I'm lousy at drilling straight but the work still holds together. Remember the difference in tolerances for a wood project and an engine are huge. Where an engine has clearances of .002 or so, a house is happy within .0625 to about .125 which is unheard of in an engine.
Now for an idea you can relate to. Take a block of wood or steel to the drill press and drill what you know will be a straight hole in it. Then put the drill bit through the pilot and hold the pilot in place while you start the hole. You won't have to step up like in metal work. Once you get the hole started straight you can set the guide piece out of the way and finish drilling. Unless you really lean on the drill the hole will continue straight for you. ----- Original Message ----- From: Larry Stansifer To: [email protected] Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2008 7:22 AM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Starting long screws straight Well guys, the subject line pretty much says it all. I need some ideas on how to start all of these screws straight. Working with metal, I can't ever remember having to place fasteners every 16" on center at 1 foot intervals. My guess is if you don't get that screw or pilot hole damn close to straight it will tweak the work out of square. This begs the question, how does a blind guy drill about a bazillion straight pilot holes? When working in metal I can usually take the work over to the drill-press or if I need to mount something to a frame, I can fab a guide up for that special task. None of the drill fixtures or jigs I have built previously would work for a drilling and fastening project of this size. In our next chapter boys&girls we are going to find out how a blind guy who can hardly spell wood goes about choosing material, so stay tuned. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
