I want a bunch (right now maybe100 each) of 1" wide, 1/2" thick wooden discs with 1/4", 3/8" and 1/8" holes in the middle. Sometimes I want the two larger holes offset (not in the middle, but in the same place on each piece). That’s
about 500 parts right there and I also want 1/2" discs with 1/4" holes.
I have a drill press (Hi Coco) and a band saw (Delta 9", 3/8" blade with 6 TPI) that I’m using. I’m trying to drill a 1" dowel and slice it, but the parts are not the same all the time- the holes are not well centered, and band saw blade drift seems to make uneven discs by about 1/8- 1/16" even with my homemade fence, which irritates me. I’m not sure I can tighten the blade guides any more. Is this just a case of inexperience?
I can do a better job on centering the holes using a guide and a bit with a brad, but the drill press doesn’t drill very deep, and I want alot of discs.
I tried a using hole saw and keeping the plugs which makes nice discs, but that’s too slow and the plugs are too small to drill holes in unless I can devise something to “grab” the discs and keep them from spinning when drilling the holes.
Any idea how to make small wooden discs with holes better, faster, and easier? I don’t have any woodwork experience, but could buy a tool if needed. I thought about paying a shop to make them, but would rather do it myself if I can.
Finally, I want a smoother and needing less sanding cut, but think a finer bandsaw blade with be even more difficult to control.
Hmmm… I’m not exactly sure I know what you’re trying to do. The 1" diameter by 1/2" thick disc part I understand, but I’m puzzled by the smaller holes. I can’t tell if each disc will have all three of the smaller holes, and whether the holes will be placed on different parts of the disc.
I can tell you that bandsaws are not very acurate for this type of cut. A table saw or chop saw (miter saw) would be a better bet.
Don’t know if you have a parallel jaw vise with two axis adjustments for your drill press. To hold the discs, I’d cut a hole through a piece of flat stock, and then run it through a table saw to bisect it on the diameter. The two pieces can then be attached to the parallel jaw vise for holding the discs. Once you’ve determined center, open the center bore as required. If you need such a vise, Harbor Freight has them on the cheap. Not Starrett or Brown & Sharpe quality, but won’t kill your pocket.
I like this idea. I didn’t realize that a vise was an available accessory for a drill press, so I checked the Craftsman site and saw two. They don’t have ‘two axis adjustments’ if I understand that correctly, but this is a very good idea. Thanks!
A lot of this may depend on just how accurate you need the pieces to be.
First of all let’s explore what you can do with a basic hole saw. Unless the direction of the grain is important I would start off with basic 1/2" stock. Remember that wood is listed in nominal sizes not real sizes. For example, a 2x4 is, I think 1-1/2" by 3-1/2". Also keep in mind that the size of the hole saw bit refers to the outside diameter and what you want is the inside diameter. The 1-1/4" hole saw that I have yields a disc just barely over 1". Typically you use these with a mandrel and pilot bit. My pilot bit is a 1/4", and that’s what you’ll probably find at Home Depot and the like, but other sizes are available (see http://www.gfii.com/it/brand/blumol/mandrels.pdf). So if you need a 1" disc with a 1/4 inch hole in the middle, your basic 1-1/4" hole saw is all you need. If you can special order a mandrel/bit setup that gives you a 1/8" and a 3/8" pilot hole you’ve got your discs with the center holes taken care of.
However if you’re stuck with only the 1/4" pilot bit, no problem. For the discs with the 3/8" center holes just drill the discs with the 1/4" pilot, slap a 3/8" bit into your hand drill (or drill press), use the existing pilot hole as a guide, and drill the larger hole. The existing pilot hole will help guide the larger bit.
The 1/8" center holes are a little trickier if all you have is a 1/4 pilot bit. You’ll need to remove the pilot bit entirely, but this is going to cause the hole saw to drift even on a drill press, however if dead-on accuracy is not an issue this may be acceptable. Once the bit gets started it usually guides itself. You’ll end up with a disc with no center hole at all. Now mark the center and using the 1/8" bit drill your hole. This will work with the offset holes also.
As far as securing the discs as you drill the offset holes, I would think regular pliers or locking pliers (vice-grips) would work. Some of us might even use our fingers.
(long and maybe a bit disjointed, I hope this helps.)
I would recommend making a jig that would hold the pieces after being cut and drilling it with your drill press. You say that your press doesn’t drill very deep, is this a function of its’ travel (small table top drill press) or the length of the drill bit? The latter is easy to fix, the former less so.
As for making the pieces to begin with, I also agree a bandsaw is not accurate enough. A chop saw is nice for smooth cuts but it will throw the cut piece off at high speed and somewhat unpredictable angles. You DON’T want to know how I know this This sounds like a job for a table saw with a V shaped jig set into the fence guides.
That’s twice I mentioned jigs and I do believe they will be your saving grace in this endeavor. They are about the only way to get reliably consistent results time and again.
