Drilling in a Straight Line (by hand)

[BRingoC]

HA! Good luck!  But seriously, I have drilled all my enclosures by hand with a stepped drill bit and a hand drill and I have to say it will take proper marking and measuring, followed by a bit of practice, then a bit of luck.  1, measure and mark with a sharpie or pen, do not eyeball it. 2, you won't get it right the first time, you need to know how the drill will react.  3, you can't accurately predict how the drill will react and you are going to end up with what you end up with. That being said, most of my enclosures are a tad off, but I like em.  Good luck.  Drilling by hand is a sort of "warts and all" method of making the boxes, if you want it really perfect I think you will really need a drill press.

[hday]

+1 on the center punch. The "auto-punch" type are really horrible IMO because they have a tendency to float around. My preference is a punch with a sharp, low profile point. A well kept punch will mark much easier, float less and make a cleaner point without damaging the surrounding metal.

[jacobyjd]

I measure, mark, and punch. Those steps take more than twice as long as drilling.

If I drilled a lot of enclosures the same way, I'd build a jig, but since I've laid out pretty much every project I've done with a different control scheme (try a parabola!), I just haven't gotten around to it.

[Focalized]

I've gotten pretty good at it. I've never punched. If I barely pull the trigger on my drill it moves very slow. I can push hard and get an accurate starting point without the point moving. Easier if a box is already roughly sanded and not smooth.

[G. Hoffman]

You don't say if you are using a hand drill or a drill press.  If a hand drill, well, good luck. 

But with the drill press, one of the problems a lot of people have with small bits is they like to bend (which, by the way, is also when you will break them!)  If you don't drop it down perfectly into your punch hole, it can and will wander all over the place until it finds it, and will go in at an angle, which messes up your alignment.  So, as you are lowering the drill bit, get things as close as humanly possible, but when the bit actually makes contact, LET GO of the work piece.  I know, it sounds weird.  But the thing is, you absolutely do not want to let the drill cut when you are not holding it, so just as you make contact, stop feeding the drill press, and give the workpiece half a moment to center itself under the spindle of your drill press.  THEN, grab the workpiece again, and start feeding the drill again. 

It will work wonders on both your accuracy and the longevity of your drill bits, because you won't be bending them when you feed.  This is, of course, much less of an issue with larger bits, but little bits can wander all over the place before they start to cut if you force them to drill off center.


Gabriel

[T1bbles]

You don't say if you are using a hand drill or a drill press.  If a hand drill, well, good luck. 

But with the drill press, one of the problems a lot of people have with small bits is they like to bend (which, by the way, is also when you will break them!)  If you don't drop it down perfectly into your punch hole, it can and will wander all over the place until it finds it, and will go in at an angle, which messes up your alignment.  So, as you are lowering the drill bit, get things as close as humanly possible, but when the bit actually makes contact, LET GO of the work piece.  I know, it sounds weird.  But the thing is, you absolutely do not want to let the drill cut when you are not holding it, so just as you make contact, stop feeding the drill press, and give the workpiece half a moment to center itself under the spindle of your drill press.  THEN, grab the workpiece again, and start feeding the drill again. 

It will work wonders on both your accuracy and the longevity of your drill bits, because you won't be bending them when you feed.  This is, of course, much less of an issue with larger bits, but little bits can wander all over the place before they start to cut if you force them to drill off center.


Gabriel

I drill by hand, don't really have the expendible for a press atm.

One thing I've been wondering is any reasonably priced drills will only hold drill bits for metal up to 10mm diameter. So how do you drill for 12mm DC plugs and footswitches? The way I'm currently doing it is to drill a conventional 10mm hole, at which point I rather primitively swivel the bit around in the hole to widen it to 12mm~. Produces an awfully rough hole, all I can say is thank god for overly large plastic washers.

[davent]

What you want is a step bit, such as a unibit and some hand reamers.

dave

[T1bbles]

What you want is a step bit, such as a unibit and some hand reamers.

dave

Bloody 'ell they look like somethin' out of a Nine Inch Nails video!

I'll get right on it!

[humptydumpty]

i just bought a spring loaded center punch from harbor freight, around 3 bucks

[G. Hoffman]

Absolutely on the step drills, though I wouldn't want to use them without a drill press.  You can also find regular twist bits with stepped shafts so they fit in a 3/8" chuck. 

That said, I really don't think you will ever be happy with your holes until you get a drill press.  Drilling metal by hand is just too finicky.  You can hand drill wood OK, because you get through it much faster, but metal - I just can't see doing it. 

Of course, I've had access to a drill press basically since I was born, so I suppose I just never really developed all that much technique with a hand drill.  I still don't see how it could be done.


