How to drill accurate angled holes into a wooden board?

Joined
23 May 2004
Messages
15,908
Reaction score
759
Country
United Kingdom
I need to drill a grid of accurate angled holes (including accurate depth) into a wooden board.
(24 x 5 holes at 50mm spacing)

I have a pillar drill but it doesn't have a tilting table.

Any ideas how I could do this?
 
Last edited:
it doesn't have a tilting table
Cut a wedge of wood the width of the table and the angle you want and fix it to the table. The angle of the wedge is equal to the angle of incline from the vertical. Use an online triangle calculator to get distances if you don't have an angle finder.

A1EDA5A6-7A7C-42C8-AE9A-509B4DF51CE8.jpeg


In the picture the highlighted angles are all the same

An online calculator for triangles will allow you to enter eg 3 things you do know about a triangle:
40A87870-02C0-431D-99DE-F358E71B002E.jpeg

You want your holes tilted over 12 degrees, your piece of wood(table) is 10 inches wide, there is a 90 degree (because you have a set square, or can use a piece of A4 glued to the wood etc)

98338B76-BC4F-4070-AB85-B30656AE012D.jpeg

Result:
2558B865-9641-45E6-95BB-3FE432C5055A.jpeg


cut the side B you don't know as 2 and 1/8th of an inch (or work in mm for an easy life :) )

You now have a tilting table..


If the piece of wood you have is large and ungainly you might be better off using this technique to drill one good hole right through a short length of hardwood, then you can place that block onto your large sheet of wood and use it as a guide to line up your cordless drill at the right angle, drill as deep as you can then take the block away and finish off

If you make the wedge out of hardwood then it can be the guide block if you flip it upside down

F0050069-BC50-4C20-A4E4-3FEC43B29BAE.jpeg


Always remember you can use tools to make other tools to do jobs :)

ps, sorry if the pictures are enormous; they look reasonable on an iPhone but they end up a bit oversized on a computer..
 
i would say it all depends on the length and weight off the timber
there may be another approach to your problem
 
The wood is 25mm thick and is approx 125cm x 30cm
 
you can do it by 3 points off contact
a board to sit on the drill table with battens to locate on the table side to side
then a high and low batten to give the angle not angled themselves just supports
then a thrird support for the end possibly 10mm high to allow good support when you push down
 
Back
Top