China Doll

[Bendita]

Just started cutting today as my drill press is to small to reach the center, I can only drill 4" in So I could gain a bit by cutting up to the border off but I'm a bit hesitant as to it may weaken the whole thing and I still won't be able to reach the center, So tomorrow I may go to town to see about buying a dremmel and dremmel drill press I just don't see how else I'm going to do it.

Anyone have any advise?

[Ron Johnson]

Just started cutting today as my drill press is to small to reach the center, I can only drill 4" in So I could gain a bit by cutting up to the border off but I'm a bit hesitant as to it may weaken the whole thing and I still won't be able to reach the center, So tomorrow I may go to town to see about buying a dremmel and dremmel drill press I just don't see how else I'm going to do it.

Anyone have any advise?P1070291.JPG

Hi Hans

I use a mini drill press with my dremmel most of the time but another handy tool is a Jeweller's Drill which is just over 4" long. It is nicely machined and comes with two sizes of collet jaws that will hold bits from #80 to #56 and #51 to #36. Made from steel and chrome -plated brass. I paid $20.00 a few years back from leevalley.com. They also have hobbyist drill sets of 20 available which at the same time I paid $5.00 ea.

[Sparkey]

Nice I can't wait to see it finished. If I am cutting a single I will drill with my battery drill. If I stack cut I use the drill press for as much as I can and finish with the battery drill. I always cut from the center out.

Edited January 14, 2014 by Sparkey

[Bendita]

Hi Hans

I use a mini drill press with my dremmel most of the time but another handy tool is a Jeweller's Drill which is just over 4" long. It is nicely machined and comes with two sizes of collet jaws that will hold bits from #80 to #56 and #51 to #36. Made from steel and chrome -plated brass. I paid $20.00 a few years back from leevalley.com. They also have hobbyist drill sets of 20 available which at the same time I paid $5.00 ea.

yes thanks Ron  I have one more option I have one of those converted dentist drill that run 400.000 rpm it runs on air with a turbine I'm going to try that first I think but the problem with it is that it uses oil in the turbine to lubricate and it spits it out once in a while and I certainly don't want oil on my wood.

[Bendita]

Nice I can't wait to see it finished. If I am cutting a single I will drill with my battery drill. If I stack cut I use the drill press for as much as I can and finish with the battery drill. I always cut from the center out.

Yes it is a great piece but very tight for drilling I've thought of free handing it but there is only 1/8" of room that's not much if your nor square but thanks for your suggestion Rusty.

[LarryEA]

No advice... You're between a rock and a hard place.
Solutions are bigger drill press, mini drill stand (Dremel or Sears (in Mexico?)) or
Gee, you already know all the options I could think of.

This is a wasted post

Larry

 

There is a possible one time solution but I bet you will encounter this

situation again...again...again

Another local woodworker, Machine shop.

Be desperate and go to a store, request to test a drill press with a bigger

throat than you have.

OK, I'm being less than serious.

 

Edited January 14, 2014 by LarryEA

[amazingkevin]

Hans ,your in luck and the solution is very simple.take some thin stock ,maybe even 2x4's and clamp your hand drill in between them .then bolt the 3' long 2x4's you have the drill clamped into and mount on some up right 2x4's so they will pivot up and down and be balanced like a teter taughter.you can make an endless reach drill press this way for you application.you see the problem is easily solved .The key is to balance the press out with the load on the far end of the drill that way you have to pull it down to drill anything.if this is confuseing ill draw a picture but my eyes have had enough today

[spirithorse]

If you drill a hole in a piece of stock about 2" thick you know the hole is straight, then you can lay that piece of wood on your

work piece and insert the drill bit into the hole, turn the drill on and drill into the work piece. It may work better if you can find

a piece of lexan or plexi-glass so you see exactly where you have the hole positioned.

 

Another option would be to build your own PORTABLE DRILL GUIDE similar to this

http://www.woodworkingplans.ca/product/portable-drill-guide   It does not have to be spring loaded if you just clamp your drill

square to two dowels with slots to allow it to slide up and down smoothly.

 

And, my final suggestion would be to make sure the work piece is flat and tight on a piece of scrap wood and use a very small

finishing nail to hammer your starter hole for your drill bit.

 

Good luck and God Bless! Spirithorse

[Bendita]

If you drill a hole in a piece of stock about 2" thick you know the hole is straight, then you can lay that piece of wood on your

work piece and insert the drill bit into the hole, turn the drill on and drill into the work piece. It may work better if you can find

a piece of lexan or plexi-glass so you see exactly where you have the hole positioned.

