Useless at drilling straight holes

[Zammo]

I'm useless at drilling straight holes into things and always managed to get them slightly slanted. I want to buy a guide to prevent this and have been looking at this one from Axminster:

http://www.axminster.co.uk/product-Axminster-Drill-Guide-22269.htm

My question is how does it work, and can it be used to drill holes into knife scales?

 

[Ogri the trog]

Zammo,
There are a number of things that'll stop you drilling straight holes; poorly ground drills, blunt drills etc. The frame that you mention will only go so far to helping you drill straight holes every time - I think the frame would require itself to sit wholly over the steel being drilled - so your knife blank would need to be in the middle of a large sheet!
To help yourself without having to buy loads of gadgets, Start drilling into the material then stop once the hole is established . Loosen the chuck and remove the drill from the drill-bit, you can then check your progress with an engineers square (a piece of paper folded twice gives a very accurate 90 degree angle). If you need to correct, do so slowly and check it again. You can also use the reflection in the surface of the metal, you're looking to keep the drill-bit and the reflected image of the drill-bit in line, but make sure you view it from several angles. Then theres using a pilot drill, smaller than the size of hole you want to make but removing material in stages until you reach the required diameter.

Hope this helps.

Ogri the trog

 

[bent-stick]

In the DIY shop at the weekend I noticed a bench drill for 39.99. If you've got room for it that would be the thing.

Also try using a hand drill or brace and bit on wood. Much more controllable.

 

[Gailainne]

Not sure of the quality but Wickes does a bench drill for 30 odd quid.

Stephen

 

[scottybot]

I bought one of these from Machine Mart.
For just over 15 quid I think it's the biz.

www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/cds1-drill-stand

They do better versions for a bit more and pillar drills start from around £35.

 

[dwardo]

I have found the same issues drilling a straight hole and that was with 2 people watching it

Does not help that the drill weighs about 10 kg and was not built for this type of work but hey i like a challenge !

I would also like to know how people get on with this drill mount. I would love a bench/pillar drill but i rekon you have to spend a few quid to get a good one.

 

[Zammo]

I bought one of these from Machine Mart.
For just over 15 quid I think it's the biz.

www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/cds1-drill-stand

They do better versions for a bit more and pillar drills start from around £35.

Just bought one of these, thanks for the link.

 

[Zammo]

The drill stand arrived today and I managed to assemble it (barring the drill gauge pointer, which seemed to have no way of attaching to the stand). Unfortunately my drill was to small for it!

I tried wrapping electricians tape around the drill and this allowed me to tighten it to the stand, however when I turned it on the whole stand jerked around. Seems my drill hasn't got a deep enough stationary collar section, so the drill stand's clamp tightens around part of the rotating collar as well.

In the end I thought sod it and drilled the holes by hand on one side of the knife scales and guess what? They were slightly out of line, theres a surprise! Luckily I took some of Ogri's advice and used a smaller drill bit so I maybe able to rescue the problem.

Just waiting for my drill to charge up before commencing bodging again...