Thread: How to drill vertical through wood/plastic

Welcome to the forum.

By what you have mention the thing that comes to mind would be to use a drill press with the wood secured to the drill press table.

This would be limited by the depth of the hole about 50 to 90mm.

How long would the piece of wood be?

It could be done on a lathe with a long hole auger depending on the length, width and thickness of the piece. The hole would be around 9mm wide at a guess and approximately 600mm long if using a Hamlet (brand) auger. I have no idea what other brands are like and some people have home made augers so this is only a rough guide.

Dimensions do help.

Thank you for your replies.

I am making a wooden bead wind-chime.
The pieces rotates 360 degrees as wind blows.

I'd like to make the smallest hole as possible.
on the lightest and thinnest wood/plastic as possible too.
It is tricky that matching thinnest plate with smallest auger/drill.
I want the hole straight, so electronic drill with clamps?

I was thinking to make maximum 300mm length..
To be realistic..
please recommend me the best deal with the wood/plastic's thickness & length and the hole size with drilling device, for drilling straight hole without any cracks..

or is it better to use two thin pieces with center groove line be glued together?

thank you.

For that small a hole in that length of timber I would rout a small groove in two pieces of timber and glue together. I would also lay the wire in the groove before I glued. Give it a coating of wax to stop the glue sticking to it.

I agree with NC archer. Trying to drill that far in thin wood is not going to be easy as a drill tends to follow the line of least resistance if it has any flex in it. Another problem will be a hole down the center of a thin bit of wood will be a week point so perhaps instead of 2 half thickness bits laminated just overlap a couple of centimeters and give the center double thickness.
Regards
John

Thank you for your advices.

Another issue is for reducing friction between pieces. I think I need to put thinnest washer at the end of each holes.
Can someone guide me which washer makes the least friction so the wood pieces rotates easily?

thanks

If I was doing something like this, I would consider a totally different method.

Use fishing swivels at each end. I'd use ones with a trace wire already attached. It might be okay to get away with this wire trace alone.
Forget about drilling the entire length.
Drill a hole in each end slightly longer and wider than your swivel.
Fasten your wire to one end of a swivel. It could be problematic tying a knot small enough to fit inside your drilled hole. That's why swivels fitted with trace wire are my preference.
Select a strong thin wire that has a small enough gauge to pass through the swivel loop and is slightly longer than half the width of your spinning vane. Maybe use a straightened paper clip.
Drill another smaller hole from one side, parallel with the end so it intersects the end drilling a mm or so from the bottom. Insert the swivel into the end hole and insert the straightened paperclip into the side hole so it passes through the swivel's unused loop pinning it inside the spinning vane.
Repeat at other end.


Depending on the material you use for the spinning vane, an easier method that hides nothing, is to simply pin the swivels to each end with long staples.