 

Another option would be to build your own PORTABLE DRILL GUIDE similar to this

http://www.woodworkingplans.ca/product/portable-drill-guide   It does not have to be spring loaded if you just clamp your drill

square to two dowels with slots to allow it to slide up and down smoothly.

 

And, my final suggestion would be to make sure the work piece is flat and tight on a piece of scrap wood and use a very small

finishing nail to hammer your starter hole for your drill bit.

 

Good luck and God Bless! Spirithorse

Those are excellent ideas I like the finishing nail the best and can't see why it wouldn't work thanks a lot.

.../Hans

[Ron Johnson]

Good morning Hans

 

Another option I sometimes use is a flex shaft attached to my dremmel.

[Bendita]

Allthough very awkward I'm using my 3/8 drill and for the really tiny holes I'm using a finishing nail I gues all the things you learn as you get grown up Hey I've heard it said "go big or go home"

Thanks for all the suggestions I'm certainly going to keep some in mind as I'm eye balling privacy screens Oriental style. 5 feet x 30" But I need to get a bigger saw to reach the middle my 20" ain't gonna cut it  no pun intended 

.../Hans

[Ron Johnson]

Allthough very awkward I'm using my 3/8 drill and for the really tiny holes I'm using a finishing nail I gues all the things you learn as you get grown up Hey I've heard it said "go big or go home"

Thanks for all the suggestions I'm certainly going to keep some in mind as I'm eye balling privacy screens Oriental style. 5 feet x 30" But I need to get a bigger saw to reach the middle my 20" ain't gonna cut it  no pun intended 

.../Hans

If your in the market for a larger saw I know of one the same as mine which is an Excalibur 30" model Ex30VS that has never been used selling for $750.00 reg. $1800.00 located in Red Deer, Alta. This was the last model made in Canada before Excalibur moved their production to off shore. I've had mine for fourteen years with never a problem.

[Bendita]

If your in the market for a larger saw I know of one the same as mine which is an Excalibur 30" model Ex30VS that has never been used selling for $750.00 reg. $1800.00 located in Red Deer, Alta. This was the last model made in Canada before Excalibur moved their production to off shore. I've had mine for fourteen years with never a problem.

Thanks Ron I just bought this DeWalt so I'll have to make it pay before I can warrant another saw. I couldn't get one here until I finally found this company on ebay that would ship to Mexico, I paid 525 for the saw 50 freight 225 dollars duty comes out to just about 900 Canadian dollars that the price you pay I guess, I'm really putting it to a test with the china doll I'm almost half way

[Ron Johnson]

Thanks Ron I just bought this DeWalt so I'll have to make it pay before I can warrant another saw. I couldn't get one here until I finally found this company on ebay that would ship to Mexico, I paid 525 for the saw 50 freight 225 dollars duty comes out to just about 900 Canadian dollars that the price you pay I guess, I'm really putting it to a test with the china doll I'm almost half way

Should be beautiful when done.

[spirithorse]

^{Hi, Hans,}

^{I hope everything works out well for you.}

^{As for the 20" saw not being large enough, if you use spiral blades you can actually cut backwards, away from the back portion of your saw and can cut some very large pieces. You definitely have to practice with spiral blades first though because you can't press the back of the blade against your work piece to make turns like you do with a flat blade.}

^{God Bless! Spirithorse}

[Bendita]

Oh Spirithorse I've worked with the spiral blades, they have a purpose in Scroll sawing but I don't like them for cutting as they simply consume to much wood when one does real small frett work. I like them when you want to high-lite a line as to make it more visible and to clear away large amounts of wood.

I have also used them for backwards cutting as you suggest but again I find them to consume to much wood, maybe I'm doing something wrong.

Thanks for your suggestion, This was not for a project I'm working on right now but I'm thinking of doing oriental Privacy screens they are 60" x 30"

.../Hans 

[Bendita]

hello everyone just a short note to give us all a conclusion to this problem I was in the city today and broke down bought a dremel with plunge router attachment my good lord what a dream so tomorrow I'll have to cut twice as much to catch up for lost time. thanks everyone for your input. After Scrolling for almost 25 years there is still time to learn a thing or two.

[heppnerguy]

Here is a tip that I have never personally used but it is an interesting idea. You can put a blade in the saw and put on the tent ion and after that you can take a pair if needle nose pliers and turn the blade (top and bottom) 90 degrees and then you can cut from the side of the table instead of from the front. This gives you unlimited reach, as it is no longer restricted by the area between the blade and the back of the saw