the pieces to round and then started drilling several concentric holes of different sizes ...
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Drilling very small holes in softwoods
Motivation:
Recently, I was restoring a small spice rack made of very thin and very soft wood (pine-like) - I unglued it, restored pieces and was about to glue it back together. I saw that the best ...
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Enlarging a Hole made by a Hole Saw
I drilled several holes in my desk to put some grommets using a 7/8" hole saw bit. Unfortunately, I realized afterwards that the hole was supposed to be 1" to fit my grommets.
Then, despite knowing ...
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How do I put a really long narrow straight hole in a piece of wood?
I tried using a really long thin drill bit that probably had a different purpose (like maybe drywall stuff) to put a hole in a tobacco pipe project. But the bit blew out the side of the wood because ...
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How do I drill greater than 7 inches in from the edge of my sheet of wood?
From the drill press's supporting pipe to the drill bit tip measures 5". I believe this limits me to drilling no farther than 5" in from any given side of my MDF sheet. Unfortunately, I need to drill ...
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Can I hammer 25.4mm x 300mm oak dowels into a 25mm hole?
I bought the oak dowels supplied as 25mm x 300mm to fix through three oak sleepers total height 300mm.
I then bought a 25mm auger bit.
When I just checked the dowels with a calibrated digital caliper, ...
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Is it a problem if my countersink bit is slightly larger than it needs to be?
I just want the ability to countersink (occasional use) and I have 6-7-8mm head screws and I'm buying a single 8.3mm countersink bit (Makita HSS P-73542 3 flute). But what's stopping me from not ...
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Drill a perfectly centred hole in a cylinder
I have to drill a perfectly centred hole in the flat part of a cylinder.I don't know how to do but I thought something like this:
I want to take a piece of wood and fix it at the base of the drill ...
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Are drill guides supposed to be zero-clearance?
I bought the following drill guide so that I can make perpendicular holes in wood.
Even using this tool, I failed and I am wondering if the problem is my technique, or if I have bought a faulty piece....
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How do I fix chuck wobble in my drill press?
My drill press has a slight wobble in the chuck that makes it difficult to line up the contact point of the bit and the wood when it is rotating (on a 1/8 inch bit the wobble is roughly the width of ...
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Not sure how to successfully drill these pieces
I'm trying to drill two pieces of wood similar to the angled pieces marked in blue. However, I'm not sure how to clamp these and can't drill them straight without the wood slipping. What's the best ...
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How to cool hole saw
I am currently trying to work on a project that involves piercing a lot of large-diameter (~38mm) holes in rather thick (~5cm) bamboo board sheets.
For that, I am using a hole saw. However, I ran ...
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How to make a heptagonal construction set?
I want to make a construction set with rods and nodes similar to Zome or K'nex or Tinkertoys. Mine will be in entirely in the plane and based on heptagonal (7-fold) symmetry. (In fact, I'd like ...
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How do you drill concentric holes of different diameters on a drill press?
Often times I need to drill maybe a 1/4" hole, all the way through the piece, and then a 3/8" or 1/2" hole half way through the piece in the same spot. It is often imperative that these holes are ...
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countersinking screws
I still don't understand about countersinking screws. I have been in lowes and home depot and have never seen packages that say countersinking screws. I still don't know the purpose of countersinking ...
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When should I use a tapered drill bit vs straight drill bit for countersinking wood screws?
I looking to buy a set of countersink bits and I'm seeing both tapered and non-tapered versions. Is this personal preference or is there a reason to use one other the other? I mostly work with ...
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How to bore a hole in a shotgun stock that already has an off center hole in it?
I would like advice on how to drill or bore a 7/8" hole in the butt of a shotgun stock. It already has a hole in it that is off center of the hole I wish to bore. I need to bore the hole so that it is ...
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Drilling through 3/4" MDF?
I want to drill 48 dog holes through 3/4" MDF.
I tried Forstner and spade bits. The Forstner did fine but heated up and became dull. The spade bit left a jagged edge on hole top.
What bit would be ...
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2
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Aligning entry and exit side of drawbores
I don't have a drill press, so when drilling a long hole, I'll typically drill from both sides, as close as I can eyeball being orthogonal to the surface, and meet in the middle. This way, the series ...
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How to accurately drill into end grain of a 20 inch table leg
I have a table leg that was connected to the table top with mortise and tenon and tenon broke off. As part of the repair I'd like to put in a dowel through leg and table top and wood glue the whole ...
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Drilling a hole in end of spindle
What's the best way to drill a hole in the end of a short spindle (maybe 8")? Mine is already turned and does not look like it would be so easy to clamp to. Is there a jig I can make to hold the ...
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How to make a 3/4" flat bottomed hole?
I recently bought a 1/2" 2 flute end mill bit, which fits in my table top drill press (1/2" chuck). I'm making perfectly flat bottomed holes (won't be seen in the final project) that go almost all the ...
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When should I use high speed and when lower speed with a drill press?
I have a drill press with variable speed adjustment. It is provided with a graph showing the maximum rotation speed for aluminium and steel based on drilling diameter. I can get the wood graph by ...
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Are very thin drill bits actually safe?
I was looking for a thin 2mm drill bit. When I asked a manufacturer why their thinnest drill bit was 3mm, they said because drill bits are fragile if you make them too thin.
With that in mind, can you ...
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How to use a very large Forstner-style bit
This Forstner bit is 92mm in diameter, it's very large. I need to make a clean hole into a block of wood.
Looks a bit dangerous, or looks like there's a risk to break the bit or tool.
So how am I ...
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How to maintain consistency when drilling many holes in plywood
I am building a home climbing wall to a very specific third party specification, and I need to drill 610 individual 7/16" holes through 3/4" plywood.
Are there any tools I could use (either rentable ...
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