I am looking for a good way to make consistently spaced holes on
drill press. I need to make about 20 holes 1/2 inch apart in a
straight line. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Joe

On Mar 4, 3:13 pm, wrote:
I am looking for a good way to make consistently spaced holes on
drill press. I need to make about 20 holes 1/2 inch apart in a
straight line. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks


I'm curious to see what shortcuts other people use, but I'll describe
what I'd do.
The straight line part is easy - set up a fence or clamp a board to
your DP table so the bit hits your workpiece where you want it to for
the first hole.
For the spacing, I'd use a ruler against the top of the workpiece and
mark every 1/2". Then line up that mark with a corresponding mark on
your "fence", and drill away. Or, if you have a thick ruler or if you
clamped a ruler to your "fence" board, you could just make one line on
your workpiece, and align that with the 1/2" marks on the ruler/fence.
Let me know if my description isn't clear...
Andy

On Mar 4, 3:45 pm, "Andy" wrote:
On Mar 4, 3:13 pm, wrote:

I am looking for a good way to make consistently spaced holes on
drill press. I need to make about 20 holes 1/2 inch apart in a
straight line. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

I'm curious to see what shortcuts other people use, but I'll describe
what I'd do.
The straight line part is easy - set up a fence or clamp a board to
your DP table so the bit hits your workpiece where you want it to for
the first hole.
For the spacing, I'd use a ruler against the top of the workpiece and
mark every 1/2". Then line up that mark with a corresponding mark on
your "fence", and drill away. Or, if you have a thick ruler or if you
clamped a ruler to your "fence" board, you could just make one line on
your workpiece, and align that with the 1/2" marks on the ruler/fence.
Let me know if my description isn't clear...
Andy

If the holes go all the way through you can drill your first hole,
move the piece 1/2" over and drill down through the first hole into
the table with a hand drill. Grab a piece of appropriately sized
dowel and push it through the hole in the workpiece into the hole in
the table, thus locking the piece in place (against a fence) 1/2" over
from where you started. Now drill your second hole with the drill
press and then slide it over and drop your dowel through that hole,
into the hole in the table.

Or you could mill up 19 pieces of short 1/2" material to use as
spacers against the fence and a stop at the end, removing one each
time you drill a hole.

JP

wrote in message
I am looking for a good way to make consistently spaced holes on
drill press. I need to make about 20 holes 1/2 inch apart in a
straight line. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Too many variables for a complete answer ... How many repetitions, accuracy
required, depth of hole?

For a one-off, should take only a few minutes to layout the center of the
holes with a ruler and pencil, then use a Drill press "fence" to set the
edge distance.

If repetitions are required, mark the fence with .5mm pencil marks from a
reference edge/point on the workpiece on the first run.

If this is something that you need to do frequently and with consistent
accuracy from a reference edge, a la "adjustable shelf pin holes", it may be
time to use another tool that will lend itself better to a "jig", like a
router.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 2/20/07

wrote:
I am looking for a good way to make consistently spaced holes on
drill press. I need to make about 20 holes 1/2 inch apart in a
straight line. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Another Fred Bingham special.

Take a look at his book, Practical Yacht Joinery.

It's covered.

Have fun.

Lew

Set your fence to the proper distance. Use a 2x4 with clamps for this. Lay
out two holes appropriately spaced on the stock. Drill the first hole. Move
it over and line up for the second hole. Clamp in place. Put a dowel in the
previously drilled hole. Put a piece of scrap with the same size hole over
that dowel and attach it to the fence. Drill second hole, pull dowel, move
it so dowel drops into hole and drill another. Continue on for as many as
you like.

wrote in message
oups.com...
I am looking for a good way to make consistently spaced holes on
drill press. I need to make about 20 holes 1/2 inch apart in a
straight line. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Joe

wrote in message
oups.com...
I am looking for a good way to make consistently spaced holes on
drill press. I need to make about 20 holes 1/2 inch apart in a
straight line. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Joe


For that few number of holes I simply mark the center of the hole locations
to the edge of the piece. I align that line with a center mark on a temp
fence clamped to the DP table. The center mark on the fence is centered
with the drill bit.

Basically, clamp the fence at the desired depth and make an alignment mark
on a scrap. Drill in the center of that mark, transfer the mark on the
scrap to the fence as your center of hole reference mark.

"Swingman" wrote in message
...
wrote in message
I am looking for a good way to make consistently spaced holes on
drill press. I need to make about 20 holes 1/2 inch apart in a
straight line. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Too many variables for a complete answer ... How many repetitions,
accuracy
required, depth of hole?

For a one-off, should take only a few minutes to layout the center of the
holes with a ruler and pencil, then use a Drill press "fence" to set the
edge distance.

If repetitions are required, mark the fence with .5mm pencil marks from a
reference edge/point on the workpiece on the first run.


Had I read you answer first I would not have basically repeated it.

"CW" wrote in
nk.net:

*snip: Fence pin drop down design*

I'll second that idea.

Puckdropper

"Leon" wrote in message

Had I read you answer first I would not have basically repeated it.

Great minds think alike?


--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 2/20/07

Harder than it sounds if the holes require a "great deal"
of accuracy.

What are you doing ???

wrote:

I am looking for a good way to make consistently spaced holes on
drill press. I need to make about 20 holes 1/2 inch apart in a
straight line. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Joe

wrote in message
oups.com...
I am looking for a good way to make consistently spaced holes on
drill press. I need to make about 20 holes 1/2 inch apart in a
straight line. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Joe


What diameter holes? For shelf supports, I use a piece of pegboard to help
guide me. For larger holes, see the suggestions above.
Cheers,
cc

My own thinking is that if you need to make holes, like for dowels, so
that they fit when you try to connect the boards with dowels, the
easiest is to just make a guide a piece of board with holes drilled to
guide the drill for drilling holes where you really want them. and use
it for drilling holes on both pieces to be joined. Then consistent
spacing is just not as important. A cross slide on a drill press is
also helpful.

"James "Cubby" Culbertson" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
oups.com...
I am looking for a good way to make consistently spaced holes on
drill press. I need to make about 20 holes 1/2 inch apart in a
straight line. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Joe


What diameter holes? For shelf supports, I use a piece of pegboard to
help guide me. For larger holes, see the suggestions above.
Cheers,
cc

This is the easiest answer, but it's gotten lost in the other discussions.
Get a piece of pegboard, clamp it to the workpiece with the row of pegboard
holes lined up over the planned drilling line, then just drill through each
hole in the pegboard to get a row of perfectly aligned and perfectly spaced
holes. -- Regards --