dnoyeB (in ) said:

| Morris Dovey wrote:
|| dnoyeB (in ) said:
||
||| In my stereo cabinet I have adjustable shelves. The walls are AC
||| Fir plywood. I was drilling in the holes with my cordless B&D
||| drill. The plywood kept ripping around the hole.
||
|| Three FYI's:
||
|| I've gotten excellent results with a 1/4" straight bit in a plunge
|| router.
||
|| I've also had good results using LV carbide-lipped brad-point drill
|| bits in a 2500 RPM corded hand drill from HF. IMO, for any given
|| bit type, higher RPM seems to give best results in wood. I bought
|| the HF corded drill just because of the high RPM and have been
|| pleased with the result.
|
| This is kind of what I thought so I almost got out my corded drill.
| But its hard to rev up the RPMs before the drill is in contact with
| the wood. When I touchdown the bit has been walking a little.

This problem is handled by the center spur in a brad-point bit. For
twist bits you can solve the problem by using a center punch to make a
small "dimple" at the center of the hole before drilling. You should
be able to pick one up at your local hardware store. You can see a
picture he http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PMAKA=891-7230.

| I was using a standard drill bit. I'm going to get a set of those
| brad-point bits from LV. Looks like lots of folks use LV. Good
| store?

LV sells pretty good stuff. I buy from them and have been happy with
both merchandise and service. They have a _pretty_ catalog that
requires a certain amount of self-discipline on the part of the
reader. Robin Lee, LV's president visits rec.woodworking from time to
time.

|| The old trick of drilling through masking tape works fairly well.
|
| Its hard to imagine a extremely thin piece of tape preventing a
| powerful drill from ripping strips of plywood up. Maybe there is
| "woodworkers" tape or something?

If the drill is sharp, the tape keeps the fibers at the surface from
pulling away from each other. If the drill bit is dull, all bets are
off. One of the reason I like the lipped bits is because the "lip"
scores the circumference of the hole to prevent this tearing.

--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
DeSoto, Iowa USA
http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto