Jump to content
🎄 🎄 🎄 2024 Custom Ornament Business Kit - Now Available - SALE 50% Off Through Dec. 2nd ×
Ornaments For Charity eBook - Designers Wanted! ​​​​​​​🙏 ×

45° angle drilling guide.


tgiro

Recommended Posts

As I'm constantly making "Bowls-from-boards" I'm always having to drill holes at a 45° angle. I've made a couple of jigs,with limited success, but they are far from perfect. I have seen jigs & guides on the web (some thing like this - https://www.amazon.com/ANGLE-DRILL-GUIDE-increments-settings/dp/B006ZBCS1M ), but I wonder if they are more gadgets that work sometimes.

Has anyone used anything like this, and, if so what are your recommendations? Or, is there a made jig that you have used with good success?

I have some angle jigs that work very well, but, when you're drilling 35° or more, they fail.

Any good recommendations?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I recently purchased the plunge router base from StewMac.  They had a sale on - two for one. It actually ended up being a little cheaper than buying just the plunge router base.  The second piece was their tilting base.  I haven't tried it yet.  https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-tools-and-supplies/types-of-tools/routers-and-bits/stewmac-tilt-router-base.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've seen plans somewhere for a jig that is hinged and holds the angled setting by tightening a wing nut or threaded knob. I think the used a friction hinge for the angle stop and regular butt hinges for the joint. Set the desired angle , mark you spot, center punch it to keep the bit from walking, drill the hole.  If it gets to work out or used up, you only have to make the top to replace. Hope this helps.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What we need is an accessory that clamps to the upper arm of the scroll saw.  This way we can reuse the same tilt mechanism. We dont have to set 2 tools for same angle. 

For the Hawk the upper arm already has a spring mechanism to have the drill motor act as plunge spring.  So a sturdy clamp for small drill motor would simpify the accessory. The upper arm already has side to side sturdiness built in also. 

The depth of drill will need to adjustable but the upper arm already moves the maximum drill depth. 

Can a seyco drill motor be adapted to this kind of clamping  accessory? For other types of saw upper arms maybe the spring plung will be needed. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What Wayne described.... Rockler has plans for a tilting base to be added to a drill press. https://www.rockler.com/tilting-table-for-the-drill-press-plan

Here's a simple drill guide that might be what you need https://www.amazon.com/Muzata-Installation-Horizontal-Drilling-Template/dp/B083Q8K2N5

You didn't say what size holes you needed. But when I work on tables and make those corner blocks that go between aprons and hold the legs I find forstner bits work much better drilling angled holes than your other types of bits.

Edited by oldhudson
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've only done a couple of things where I had my table tilted or needed an angled hole. What I did was just cut a small piece of 1 x a couple of inches long and then cut it at the angle I needed. I clearly marked it at what angle it is and put it aside for the next time I needed that angle.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, barb.j.enders said:

I recently purchased the plunge router base from StewMac.  They had a sale on - two for one. It actually ended up being a little cheaper than buying just the plunge router base.  The second piece was their tilting base.  I haven't tried it yet.  https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-tools-and-supplies/types-of-tools/routers-and-bits/stewmac-tilt-router-base.html

StewMac makes the finest tools! You will love it. This is what I use. One hand operation and deadly accurate.

1-20210211_122217.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Let me clarify a bit. I have to use small bits I trey to use sizes between #50 - #57. The very largest I use is a 1/16" - sometimes a 1mm or 2mm. These bits are very short. The drill press chuck is big enough that it hits the wood before the hole is complete, when using the smaller bits.

I have tried the jig from the video Jerry suggested - Thank you, Jerry. The issue with that one is that it covers the spot where I'm supposed to drill and the thickness of the jig prevented to small bits from completing the hole.

Here is a couple of pictures of my current drill press jig, which works mostly. It's OK with a 1/16th" bit or the 1mm & 2mm. The smaller bits don't complete the hole before the chuck hits the wood. I have tried to find a smaller chuck, that I could clamp into the DP chuck, but I can't find on that holds drill bits less than 1/16th".

drill-jig 1.jpg

drill-jig 2.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, tgiro said:

Let me clarify a bit. I have to use small bits I trey to use sizes between #50 - #57. The very largest I use is a 1/16" - sometimes a 1mm or 2mm. These bits are very short. The drill press chuck is big enough that it hits the wood before the hole is complete, when using the smaller bits.

