How do I drill a 3/16" hole through the center of a 1/2" dowel?

[dennis thompson]

I am building a pirate ship for my grandson. The masts are 1/2" dowels and the wooden sails attach to the masts with short pieces of 3/16" dowels through the sail and into the mast. I have drilled the holes and while I can get the hole in the center of the dowel on the entrance, the exit hole is not centered, anyone have any suggestions on how to drill these holes centered in the front and back?
thanks

[Rick Moyer]

If I understand correctly, drill a 1/2" hole through a wood block, insert your dowel and drill 3/16" hole through the whole assembly, clamped sufficiently to hold everything in place while drilling.

[Joe Bradshaw]

I would try using a vee block clampled to the drill press table. I would only have about 3/4" of the drill bit sticking out of the chuck. Hope this helps.
Joe

[Mike Cutler]

Dennis

How deep do you need to drill ?
What types of machines do you own?

A jig designed to center, support, and align, the dowel on a drill press would be my first thought. After that, a drill chuck mounted in the tailstock of a lathe would be an option. Speed, in rpm is important also.

[Steve Demuth]

What tools do you have to work with?

[glenn bradley]

Yep, v-block. Confirm your bit to table angle is perpendicular front to back and left to right.

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This one is out of a scrap of pecan but, any well milled piece of hardwood will do.

[Bill Dufour]

If you have one of those doweling jigs it might work.
Bill

[dennis thompson]

Thanks for the replies , I can now move forward, unfortunately here in NJ ,(and many other places) it's 15 degrees and even with the heat on in my garage shop, it's too cold to work out there. Luckily there are several good college football games on today :).

[Josh Lucus]

The drill is going to follow the end grain. Make a v-block type locating jig and drill the dowel from both ends.
How long is the dowel?

[Gregory King]

Or drill a 1/2" hole in a solid flat block. Insert the dowel. Then drill the 3/16" hole. Then push the dowel thru.

[Prashun Patel]

If you only have to do one, then you can mark both sides of the hole, and then come in from each side. You save yourself potential blow out too.

It will be accurate enough for a toy.

[roger wiegand]

I'd do it the other way around. Drill a hole through a block of wood the right length (a litte long, so you can square it up when done), mount the block on a lathe using conical drives to center it, then turn it down to the required diameter. That will guarantee a perfectly centered hole.
Very hard to do precisely with a drill.

[Lee Schierer]

I would use a brad point drill bit as they tend to wander less than conventional twist drills following the procedure recommended by Rick.

[Mike Henderson]

I drill the hole in a larger piece of wood, letting it come out where it may. Then I put the piece of wood in my lathe, using the hole at each end for the centers (head and tail) on the lathe, and then turn the piece of wood down to size. In your case, 1/2 inch.

Mike

[Jerry Miner]

The drill is going to follow the end grain. Make a v-block type locating jig and drill the dowel from both ends.
How long is the dowel?


I'd do it the other way around. Drill a hole through a block of wood the right length (a litte long, so you can square it up when done), mount the block on a lathe using conical drives to center it, then turn it down to the required diameter. That will guarantee a perfectly centered hole.
Very hard to do precisely with a drill.


I drill the hole in a larger piece of wood, letting it come out where it may. Then I put the piece of wood in my lathe, using the hole at each end for the centers (head and tail) on the lathe, and then turn the piece of wood down to size. In your case, 1/2 inch.

Mike

I think the OP wants to cross-drill his dowel, not end-drill it. V-block is the answer, IMHO.

[Ole Anderson]

You need to use a sharp pointed brad point drill as Lee suggested. A standard bit will wander and follow the grain. I would, however, go with Rick's suggestion of drilling a 1/2" hole through a (hard) wood block (steel would be ideal, but much more difficult) then cross drill the wood block to act as a guide that will lend a lot of stability to the bit as it enters the dowel.

[Edwin Santos]

Hi,
I'm not sure you need quite this level of accuracy, but here is an interesting video on a metalworker's technique for doing this at precise top dead center of round stock:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ou-nyVd5hw

You could adapt this technique in a number of ways to simplify it for your purposes.

[dennis thompson]

I would try using a vee block clampled to the drill press table. I would only have about 3/4" of the drill bit sticking out of the chuck. Hope this helps.
Joe

I made a vee block and with my drill press and a brad point bit it worked perfectly.
Thanks