Bob Davis wrote:

hole. I just got a new drill press and I get frustrated with having a
device that will drill precisely, yet I cannot seem to get it lined up to
start the hole in the right place. Parallax error is rampant when I try to
do this.

I haven't used the gizmo in question. It looks damn useful, but it's
spendy, and I can make do without it.

How are you drilling? If you're just marking a big X and then trying to
feed a standard 3/8" bit straight into the dead center of the X, you're
probably not going to get stellar accuracy.

For metal, I use a center punch. Mark the X, hold the punch at an angle to
the piece, line up the point just oh-so, and tap it with a ball pein
hammer. For wood, I do the same thing using a very sharp awl. The trick
in either case is to hold the point where you can see it, then slowly swing
it up to perpendicular without moving it relative to the workpiece.
Difficult to describe, easy to do.

The LV gadget looks like a cool way to avoid the extra hassle of having to
finesse this oh so carefully, and I'm not trying to cost Robin a sale here.
I'm just saying if you're fiscally challenged, you might be able to get by
without it.

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/