25 years of building pedals and I still can't drill an enclosure!

[Rodgre]

So frustrating....

I must be lacking in some serious patience when it comes to drilling my boxes. I think I'm doing everything I should. I've even made universal drilling guide/templates to fit my boxes into when I'm at the drill press and somehow I still get %^&*eyed holes.

I think the hardest element to deal with is the fact that all of the die-cast enclosures are rounded at the edges and slightly sloped on the sides and even with my best computer-designed layout, box measuring, center-punching and pilot hole drilling, I still can't seem to get this down.

The only things that I can see that I could improve upon are:
A: having a friend make me precision drilling guide/templates on a CNC machine
B: using a mini drill-press for my Dremel tool when I make pilot holes (I usually do it by hand/eye once I've made center-punch marks).
C: starting with a 1/16" bit on my full-size drill press when I start making real holes. Then use a stepper or actual size bits.

I'm really just venting, because I know that if I got down to it, it's really just that I have to measure three or four times and drill slowly to get it right, but my impatience just gets the best of me. I am so sick of that feeling that I'm sort of wasting a box when I realize that I've drilled another %^&*eyed hole.

To all of you with beautifully drilled boxes, I envy your patience greatly.

Roger

[kurtlives]

What I do...

Meausre three times drill once.
Use the ruler but let your eyes be the final guide.
Centre bunch the marked holes first.
Slowly work your way up to the final sizw bit (this has helped me a ton).
I always use a drill press with titanium bits.

[guilds100]

I know where your coming from. I too could not drill a straight series of holes to save my life. After ruining a few prepainted boxes i broke down and had a local machine shop build me a jig for drilling holes in 125 sized boxes. I thought it was rather expensive, but after drilling 5 boxes flawlessly, I realized it was well worth the money. I use the exact sized bit for each hole with no pilot hole needed. I am so pleased that I'm going to have them make another jig for other box sizes. One word of advise is not to let the sticker shock scare you away. The precision is well worth the cost.

[Rodgre]

What ballpark would you say that the machine shop charged you?

I have made some jigs for myself, but even those where initially drilled by hand/eye measuring. I have a friend who works at a sign shop that can probably make me a nice drilling jig on their CNC machine, but I feel like it's overkill and I'm just not taking my time enough.

Roger

[davent]

I've found the main cause of my problems are usually the result of dull drill bits, make sure you've got a good quality sharp bit for at least the pilot holes, it'll make a world of difference. That and everything kurtlives suggests, but at the very minimum centre punch and a sharp bit go a long ways. I find this helpful for getting the center punch where it's suppose to be.

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=45502&cat=1,42936,50298

dave

[The Iron Chef]

+1 on sharp drill bits.  Also do yourself a favor the next time that you buy new bits. Buy "split point" style bits. Very self centering and Very very low axial pressure needed to cut.



hth
-Keith

[frank_p]

Some advices:

Your tip of the drill bit should be well centered, otherwise your bit will "walk" on the box.
There are some home sharpening machine that you can buy for not much.
The drilling "rig" should be as tight as possible; the boxes must not move at all.  If not consider putting shims between the boxes and the sides.
Use vise grip or C-clamp to secure your guide/rig on the table of the press drill.
Center your rig on (drill in the pilot hole), then clamp.
Be sure that the chuck of the drill is WELL CENTERED in the machine and on the drill bit.
Check for loose bearings on the pressdrill.

The slope or rounded edges should not be a reason not to be able to drill where you want (not that small angle could make things a problem).

[skiraly017]

Watch for sales at Sears. I bought a very nice drill press (much more than I need for drilling boxes) for I think $79 on sale.

Sears 10" Laser Guided Drill Press

[John Lyons]

Some of my tips.

Sharp bits (as mentioned already )

Printing out your template on a transparency sheet (clear plastic)
so you can see through the template easier to line up. (thanks Jack Orman!)
Make a couple small tape loops to hold the template down (re-usable)

Take a drywall screw (seem to be harder than other screws) and center
punch your hole marks. A small nail set would work fine as well.

Use a small pilot hole, 1/16" works fine for me. Work up drill sizes then
if you need to use a inibit start with that after around 1/4" till you get to your desired size.

Keep in mind that a lot of cheapie knobs are off center...argh!!!

john

[Mark Hammer]

laser guided drill press

spring-loaded centre punch

all dirt and shavings cleared from the drill press to make a level support for the chassis

decent lighting

good vision (and maybe some cheap reading glasses to help out)

a sharp bit

a steady hand or a drill press vise

a piece of plywood or something similar underneath the chassis/vise so that it doesn't slide around


All of these are helpful.  I find sometimes it also helps to drill a smaller hole first and then a larger one.  That's one of the nice things about step drill bits: the smaller hole doesn't grab at the box quite as much and jerk it from your steady grip.  Once the smaller hole is done, the subsequent enlargements of that hole are self-centering.

