Is there a better way to drill these holes?

[John Loftis]

I've just finished a project and have been wondering if there might have been a better way to do it. The project required drilling numerous holes at about a 60 degree angle.

The way I did it was to create a couple of jigs using 3/4" plywood, use the benchtop drill press to cut the holes in the jig, then use my corded drill to drill each hole by hand. It took me over 20 hours to drill the holes, and just about wore out my drill. The templates got pretty chewed up over time, so the jig became less useful after drilling a couple hundred holes. Relied more on muscle memory than anything else after a while.

In case the guy orders more of these, and to satisfy my curiosity, is there a better/faster way?

I bet there are numerous tools for drilling shelf hole pins, but those are perpendicular to the wood surface. Really curious if there's something that can drill holes quick at non-perpendicular angles.

Holes were 9/32", by the way.

Any thoughts?

Pics are of jig and of the finished poles.

John

[harry strasil]

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=42322&cat=1,180,42311,42321&ap=1

[Matt Day]

Can't you just tilt the table on the drill press to the correct angle and move the piece through? Mark out the hole locations and maybe use a punch to start the bit so it doesn't wander.

[Brian Holvenstot]

To save the drill, I would try and tilt the table on the drill press and set up a sled to support the workpiece. I would still use the template because it would help with tear out while drilling at an angle.

Otherwise, maybe a thicker template and bit would do the trick. The reason it is getting so chewed up is because bit wants to walk in the hole. If the template was 1.5" thick instead of .75" the top of the hole would be more on the shaft of the bit and support the drill almost buy itself.

[John Loftis]

Harry, next time I'm going to ask first, drill second! That would have made life so much easier.

I bet there's some kind of fancy machine that punches out holes automatically, but the guide you referenced would have been right in my budgetary sweet spot.

There might have been a way to make my little drill press work, but I couldn't see how. I was drilling 5' 4X4's, so the act of muscling those things along the angled bed proved to be way too slow. It was a two-man operation just to drill the jigs on the drill press. Tough to get each hole lined up precisely.

[John Loftis]

Great points, Brian. One of my challenges with the template was that at that angle, the 3/4" jig took up (give or take) 2 inches of bit. If I'd doubled up the ply, I wouldn't have had any bit coming through the other side. I might have been able to find a really long-shanked bit, but that probably would have been expensive, particularly for a one-off project.

Since I had to drill 4,000 holes, speed was really important. I ended up laying all the 4X4's next to each other on a table, clamping down my jig (seemed to help with tearout), and drilling like a madman.

At the end of it, I was sore in places I didn't even know I had places.

[Wes Grass]

You need a 'radial drill press'. Something like this:

http://grizzly.com/products/5-Speed-Bench-Top-Radial-Drill-Press/G7945

Sears has (or had) one also.

If you're stuck with a hand drill, you can make wear resistant fixtures by using hardened drill bushings. Available in all sizes, and various styles from McMaster-Carr among others.

[Simon Dupay]

Get a Milwaukee Holeshooter much easier then the B&D!:D

[Mark Smith, too]

Both Rockler and Woodcraft carry a drill guide package that has various sized steel inserts that will fit different sized drills. I've seen similar drill guides sold separately but can't remember where. I'll bet McMaster-Carr carries them. You could buy a couple and fix them into an angled block of wood, then create an indexing system using the last drilled holes to align for your next pair. Still requires a decent power drill and a lot of work. I'd use a brad point bit so that it would cut the leading edge on the angle and reduce the possibility of bit wander (I'll bet you already had that one figured out).

Personally using one of those drill guide contraptions (I've used them) will just frustrate you more.