Joiner able to drill 16mm/85mm straight hole in wood?

[stratford_noob]

I've got some custom made floating shelves from overseas that are supposed to be hang on M16 threaded rods on the brick wall, and they came with predrilled 16mm wide and 85mm deep holes (to screw in the threaded rod). However while I was measuring things up, I forgot to check for cables, and of course on couple of places the hole would hit a cable.
So the easiest option is just to re-drill the problematic holes in the shelves in different place, rather then moving the cables in the wall. But I'm not brave enough to try to do it with home equipment, and also joineries I had called are not confident they would be able to do it. As far as I know, original holes were done on dowel boring machine. So I was wondering if anyone might know any trade that could help me? I'm based in Warwickshire, but at this point I'm willing to travel some distance, as anything is better then redoing the cabling in the wall.

 

[Notch7]

I've done floating shelf holes for somebody before - I did it with a drill press.

I'm sorry I can't help, I no longer have that business.

 

[^woody^]

In the spirit of DIY, you would clamp your drill horizontal on a bench, set up a guide or mark a line and push the piece towards the drill to drill the hole perpendicular.

Or you just need anyone with a bench drill that is high enough for the shelf width. I can't understand why any joiners shop is afraid to do this.

 

[Bodgedbuild]

If you place the shelves flat, you could place a key (or similar) on the drill bit, if it runs away from you, the drill is aiming down, if it comes back towards you, it is aiming up......

 

[JohnD]

A washer is neater. Needs to be a loose fit.

 

[big-all]

the way i would normally tackle this sort off problem assuming shelve at least twice the hole thickness and assuming a minimum 1 hopefully 2 original fixings to locate
drill hole say 4mm bigger both in shelve and wall to allow for going off line rely on the good dowel/s to line up and pump with resin no nails or whatever your fixing are using
if its sits a bit high front edge when together on dry fit then a bit off weight to level
if weight wont level then try a slight bend in the peg it hangs up on and if it droops prop up the front edge and reverse off above iff required

 

[Captain Nemesis]

Before you embark on any long journeys, check what the structure of the shelves is.

They are clearly not solid wood.

Do they weigh what you would expect solid ones, even solid chipboard, to weigh?

If you tap them, do they sound solid or hollow? Do they sound the same all the way along?

Im not trying to be alarmist, but I have seen floating shelves where internally they were hollow, but there were frame members running front to back where the holes were.

If yours are like that then you wont be able to have holes in different places.....

 

[stratford_noob]

Before you embark on any long journeys, check what the structure of the shelves is.

They are clearly not solid wood.

Do they weigh what you would expect solid ones, even solid chipboard, to weigh?

If you tap them, do they sound solid or hollow? Do they sound the same all the way along?

Im not trying to be alarmist, but I have seen floating shelves where internally they were hollow, but there were frame members running front to back where the holes were.

If yours are like that then you wont be able to have holes in different places.....

Thanks, however they are pretty heavy, veneered mdf. The reason it was done overseas is that my family lives there and offered a help from a joiner they do business with, and I couldn't say no and the re-drill approach is approved by him.

 

[stratford_noob]

the way i would normally tackle this sort off problem assuming shelve at least twice the hole thickness and assuming a minimum 1 hopefully 2 original fixings to locate
drill hole say 4mm bigger both in shelve and wall to allow for going off line rely on the good dowel/s to line up and pump with resin no nails or whatever your fixing are using
if its sits a bit high front edge when together on dry fit then a bit off weight to level
if weight wont level then try a slight bend in the peg it hangs up on and if it droops prop up the front edge and reverse off above iff required

I'm supposed to be fixing it with a chemical resin. Already making the holes in the wall bigger to allow for sloppy drilling accuracy, but wanted to avoid that in the shelf as now the threaded rods nicely fit and stay in place.

 

[blup]

Looking at it from another perspective you have presumably used a cable detector to determine where the cables are, or have assumed the route is vertically above or below a fitting.

You, or an electrician, having safely isolated the relevant circuits, could carefully chip away around the plaster and find room to drill the holes next to where the cables are actually physically located. The advantage being absolute certainty that where you are drilling is safe.

Blup

 

[Tigercubrider]

If you have contact information with the joiner, ask them what the structure is.
As said, often a box frame is made, and a piece of timber is added just where the bolts are intended to go.
Then it's covered.

 

[conny]

Have a look for a company called Tanify on the web.
I have just had an advert show up on another site from this company and they are advertising a jig you can use to do just this task.
I don't know how good it is but it may be worth a look.

 

[big-all]

"drum" across it with a wooden or round plastic handle and listen you will hear a very clear difference iff its hollow between the holes less so iff there is any odd eggbox or ply /thin wood walls in the void??

 

[blup]

A plastic tube glued to a length of timber which is then clamped to the shelf. The tube is long enough to ensure the drilling line is straight, and small enough in diameter for the bit not to move about.

Blup