How Do I Drill A Hole...

[Hippety Hop]

Didn't think I'd have to ask this, but I tried to carefully enlarge some tuner holes, and took out a few chips around the edges. Any tips?

[josh_cain]

make sure youre using a high gear on your drill so its spinning fast.

[graham mcdonald]

If the chips are in an ebony or rosewood head overlay, superglue and some fine sanding dust will fill the chips in. A reamer is often a better way to increase the size of a tuner post hole

cheers

graham

[kiwigeo]

Like the man in the purple long Johns says...a reamer is the best way to enlarge a hole.

[Kim]

Hip,

I recently changed tuner types on my headstock and had to go from a smaller hole for recessed bushings type open gear tuners out to 10mm to suite Gotoh 510's. I did not have a reamer large enough on hand so I clamped the headstock securely to a backing board and the drillpress table. I then VERY carefully eyeballed the larger bit to line up the centre of each hole turning the chuck by hand to ensure that it would cut the same amount of material from opposing axis, this takes time.

When I was certain that I had things lined up correctly I then cut an outer bevel in the hole by continuing to gently turn the chuck by hand and applying gentle pressure. Once I had a mild countersink going on, I then turned on the drill and pushed it on through. The process took quite a while but considering I had already done the headstock inlay, bindings and back strap it was worth the time to get things right, nerve wracking stuff though. FYI this was done in a very chip prone Mulga overlay and it worked out a treat.

If you have more patience than I, you would do better to get hold of a reamer as the lads suggest.

Cheers

Kim

[Hippety Hop]

Suppose I thought it was something you could do without thinking.

Today I stopped off at a junk shop in South Rd (Opp Tucker Rd) and bought an old brace & bit. It's worth a look in there if you're nearby. She always has bikes and stuff outside. There's a couple of tables inside piled up with old tools. Mostly rubbish but sometimes...

I'll get some reamers too in due course.

Thanks for the assistance. So you've done it too.

Cheers Hip

[Dominic]

And use a nice new or sharp and clean bit.

[Hesh1956]

Another tip for you, when drilling and not reaming, is to place masking tape over the exit side of the hole. The tape helps avoid blow-out and works well.