PTWFE Chapter 11 Horizontal Boring and Doweling

[a1gutterman]

Another week, another chapter. Please click HERE to do your reading. Please note that in the section titled Boring At An Angle, there is a misprint; it should read 90 (degrees) knot 900 (degrees).

[dlbristol]

I am looking forward to this section. I am doing the drilling for the dowels on my bed project. So far , so good, but I hope to hear about how you guys clamp long stock to drill into the ends. I had trouble keeping things from moving along the quill axis. The stock is to long to use the fense as a stop. By slowing the cut and backing out Most of the issue was fixed. That said, I could not have done this on a drill press! SS setup with quill depth of cut, miter guage and table height adjustment made this task relativley easy.

Using the miter guage to line up the stock was easy and very effective. If I do it again, I will use a miter extention and try clamping to that in addition to clamping to the table.

[charlese]

dbristol - Clamp your piece to the table. "You can never have too many clamps"

[greitz]

Chuck- Hey, I like your thought pattern! I always thought "You can never have too many clamps" meant that you can never OWN too many clamps, not USE too many clamps! Cool!


dlbristol- I always tie the main table and the extension table together with the aluminum tubes when horizontal boring. Maybe it's just my system, but I've seen a bit of flex (or twist?) if I only use the main table (which is only supported by 2 posts, not 4).

Gary

[dlbristol]

What type of clamps do you use?. I had trouble getting my smaller "C" clamps on the tables. The other rachet style clamps have pads on them that don't fit well into the grid on the under side of the table. I did use the tubes and floating tables to hold the stock and I clamped on both the main and extention tables. I may need to get bigger "c" clamps. May I quote you to my lovely bride?
Thanks

[charlese]

Clamps to hold stock firmly on the table can be 'C' clamps, 'F' clamps like Jorgenson, I have even used wood hand screws. To clamp a padded surface beneath the table, put a block of wood beneath and clamp to that. This method also works with hand screws. I really like the smaller, orange colored Jorgensons as the screw steel pad will fit between the support ribs on the bottom of the table. If the screw portion of a clamp won't fit between the ribs for some reason, or the bar hits a way tube - turn the clamp upside down and clamp to a board across the bottom of the table.

There are 6 points where a piece to be drilled horizontally can be clamped on both sides of the board. These are two at the quill side of the table, two at the other side of the table and two in the middle after you remove the saw insert. Here are three photos I could find. The 1st one (although not horiz boring) shows how a Jorgenson 'F' style clamp can fit on the table. the other two show clamps. My longer Jorgenson clamps are orange and are in the 2nd photo. The 3rd shows the cheap 'F' style clamps to the right of the red colored parallel clamps.

Inexpensive 'F' style clamps are available at Harbor Freight. They also have hand screws of various sizes. These are certainly not the highest quality, but they are good enough to holed wood to the SS main table.

[mbcabinetmaker]

Not trying to still this thread but would like to ask
Charlese
about the pin router. In your picture the table is in the lowest position that it can go on the mark 5 tubes. How much higher could you get the router and table positioned without interference between the router and head stock. The reason I ask is that I have a lift assist on my 520. Also I am 6'5'' and have some back issues so I like work tables and surfaces a little higher than some people.

Thanks
Mark

After taking a second look I don't think it will work with a lift assist. Anyone know if they will coexist?

[Ed in Tampa]

Another way to hold things steady when horizontal boring and for other operations is to use the edge of the table. By that I mean clamp wood on the wood you want to bore and allow the clamped on wood to ride or presss against the edge of the table.

What I usually do I place the wood I want to end bore on the table with about 3 inches of it extending pass the end of the table on the left (power head side) then using the mitre guage I line it up so it is perfectly parallel to the quill. Then holding it steady I place a fairly long strip of wood on the under neath side of the wood pressing this wood against the table edge. I then clamp it on both sides to the wood I want to bore. Now the wood can't slide way from the quill because the wood clamped to it hits the table edge.

This same method also acts like a fence if the wood your cutting is too long to permit the use of the normal SS fence. On my table the edge of the table and miter slot is perfectly parallel (I checked this many years ago).

[charlese]

Not trying to still this thread but would like to ask
Charlese
about the pin router. In your picture the table is in the lowest position that it can go on the mark 5 tubes. How much higher could you get the router and table positioned without interference between the router and head stock....Mark

After taking a second look I don't think it will work with a lift assist. Anyone know if they will coexist?

About 12 to 14 inches - Yes they will co-exist! See your PM.

[charlese]

If you are making dowell holes, try an up-cut spiral bit instead of a drill bit - (providing you have one of the proper size). Yes, you will want to have the speed up to fast, but this makes a nice smooth hole easily.