Thread: Looking for diy jig ideas fo drilling holes on inner face of wooden rings ......

Forgot to mention that I am thinking that a flexible drive shaft may assist but have never used one - may see what Bunnies have in the low end of the range -

again any suggestions appreciated

Thanks

UPO

If you have enough space (sounds doubtful that you do) you could make up a steel guide block the same thickness as the wooden ring, clamp the ring and guide block in the wood vise then use your angle drill to drill the hole. 20mm of depth through the steel guide block should be enough to ensure a well aligned hole.

How about clamping a wooden block on each side of the rim, flush & tangential to the inner radius, then sit a length of pine stud across both and screw the blocks & stud together as a saddle type jig?

Unclamp the blocks, remove the saddle, very, very carefully mark the centreline on the stud and drill a guide hole on a drill press.

Good for short term work, although a few episodes of sloppy drilling will chew it out. If you can find some pipe of 6.5mm ID then you could perhaps line the guidehole with that for a tad more permanence/reliabilty...

Not sure I'm on the right path, but I use an Irwin right angle drive with Bosch hex drive drills. Can fit into a hole of around 100mm diameter depending on the drill bit diam

IMG_0718.jpg

I was going to suggest using a pin vise but at 6mm (¼") that is not practical.

If it were me I would do the drilling from the outside and then plug the holes with pieces of dowel. Or use a plug cutter and cut the plugs from matching species and grain for filling the holes. A different application but I've used the plug cutter technique with very good and almost invisible results.

Thanks all - set me on the right idea I think.
centering jig.jpg

a jig as above with a 6mm ID tube in place of the pencil will set up the position following a pencil line drawn across the side of the ring for the angle while keeping the hole centered and parallel to the sides - trick I think is having the tube long enough to guide correctly while still being short enough the fit the 20mm drill working length and chuck inside the ring. Pretty sure it will work !! Needs the Men's Shed drill press on next visit to ensure accuracy.

The Irwin 90 deg chuck mentioned by Lappa is far shorter than the clunky unit I have - am borrowing a flexible drive tomorrow to test so if that is not easy to hold etc then will check out the Irwin unit, thanks Lappa.

Thanks again to all, very much appreciate the suggestions.

Regards

UPO - Richard

The curve of the inner radius may make that a tad awkward to use, which is why I place the timber parallel to the wheel axis. Admittedly this means my jigs are limited to the one rim thickness.

As is, the shown jig should work quite well on asstd. sizes of straight timbers and radii that are large enough for the arc to be almost flat...

Either way, depending on the tightness of the curve and the width of the timber you should be able to poke the tube through the bottom side 'til it kisses the wheels' inner radius, giving you a bit more tube length to play with for accuracy.

Morning Skew - your thinking is very much along the same lines as mine - current project has a internal diameter of 180mm with rim width of 25mm & 16mm thickness - playing with Bunnies pine to sort out the "engineering" then the idea is to move to using up some of the Camphor Laurel slab stock which is around 400mm wide & 35mm thick off the saw so finished thickness will be around 30mm so more meat to support the jig - so the guide tube in the jig can be a tight fit but able to be moved out to contact the inner rim before drilling.

Reads more complicated that it is - will start with a jig length of around 50 - 60 mm between pins & go from there. hence the pine being used now - just have to be sure the thicker rim will fit the jig with some swing room so the guide centers.

Thanks all

Regards

UPO - Richard

Hi Richard

for what it's worth
my suggestion is to build a stand which will support your drill and right angle attachment vertically. For maximum flexibility, and smaller diameter center holes I would encourage you to investigate obtaining a proper right-angle drill.

build an adjustable height table around the drill stand. Adjust the height of the table so that the work piece is centered where you need the hole.

center the work piece on the table using a pair of parallel battens. Use a third batten behind the drill to control the depth of each hole.

To use, you would plunge the work piece into the spinning drill bit.

Hi Richard
As a suggestion ... you could try making a ring with the desired ID but with the thickness equivalent to the depth of the holes you want to drill ... drill the ring from the outside in .... and then make a second ring with an ID the same as the OD of the first..... but with circumference you want in the finished product... slip the first inside the second... glue them together.

A circle jig on a bandsaw or patterns for for the router would do the trick ... once you have the master you should be able to reproduce at will

Regards

Rob

A follow up to the earlier posts - I have bought the Irwin 90 deg drive - Impact Right Angle Drill / Drive Tool - Tools - IRWIN TOOLS - actually found a ebay seller in Victoria - very compact head so now plenty of clearance. Next issue is that the unit is HEX drive so waiting on a set of hex drive bits to arrive.

The jig I have made up is based on the photo I posted

with the modification in that the jig has a radised base to match the inside of the rim I need to drill into - dead simple and it works.

Thanks to all for your input as that helped me see through the trees for the small piece of wood I needed to make the jig !!!

Regards

UPO - Richard