studders
Established Member
If you Drill in reverse does it add more Wood?? :-k
Wood Plugs
- Thread starter Colarris
- Start date
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Eric The Viking
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They don't cut like ordinary twist drills or holesaws at all. You need quite a bit of force, and starting them on a flat surface without a pillar drill or drill stand would be very hard.
Some thoughts:
0. Check the plug cutter is sharp. It may not be, and some careful fettling with a fine file or hone may help it cut. You do also need to clear sawdust from the hole quite often, as the design means it will tend to clog.
1. Use thick stock material to cut your plugs from, that matches the grain direction
of your chair seat. Don't forget you'll use the plug inside-out (the narrowest bit you cut is nearest the surface of the stock).
2. Measure the outside diameter of the plug cutter.
With a spade bit or a Forstner or a brace and bit (Jennings pattern or whatever)... as close to the outside diameter as you can get, but OVERSIZE... make a shallow hole in the surface of your stock.
3. That hole will act as a guide for the plug cutter as you start it freehand. You'll need to go deep, to cut past the pointy hole of the centre of the drill you used (as long as it's invisible in the finished article, that's fine). Forstners leave less of a hole, but like plug cutters, are harder to control freehand.
4. Assuming you cut the plug fine, you can break it free with either a small chisel or an electrician's screwdriver in the slot made by the plug cutter. A beter way is to make a depth mark on the outside of the plug cutter, cut as many plugs as you can to the same depth in the same piece of stock, fairly close to each other, then saw through the stock so you sever them all at the bottom of the plugs with one saw cut.
5. I've got some of the Disston set. The all-in-one countersink and pilot cutters work OK in softwood and for floorboards etc. but you'll struggle to get a clean hole for fine work.
I'd do screw recesses with a small Forstner bit, and (better) drill through some scrap clamped to the surface, although positioning will require a bit of care. As before, a pillar drill will be better.
6. I wouldn't even attempt to cut the conical ones without a pillar drill. It's got four blades that will bounce the drill around everywhere but the place you want it.
Did we mention the pillar drill? You could also use a drill stand, but s/h pillar drill's aren't expensive though - try the local free mags, as they often go very cheaply and this isn't a very demanding job.
Hope that helps a bit.
E.
Some thoughts:
0. Check the plug cutter is sharp. It may not be, and some careful fettling with a fine file or hone may help it cut. You do also need to clear sawdust from the hole quite often, as the design means it will tend to clog.
1. Use thick stock material to cut your plugs from, that matches the grain direction
of your chair seat. Don't forget you'll use the plug inside-out (the narrowest bit you cut is nearest the surface of the stock).
2. Measure the outside diameter of the plug cutter.
With a spade bit or a Forstner or a brace and bit (Jennings pattern or whatever)... as close to the outside diameter as you can get, but OVERSIZE... make a shallow hole in the surface of your stock.
3. That hole will act as a guide for the plug cutter as you start it freehand. You'll need to go deep, to cut past the pointy hole of the centre of the drill you used (as long as it's invisible in the finished article, that's fine). Forstners leave less of a hole, but like plug cutters, are harder to control freehand.
4. Assuming you cut the plug fine, you can break it free with either a small chisel or an electrician's screwdriver in the slot made by the plug cutter. A beter way is to make a depth mark on the outside of the plug cutter, cut as many plugs as you can to the same depth in the same piece of stock, fairly close to each other, then saw through the stock so you sever them all at the bottom of the plugs with one saw cut.
5. I've got some of the Disston set. The all-in-one countersink and pilot cutters work OK in softwood and for floorboards etc. but you'll struggle to get a clean hole for fine work.
I'd do screw recesses with a small Forstner bit, and (better) drill through some scrap clamped to the surface, although positioning will require a bit of care. As before, a pillar drill will be better.
6. I wouldn't even attempt to cut the conical ones without a pillar drill. It's got four blades that will bounce the drill around everywhere but the place you want it.
Did we mention the pillar drill? You could also use a drill stand, but s/h pillar drill's aren't expensive though - try the local free mags, as they often go very cheaply and this isn't a very demanding job.
Hope that helps a bit.
E.
There is a way to do this freehand ie. without the need for a pillar drill or drill clamp etc.
Cut a hole the same diameter as the plug cutter in a piece of scrap, clap it to the work centered over the point you want to plug and use it as a guide to prevent it drifting off centre.
I've done this dozens of times on site and it works fine.
Cheers,
T
Cut a hole the same diameter as the plug cutter in a piece of scrap, clap it to the work centered over the point you want to plug and use it as a guide to prevent it drifting off centre.
I've done this dozens of times on site and it works fine.
Cheers,
T
Colarris
Established Member
Have to say, the wood I was using didnt stand up to well at being turned into 8mm plugs. Half of them crumbled into dust. Must have been a cheap piece of pine.
Colarris
Established Member
May have to buy ready made plugs after all. The pine I got just doesn't stand up to being cut into plugs.
Colarris
Established Member
While drilling one of the holes in the wood I heard a crack and the drill bit suddenly snapped. What would have caused that, its only the third time I used it? The drill bit has now broken off into the wood and I can't get it out. Its ok at the moment as its acting as a screw and holding the wood together but is there a way I could remove it if needed?
Check the shank of the plug cutter when you get it out, if it's scored around the shank, it's your chuck slipping and snatching. This happens to drill bits a lot, users think it's a fault in the drill but the chuck is often the culprit. Getting it out could be tricky you might have to gently lever it up.
Colarris
Established Member
Thanks, I think I'll leave it in. No one will ever know and I'll only damage the project I'm working on
Colarris
Established Member
So last question, is it possible to get a new drill bit for my 10# screw digger?
OwenRS
Established Member
Hi All,
Save your time and drop on google for Appleby Woodturnings. All they do is make tapered wood pellets as singles. Been buying from them for years and had thousands off them.
Best move I ever made.
Save your time and drop on google for Appleby Woodturnings. All they do is make tapered wood pellets as singles. Been buying from them for years and had thousands off them.
Best move I ever made.
Colarris
Established Member
Great links, thanks Owen. Will save alot of trouble and mess! My cutter doesn't seem to be doing the job, its just turns the plugs to mush(??)
OwenRS
Established Member
Yeah we was like that for years. Burning out cutters works out expensive.
Think they started out good but every plug cutter we've seen in recent years is cheap Chinese poo.
Think they started out good but every plug cutter we've seen in recent years is cheap Chinese poo.
