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Tip
#25
Everything You Want To Know About Drilling
(continued)
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Pg. 1-3, Pg
4-6, Pg 7-9, Pg
10
Horizontal
Boring
Horizontal
Boring is, as it sounds, the process of boring holes in the
edges, faces or ends of workpieces with the drill bit approaching
the stock from the side, rather than the top. This procedure
is most commonly used for doweling operations, but can also
be used for drilling workpieces that are too long or wide
to be positioned conveniently between a conventional vertical
Drill Press worktable and the Drill Chuck. Let's take a quick
look at the three most common applications for Horizontal
Boring:
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Doweling
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Doweling
is the most frequently used application for Horizontal Boring.
With this operation, the workpiece is laid flat on the worktable
surface and the Rip Fence is used as a back-up to prevent
the stock from moving while drilling. Mark the locations of
your dowel holes on the mating pieces. Set your worktable
height so you're drilling at the approximate centerline. NOTE:
As long as you always keep the top (or bottom) surfaces of
ALL boards flat against the tabletop when drilling, it isn't
necessary for the holes to be centered perfectly on the edges
between the top and bottom surfaces .
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Doweling
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Another
doweling application involves reinforcing the mitered corners
of a cabinet frame or picture frame. In this application,
use your Miter Gauge to hold your workpiece in position while
you drill your mating dowel holes.
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Jig
Boring
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Jig
Boring. In this application, your workpiece is held in
position by a special jig or fixture while you drill your
hole. In our example, a quarter section of a circular project
component is held in a jig while dowel holes are drilled in
the mating ends.
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Jig
Boring
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End
Boring Long Workpieces. Sometimes, it's necessary to drill
holes in the ends of long workpieces. A couple of examples
of this procedure include lamp standards -- or joining long
or tall turned bedpost sections together. When this is necessary,
you can often use your worktable and Miter Gauge to form a
jig to hold your stock firmly in position while you drill
your hole. However, there are other times when this procedure
might not provide the precision you need. In those cases,
you may have to craft a special holding jig like the one shown
here.
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Jig
Boring
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This type
of fixture is perfect for drilling centered holes in either
round or square stock.
TIP:
If you're boring an extremely deep hole using a 12" or longer
bit, use a shorter, conventional bit to keep your initial
(“pilot”) hole on-track. Drill to the full depth
of this bit, then switch over to your longer bit. Your first
hole will serve as a guide for keeping your longer bit going
straight as you deepen the hole.
Continue
to Drill Press Safety
Back to Five Basic Drill Press Operations
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