I have tried the jig from the video Jerry suggested - Thank you, Jerry. The issue with that one is that it covers the spot where I'm supposed to drill and the thickness of the jig prevented to small bits from completing the hole.

Here is a couple of pictures of my current drill press jig, which works mostly. It's OK with a 1/16th" bit or the 1mm & 2mm. The smaller bits don't complete the hole before the chuck hits the wood. I have tried to find a smaller chuck, that I could clamp into the DP chuck, but I can't find on that holds drill bits less than 1/16th".

drill-jig 1.jpg

drill-jig 2.jpg

Just purchase a Dremel chuck and chuck it up in the big drill chuck. I can hold #80 bits in it. Have done it for years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From your picture, it appears that you should be able to lower your d/p table so that your workpiece is closer to the top of the jig and give you the most depth of drilling. Not sure what thickness you are working with but I'm assuming 3/4" if it's for bowls. Those tiny bits are really short but I would think if you could lower the table or raise the project wood up higher, it would allow you to drill deeper.

 

Edited by octoolguy
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/25/2021 at 9:00 AM, tgiro said:

As I'm constantly making "Bowls-from-boards" I'm always having to drill holes at a 45° angle. I've made a couple of jigs,with limited success, but they are far from perfect. I have seen jigs & guides on the web (some thing like this - https://www.amazon.com/ANGLE-DRILL-GUIDE-increments-settings/dp/B006ZBCS1M ), but I wonder if they are more gadgets that work sometimes.

Has anyone used anything like this, and, if so what are your recommendations? Or, is there a made jig that you have used with good success?

I have some angle jigs that work very well, but, when you're drilling 35° or more, they fail.

Any good recommendations?

Hi my friend and myself were discussing this very topic last week and what we do is to use a drill press that has a tilting table. we set the table to the required degree and then drill to our hearts content no problems all the holes are the same angle.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/25/2021 at 10:09 AM, preprius said:

What we need is an accessory that clamps to the upper arm of the scroll saw.  This way we can reuse the same tilt mechanism. We dont have to set 2 tools for same angle. 

For the Hawk the upper arm already has a spring mechanism to have the drill motor act as plunge spring.  So a sturdy clamp for small drill motor would simpify the accessory. The upper arm already has side to side sturdiness built in also. 

The depth of drill will need to adjustable but the upper arm already moves the maximum drill depth. 

Can a seyco drill motor be adapted to this kind of clamping  accessory? For other types of saw upper arms maybe the spring plung will be needed. 

FAILED attempt #1.

Clamp drill motor to upper arm. Use upper arm to act like plunging mechanism. That is just push arm down to drill. 

Failure was my clamp structure was not 90deg.   drill won't go straight even it I did have 90deg. 

Next attempt will be to use the fixed bar (on the other side) and add plunging mechanism. Change drilling motor to smaller device.

 

 

20210429_132937.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The drill guide that you originally posted will not do what you need, nor will the 2 or 3 others on the market of similar design. A small drill press with a special smaller drill chuck in the larger chuck will hold the very small sizes of drill bits. Tilting the drill press table to the desired angle and building a wooden stop to hold your work piece in the needed position on the drill press table will be needed. Then you will have the difficulty of keeping the small drill bit from walking off position as you attempt to start it into the work. Only very slow feeding and care will get your drilled hole in the correct place without the drill bit walking, unless you buy a very small center drill to use first to make a starting hole for the drill bit to give the drill bit an accurate location to begin drilling the desired hole, will completely avoid the drill bit walking problem. It's easy to drill a hole at 90 deg to your work surface, but considerably more difficult to drill a hole when the work piece must be drilled at an angle. 

Centering drill bits can be purchased in many sizes and lengths from industrial suppliers like Grainger, Johnstone Supply, McMaster Supply, W. T. Tool, Etc. They will have the smaller drill chucks to adapt your drill press chuck to the smaller drill bits too.

Charley

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When I drill very small holes and need them to start in a certain spot, I just use a good size pin or my little ice pick to make a start hole.  And if you have to use a second chuck to hold your small bits.... get a good one,, don't go real cheap... I have yet to find one that didn't wobble.  One of the things I like most about my Jet drill press,,, the chuck closes all the way... It will hold the tiny bits.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...