USING SMALL DRILLS

By John Castle and other members

A perennial problem when drilling through wood with small drills is that they tend to wander and follow the grain, particularly end grain.

The answer, Proxon, Dremel, Minicraft and others sell very small milling bits from 1 to 3 mm. If these are used instead of a drill, it will be found that they will drill accurately and cleanly through the toughest of woods. There is a limit to the depth of the holes they will drill, but they will provide a pilot hole of ½” or so. If deeper holes are needed, change over to a drill bit. The support provided by the pilot hole should ensure that the problem has been overcome.

DRILLING DOWELS

Dowels can be particularly difficult to drill accurately when making hubs. A small jig can provide the answer however.

Scrap material is ideal for making the jig.

Top piece
Clamp a piece of hard wood (about 10mm thick) over a piece of ply (to protect the drill table) and drill half way through it using a drill the SAME SIZE AS THE DOWEL. Without disturbing the clamped material, change the drill bit to one the same size as THE BORE SIZE OF THE HUB and drill the rest of the way through the material. Remove the clamp and cut the material to a suitable size, say 25mm square.

Bottom piece
Repeat the operation above for the bottom piece. The BORE SIZE HOLE may then be used as a registration point for drilling hubs of the same size in the future.

Usage
Register the bottom jig using the hub-bore size drill and clamp it firmly to the drill table.
Place the dowel into the 5 mm hole ensuring that it is vertical and put the top jig onto the dowel thus centralising the top. The hub bore may now be drilled accurately through the pilot hole.

MIXING ARALDITE

Mixing Araldite can be a messy business. A simple solution is to cut strips approximately 2" X 1" from scrap glass. These are easily stored and disposed of after use.

HOLDING THIN WOOD AND SMALL PARTS

"Measure twice" and cut once is well known but equally important is the motto " Making double spells trouble".

The answer is to use double sided selotape to hold the part in place, either for planing to a thin profile or holding two pieces together when drilling.