Drilling in a Straight Line (by hand)

[Greg_G]

Best practice is to use a Center Drill or Spotting Drill first.. these are more rigid and much less likely to wander when you drill the pilot:

[John Lyons]

I tend to use the same hole patterns so I made a poor man's drill template.



I measured and drilled one "perfect" box with a 1/16" bit.
Took a piece of sheet metal and a couple wood strip scraps
and made a hard template. I used epoxy to hold the strips in place
but you could screw them in etc.



I fit the template over the box and
drilled from the inside out, into the bare metal template.
Then I had a drilling template.
Here is a crude version of it before I finished it.

You can add holes for different configurations on the same template
you just need to mark the config so you keep to the right
holes. LED and stomp stay the same. I use a transparency sheet
to line up the jack holes. I could make a top and side template with folded
metal sides but I don't have a bending brake...maybe angle aluminum
would work...hmmm I'll try that.

[Joe]

Cheaper bits (without the split-point end) have a chisel-like end, and are useless for accurate work, even with center punching. Bits with too much of a twist shape tend to hang up more. I prefer good-quality split-point cobalts for this kind of thing, expensive but worth it especially for steel.

[jacobyjd]

Ah--something else to mention (doesn't really have much to do with pots), but I use a spade bit for any 1/2" holes. You can drill aluminum with these in a pinch.

Also--as nice as a drill press is, don't feel like you need one. A steady hand and a good eye will get you everywhere you need to go if you TAKE YOUR TIME. 

[G. Hoffman]

Also--as nice as a drill press is, don't feel like you need one. A steady hand and a good eye will get you everywhere you need to go if you TAKE YOUR TIME. 

You can get there faster and easier with a drill press, and for anything to do with effects building a cheap one will be just fine.  I mean, a good cordless hand drill with a spare battery will cost you almost as much as a cheap drill press which will be more powerful (because it doesn't rely on a battery - don't get me started on how much I hate cordless drills), more accurate, and faster. 

I'm afraid I don't see the economy of doing this kind of work with a hand drill.  But on the other hand, I'm a tool junkie of long standing, and can honestly say I've never seen a tool I didn't want to own!  (Currently, I'm obsessing on a Saw Stop table saw, and a DIY CNC machine!)


Gabriel

[jacobyjd]

G.--I'm going on the assumption that the OP doesn't currently have a press--if you've already got a hand drill, it is possible to match the level of accuracy you'd get with a press (or exceed it, if we're talking an old, wobbly press). The only real tradeoff is extra time and a little extra skill.

Don't get me wrong--the moment i have a bench that'll hold my press, I'll use it primarily.

Haha--also, while I don't hate cordless drills, I'm a firm believer in dropping the right amount of cash to get a good one...which I can't really afford, so I have a corded drill that's lasted me 2 years and is still going strong.

So...I guess my point is...don't write off a hand drill if that's all you've got. A press is easier and can be more convenient, but the tool you've already got can achieve the same results...if you're patient and careful

and G.--one of these days I'll have access to a table saw again, and I'll never buy another piece of furniture again...one of the many benefits of coming from a family of furniture makers 

[G. Hoffman]

G.--I'm going on the assumption that the OP doesn't currently have a press--if you've already got a hand drill, it is possible to match the level of accuracy you'd get with a press (or exceed it, if we're talking an old, wobbly press). The only real tradeoff is extra time and a little extra skill.

Haha--also, while I don't hate cordless drills, I'm a firm believer in dropping the right amount of cash to get a good one...which I can't really afford, so I have a corded drill that's lasted me 2 years and is still going strong.

and G.--one of these days I'll have access to a table saw again, and I'll never buy another piece of furniture again...one of the many benefits of coming from a family of furniture makers 

Well, I don't do this stuff for a living, I do use tools for a living, and any tool that makes a job easier and faster is worth way more to me than my time.  The tool is a one time expense.  The money lost by wasting the time is lost over and over and over.....  It is, I suppose, a philosophical argument, but for me the right tool is almost always worth the cost.

Corded drills are by far my preference.  Aside from the whole available power issue, I really do not like it when the battery on a cordless runs out.

You know, we have a table saw (and a jointer, planer, a couple dozen routers, two shapers, etc. - if it isn't CNC, we have it), and I always talk about all the furniture projects I'm going to do.  If anyone had the resources to do it, I do.  Somehow, I never end up doing them.  My interest in the Saw Stop, though, is two fold - the protection of the fingers in my shop (both my own, and those of our employees), and the lowering of our shop's insurance premiums!  Sadly, this is the wrong economy to be buying new $4,000 tools.  Sigh.  The US has something like 30,000 table saw injuries every year.  Some are minor, but a distressingly large number involve the loss of a hand, or at least a few fingers.  The average cost of a table saw injury is $25,000.  And most of those are with experienced operators who should have known better.  There is a video of the guy who invented the Saw Stop sticking his finger into the blade of one of his saws, and it is amazing how fast it reacted.  Anything that changes an amputation injury to a band-aid injury is good in my book, and replacing the $600 brake assembly and a blade sounds a lot better than a $25,000 medical bill!!!!!  (Like I said, I'm kind of obsessed right now.)


Gabriel

[Thomeeque]

 Hi!

This is how I do it:


(click for hi-res)

• Design in CAD (IMSIDesign DoubleCAD XT namely)
• Print on paper as a mask
• "Dot" the shapes thru the printed mask (not only the centers, I usually "loose" the center while drilling /I use handheld drill only/)
• Drill as much as possible staying inside the shape
• Neaten the holes by warding files

T.

[markeebee]

I use a piece of perf, with the holes opened up a little to accomodate a 2mm bit to make pilot holes.  Successive rows have different hole spacings opened out so that you can have 2, 3 ,4 5 or whatever number of pots evenly spaced across the box.  Then I tape the perf so that the neat edge is perfectly in line with the top edge of the box, and bingo: holes that are perfectly straight, perfectly equidistant and perfectly parallel to the edge of the box.  And usually at the right spacing to accept board mounted pots.

It's simple, but so am I.   

[jacobyjd]

oooOOOOooooo--that's a great idea, mark! I think I've even got a bit small enough to fit perf holes (heh heh...see what you do to us, Mark?)

[markeebee]

Ah, but if you open the holes out a little, it's easy to see which ones are the "guides".

[markeebee]

And I will not take the bait. 

[arma61]

I use a piece of perf, with the holes opened up a little to accomodate a 2mm bit to make pilot holes.  Successive rows have different hole spacings opened out so that you can have 2, 3 ,4 5 or whatever number of pots evenly spaced across the box.  Then I tape the perf so that the neat edge is perfectly in line with the top edge of the box, and bingo: holes that are perfectly straight, perfectly equidistant and perfectly parallel to the edge of the box.  And usually at the right spacing to accept board mounted pots.

It's simple, but so am I.   

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[G. Hoffman]

I use a piece of perf, with the holes opened up a little to accomodate a 2mm bit to make pilot holes.  Successive rows have different hole spacings opened out so that you can have 2, 3 ,4 5 or whatever number of pots evenly spaced across the box.  Then I tape the perf so that the neat edge is perfectly in line with the top edge of the box, and bingo: holes that are perfectly straight, perfectly equidistant and perfectly parallel to the edge of the box.  And usually at the right spacing to accept board mounted pots.

It's simple, but so am I.   

Ready made jigs!  I like it.


Gabriel