Gabriel

[$uperpuma]

I taped up the wings of the slide so they wouldn't scratch the box. I get pretty good precision with this and the fine tip Sharpie. Even when I do a paper template, I measure with this to be sure its on straight. Once marked, I drill a pilot hole with a 1/16th bit. That usually gets me on the right track.  I use the cheap harbor freight drill press.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=93684

[petemoore]

  Can't be careful enough, especially without the 'right tools.
  Pocket knife or CNC, it's all in the technique.
  Sometimes I could square and score the inside [large box plate before bending], that makes 1 dimension easy enough for the bit to find.
  I lost the punch a long while back, so I start with a smallsize, sharp, yet stout bit, 1:1 revolutions per second, real square and good pressure, they come out as precise as the mark.
  Screw a block on a Raco plate, 1/2 way across or so, the plate sits on the box, the block touches the side of the box past where the roundover is. Drill small-ish hole in the plate, this is your template/guide to get knobs all in perfect row, all equal distances from any side. drill a second hole for offset or second row of knobs. Make sure the stop-block and plate have enough distance on each side of all the holes so the guide always has good footing.
   You'll have to mark the <> dimension, then center the guide hole over it.
  Drill a buncha holes in a plate until you have the perfect dimension for the 2 pots you want to be 'very adjacent', use this as a guide to make a new template. Starting from right side, then left side, working toward the middle, centering is even, mark a hole, center the left hole over the mark, mark through the right hole, center the left hole over the new mark, mark right hole.
  Fold paper to get approximate dimensions, and or use X's to create a grid or graph.
  You are not allowed to go slightly off a crossmark unless it somehow still maintains near perfect symmetry.
  The box with the ~slight offset may someday be easily recognized and famous because of the assymetric potholes.

[T1bbles]

This is the best hand drilling I've done so far;



It's a little wonky, but you can't really tell unless you're looking for it.

It was the 3rd or 4th pedal I made, didn't use a centre punch or anything, didnt even know what it was, and I foolishly didn't mark the holes wit a pen either. All the pots are PCB mounted so everytime I did a hole I'd get the PCB and line up the pots with the holes to get an idea of where the next one was meant to go, the fact that it fitted in at all is a miracle! I haven't been able to do 'em like that since, so I'm not really using PCB mounted pots atm.

[T1bbles]

Will this do?

http://www.toolbaydirect.co.uk/catalogue/product/Unclassified/0/Silverline-350w-Drill-Press/170087/

[tiges_ tendres]

Will this do?

http://www.toolbaydirect.co.uk/catalogue/product/Unclassified/0/Silverline-350w-Drill-Press/170087/

Yep, that would do the trick. 

[davent]

This is the best hand drilling I've done so far;



It's a little wonky, but you can't really tell unless you're looking for it.

It was the 3rd or 4th pedal I made, didn't use a centre punch or anything, didnt even know what it was, and I foolishly didn't mark the holes wit a pen either. All the pots are PCB mounted so everytime I did a hole I'd get the PCB and line up the pots with the holes to get an idea of where the next one was meant to go, the fact that it fitted in at all is a miracle! I haven't been able to do 'em like that since, so I'm not really using PCB mounted pots atm.

Looks good in the photos.  With a row of pots you can easily fudge a nice straight line. You just need to ovalize   the out-of-line holes a bit with a round file. You can then move the pot into line and lock it in place with a star washer inside the enclosure and the regular flat washer on the outside of the box... OR turn the out-of-lineness into a design element, exaggerate it, "no... it's suppose to be that way" .

Absolutely on the step drills, though I wouldn't want to use them without a drill press.  You can also find regular twist bits with stepped shafts so they fit in a 3/8" chuck. 

That said, I really don't think you will ever be happy with your holes until you get a drill press.  Drilling metal by hand is just too finicky.  You can hand drill wood OK, because you get through it much faster, but metal - I just can't see doing it. 

Of course, I've had access to a drill press basically since I was born, so I suppose I just never really developed all that much technique with a hand drill.  I still don't see how it could be done.


Gabriel

Drilling enclosures with that big unibit and a hand drill was always an interesting challenge, a good way to either build up your wrist muscles or break it when the bit grabs, lots of torque there. The small unibit only goes up to 1/2" in 1/32" steps so it  glides through an aluminum box smooth as silk, well... bumpy silk.

You can get great results with just a hand drill but there are no shortcuts, lots of trial and many errors, practice like with everything else will get you there.

From the computer layout under the above pictured instruments of torture, most i've tried,  seven in a row, not perfect but a wee bit of ovalizing would get it there if i was going to be totally anal.

Take care,
dave

[JKowalski]

A combination square will do wonders for lining up everything perfectly.

My process of getting it absolute (though I use a drill press) is to basically measure from each sides of the enclosure with the square the required distance, and mark the holes, drill a pilot hole, measure with the square again to make sure that the hole did not go wonky while drilling, then switch out with a step bit and work progressively. Every time I drill another step I will check with the square again to make sure it's not going wonky, because the step drill can take the "sideways drilling" pretty well, or "ovaling" as people have called it here. Oval a wonky hole that's not yet at the right size and the next step bit size will center into the oval-ed hole and you will be back on track again.

[Paul Marossy]

Believe it or not, I can actually use a hand drill to achieve better results than a drill press. But that's probably because I have been drilling enclosures with a hand drill for about eight years, and I've only had a drill press for a few months now. But for certain things, a drill press is the only way to go. There's pros and cons for either one.

[joegagan]

JKowalski, that is some great advice. a great example of real-world workmanship used to achieve stellar result.

in the heat of high volume production, we were able to drill 100 enclosures in 8 hours using a drill press, a thru-hole phenolic template, a spring loaded centerpunch, and a sharp unibit.

[teemuk]

Didn't read through so this could have been said already but basically
- Use a nail or similar tool to punch a small "mark" into the correct drilling place.
- Drill the hole using a small drill bit. The mark you punched will now hold the drill in the correct place. Preferably use a drill press.
- When the initial small "guidance" hole has been drilled advance to drilling the hole using a bigger drill bit.
- Profit.