Drilling into hard materials requires the right drill bits, but also the right technique.On hard wood, the bit tends to drift away from the proper spot. Either centre punch a starting hole, or simply turn the drill on backwards first. Running backwards the bit will not wander. It doesn't dill ...
Driving a screw directly into wood forces the grain of the wood apart. Soft wood will crush a lot and allow the screw to force its way through. Hard wood is much more likely to simply split when the screw forces its way between the wood fibres. Either hard or soft wood will split when you scre...
When you are looking for professional tool quality, in a DIY package -- here are two great tools.The Rock-Eater is the best drywall saw ever made. The blade is far more rigid than an ordinary saw to allow it to be of a higher temper. That gives it a much sharper piercing point and best of all i...
Dan from Mount Pearl, Newfoundland has seen us place magnets around the hole where we were drilling to trap the metal shavings. He suggests using speaker magnets because they are round doughnut shaped.Great idea Dan, except that all the new speakers we had didn't have those magnets any more, and...
Two of the problems you may encounter when trying to drill holes in ceramic tiles are getting the hole started and using large bits to cut.Often the masonry bits for ceramic tiles will wander around the smooth surface before they start to penetrate, making your hole in the wrong place. Start wit...
You have drilled a hole for a door handle and now discover you need a larger hole. One method is to completely plug up the old hole so that the pilot bit of the hole saw has something to centre into. One of our viewers sent in the idea of taking a dowel the size of the existing hole and simply ...
Have you ever wondered why the centre drill of a hole saw is adjustable? You want it fairly long to get a good centred start before the hole saw hits the material, but if it is too long for the job, you will have problems.Look at the first photo and you will see that the drill is going to break o...
Some tools go un-noticed on the hardware store shelves, like the rotary hammer chisels. At first glance this appears simply to be a heavy duty hammer drill. It has a special quick change chuck called an SDS system and will only work with drills and other accessories with the special SDS shanks....
You see a lot of TV advertising these days for what is called a rotary tool, this is like a small drill that takes all kinds of different bits with small 1/8th inch shanks.Very similar machines are made by Dremmel, Sears and Black & Decker. Are they really worthwhile.Yes.The key is the wide ...
What a mess whenever you have to drill either small or large holes in the ceiling.A nifty trick is to take a fairly flexible and transparent food container, put you bit right through the bottom and into the drill.Hold the container low to sight your entry point, then slide it up tight to the ceil...
