Drill press or not?

[evgenyb]

What tool would be the best (and easy) to use to make a set of holes in top boad of something like this?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Peek-A-Prize-Cat...ayphotohosting

Size is around 20'x20', so is it possible to use a drill press or hand drill the only one solution? What do you think?

Thanks,
EugeneB

[lkazista]

With a jig

I would go drill press and make a jig for it. something simple like a board with a raised hole on it so that you simply put your last cut hole onto it, and you know that your spacing will be spot on every hole.

[evgenyb]

Does a drill press have enough room to make center holes?

[Ken Weaver]

DP or handheld drill with Forstner bits.

[LCHIEN]

A DP capability is measured by it's swing, thats the number when they say its a 16" drill press. What that means is it can drill to the center of a 16" item.

Most DP are up to 16" swing so drilling inthe center of a 20" square would be out of the question although that piece you lined doesn't really look to be 20" to me, so you might have a chance.

Someone suggested using a handheld but Forstner bits generally aren't recommended for hand drills.

If you wanted to do this in production a larger drill or a special drill called a radial arm drill is good for typically up to 22" or 44" swing.

[jdschulteis]

The eBay item you linked to says it's 13-1/2" square so the middle holes would be within reach of a typical shop drill press. Are you planning to make a bigger version?

You would need a pretty big drill press to put the middle holes in a 20" square, unless you make the top from two pieces and glue them together after drilling the holes.

[cwsmith]

If you can't afford or don't want to go to the expense of a drill press, you could get a drill guide for between $25 and $35. I've used one for years with great success. Craftsman has one on the lower end of the scale and Rockler, Lee-Valley, and Grizzly (among others) list them at varous prices.

Basically, its a flat metal (aluminum usually) base with two steel guide rods. There is a drill chuck mounted on a metal guide which rides on the guide rods. You simply fasten the spindle end of the chuck into your drill chuck and you have a device which will drill perfect holes. It's easy to postion and hold in place, and most are adjustable for drilling at angles from 90 ot 45 degrees. There is also an adjustable stop for setting the depth of the holes. Here is a link to the Craftsman page:

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...ll+Attachments


CWS

[Tom Slick]

you could get good holes with a corded drill with a hole saw setup. if the top were too wide for the drill press you could make it two sections and glue them together.

[evgenyb]

Thanks to everybody! I've got good ideas!

It's just a small project for me to learn on simple things and to show to my wife that I bough stuff to use it

I'd go with handheld and will wait for more complex project, before I ask my "boss" for DP

EugeneB