[earthtonesaudio]

Be cautious with pilot holes.  If the new hole is only slightly larger than the pilot hole, bits will want to wobble and you can end up with a triangle-shaped hole.  Doesn't seem to be a problem with step-drills, but I don't know why.

[soggybag]

A spring loaded punch helps. But, It has been my experience that the drill always skates a little to one side or another. Even if you have a good starting punch. The drill always seems to drill a little more to one side. Sometimes you get one right on, but often no matter what you do the hole will be off by a small margin. Of course the prep that you put in can make margin smaller.

That said, I can offer a solution. This may not be the most efficient solution, and it may not work for everybody. What I do is mark the hole with a punch, then drill it a little smaller than needed. If it looks like it's right on, I drill it out to the right size. If not I use hand tools to round the hole out and make it centered. I work the hole on the side that it's off using a round file and a hand reamer.

[guilds100]

What ballpark would you say that the machine shop charged you?

I have made some jigs for myself, but even those where initially drilled by hand/eye measuring. I have a friend who works at a sign shop that can probably make me a nice drilling jig on their CNC machine, but I feel like it's overkill and I'm just not taking my time enough.

Roger

My 125 jig was $150. It has 1/2 plate steel top and 1/4 sides. The fit is so precise that i cant put a playing card on each side of the box while in the jig. I had gone through 3 different predrilled pedals from pedalpartsplus until I got the spacing exactly where I wanted it. Then i gave those measure to the shop. The sides are angled to match the box. I settled for a 5 knobs in an X pattern ( mind you that not all holes will be drilled for all pedals), a 3mm led at the top, a 5mm bezel sized hole above the switch hole (possible future use), the switch, input output and ac power are on the sides. When i asked how close the tolerances would be he said 1 mil. I thought he meant 1 millimeter and was alittle leary as I could almost accomplish that. He replay, no 1/1000th on an inch, or 1/30th of a millimeter.  That was all i needed to hear. With this jig, I could use a hand drill and achieve complete perfection. The holes are so tight, I found my drill press to be off by 1/4 degree from 90 and had to level it or the bit wouldn't go through. If anythingelse, the jig will level your drill press. 

[ayayay!]

There's always the poor man's approach:  Use a pedal you did a great job on as your template. 

Empty the guts, flip it over so the top sides of the 2 enclosures are "mating" then sharpie your holes onto the new ones. Viola!  Template is done.   (This is assuming you're using the same sized enclousures of course.)

...and a grain of salt of course...

[selectortone]

Drill your holes slightly oversize. The extra wiggle room allows you to line up your pots precisely with a straight edge.

[ayayay!]

Slowly work your way up to the final sizw bit (this has helped me a ton).

Hey kurtlives, you're saying smallest to largest? 

Selectortone is right too.  I always oversize my holes for pots.  DON'T do that with your DC jack or LED though. 

[hday]

Printing out your template on a transparency sheet (clear plastic)
so you can see through the template easier to line up. (thanks Jack Orman!)

You could take this idea one step further and CNC some thick plexiglass with your drilling template. You can see exactly where you're placing your template, you can see if the bit is cutting right, and plexi is going to be cheaper than thick steel.

You could also make a vertical drilling jig. Take a really square block of wood, like 3x3x3, and pick the flattest side as your bottom. Then, using a drill press, drill a hole the size of your bit straight down through the middle of the block. You could make a wider bottom that you could put clamps on to clamp the jig to your enclosure, but you could just hold it flush. Your bit will be perfectly upright, and it's free if you have spare wood lying around.

[BrianJ]

Some kind of cutting fluid can do wonders as well.  At the very least it will help those sharp bits stay sharp.

[kurtlives]

Slowly work your way up to the final sizw bit (this has helped me a ton).

Hey kurtlives, you're saying smallest to largest? 

Selectortone is right too.  I always oversize my holes for pots.  DON'T do that with your DC jack or LED though. 

Ya...

I start with a tiny little sharp bit (always my starter bit). The work my way up. It can be a bit time consuming as sometimes I have to change bits three times.

For the really big holes I get to 1/4" then just use a reamer.

[petemoore]

  I used a paper grid template I made.
  Piece of paper cut to match the 2 top dimensions, then folded in half, those halfs folded in half etc. until I have a grid of symmetric and evenly spaced squares and 'X's.
  It is easy to adjust both or one side from there.
  Once marked for drilling the template gets taped squarely on the top, and I use a small hammer and punch to precisely start the drillbits [actually I just go really really slow drill speed and hold drill at exact 90 degree angles]..I got a free Varibit for buying a Varibit, it sure comes in handy.