Another issue is spacing of the holes. Is the relative placement of each hole in the disc important? I bet it is. It sounds like you need each hole to be in a fixed location relative to the center e.g. one hole at 15 degrees right, .125" from center, second hole at 90 degrees right .0625" from centerline, etc., one centered and .375")
In order to accomplish this you will need some way of indexing the disc so the holes are always in the same place relative to the centerpoint of the disc. My first thought is that you would need some small notch in the outer edge of the disc that you could lay the cut disc into …you guessed it, a jig. This would allow for repeatable results. Another layer of this would be to drill the first hole, then create a jig based upon a pin the size of the first hole and the indexing notch. That would make the second and third holes always in the same postion relative to the first one. If you are doing multiple discs with the same drilling it would most likely be best to drill it as a large length then cut it into its component pieces afterwards.
It would help to know exactly what you are trying to create. On reflection, maybe a lathe is what you need. It would allow you to chuck the piece into place and would cut down on tearout which is a problem unless you use really sharp bits, I recommend brad point bits with cutting edges at the outer most edge of the bits. These cut through the grain more cleanly and are smoother as well.
What you want to cut the disks is not a hole saw, but a hole cutter. This uses a pilot bit like the hole saw, but with an adjustable cutter (be careful, these things are notorious knuck breakers. Run at low spped and keep your hands away.)
The 1/8" hole could be a challenge, but the others will center naturally.
As to the off center holes, the simplest jig for each disk size will be a piece of plywood with a V stop (attach 2 pieces of wood to the plywood in a “V”. Drill guide holes through the plywood such that they will be in the right place with the disk resting in the V. If you can fit a piece across the top of the V with a threaded insert, you will have a jig that you can clamp the disk in, and the holes will be reliably located. add sandpaper to the gripping surfaces as needed.
I have other methods, but please tell me if I have conveyed these properly…
Thank all of you for your advice! I’ve gotten alot of great ideas to work with and I’m not sure which way I’ll go yet.
I’m not entirely sure what a “jig” is, but I think it’s what I would call a “rig” , or something one makes to use as a guide.
I want to make things like this: http://www.hitchcocks-bath.dial.pipex.com/peter_markey.htm but I don’t know anyone who makes anything with wood, so I don’t have anyone to ask questions of. I made two myself already just using stuff and items found in the garage, but would like better materials and parts to work with. Those discs just had me stumped.
Looking at your intended project-I definitely wouldn’t use a holesaw, owing the roughness and tear out produced, as othe Dopers have noted. Hardwood dowels would afford a better finished appearance. Slice them to the depth desired with any saw that has a planer blade to minimize sanding. Google “hardwood dowels” for your choice of sources.
A “jig” is any gadget you make to help you make something else. It can be anything as simple as a board with a hole drilled in it to very convoluted things.
Tearout (the fraying of the wood at the back of the cut) is going to be a problem with hardwood dowels also. You might consider some kind of engineered product like MDF (meduim density fiberboard).
Here’s a trick for sanding your discs that have a pilot hole in the center. Insert a screw or even a bolt through the hole so that it fits quite snugly. Take the tip of the scrwe and chuck it in a drill just as you would a dril bit. With one hand fire up the drill and with the other hold a piece of sandpaper against the outside of the now spinning disc. This approach isn’t OSHA approved, but I’m sure that you could easily make the basic idea safe.
Since most of the parts of the toys seem to be painted, you can make your life a lot easier with wood filler to hide extra holes and misytakes.
Well, to make the discs, I’d just take a set of long dowels and cut them on the chopsaw using a fine blade. I’d wear a facemask just in case pieces got ejected. But that’s the fastest way to get good cuts.
For a jig for drilling, I’d take a 1 inch Forstner bit and drill a 1" diameter hole 3/8" deep in a section of two by four. Position the two by four under the drill press where you want it and clamp it down. Then you can quickly stick your wheels in the hole, drill the hole, pull it out and move on to the next. If the wheel spins too much, I guess you could put some sandpaper at the bottom of the hole to keep it from spinning too much.
If you want to use Finagle’s method, then cut your hole near the end of the 2x4, and cut a slot from the end of the 2x4 to th hole. Then you can clamp the slot to grip your piece.
If you drill a thick dowel and slice it, you’ll end up with ‘short grain’ - discs where the grain runs perpendicular to the the flat faces will be prone to edge breakage and will be generally weak.
A hole saw or disc cutter probably is the best solution, even though stopping the drill to clear the cut piece each time adds a lot of time to the job.
If you have access to a lathe, then it might be possible to do it this way:
Cut a bunch of rough, square blanks and drill them
Stack them onto a piece of threaded rod and bolt them together tightly
Cut another couple of blanks and drill them with larger holes to fit right over the tensioning nuts - glue these in place (glue and paper joint would be best)
Cut another couple of blanks and glue them in place on the ends
Mount the whole thing between centres and turn it cylindrical
Getting the centres right would be pretty crucial - if you only want one central hole, then you could forget the blanks at the ends and just mount the ends of the threaded rod in chucks.
Just a thought, but you could also use a lathe exclusively to create these parts. Turn a cylinder, bore it out from the end with a fixed drill bit and part off the lengths you need, increasing the drill bit size as necessary to get the right hole sizes. This would ensure concentricity. For the offset holes, pre drill your stock off-center, then chuck it up and turn it down to the right diameter, parting discs as per the above.
Using a lathe in this manner gives you the best shot at making all of the discs of identical diameter and consistent hole location.
This sounds like a job for a table saw with a V shaped jig set into the fence guides.
, or something one makes to use as a guide.
