Improvised Pilot Hole
A plywood guide helps widen a misplaced hole.
Have you ever misplaced a hole or sawn a hole too small with a hole saw? Because of the existing hole, there is no way for the hole saw’s pilot bit to do its job to widen the hole. To get around this issue, I simply take a scrap of plywood and saw a hole through it with the desired bit. I then screw this plywood guide to the surface through which I need a new hole in a new location and saw the hole—no pilot bit required. Recently I had to move several holes I’d cut through floor joists for a drain line in order to get the correct fall. I was able to raise the 2-1 ⁄ 8-in. holes easily, some of them by as little as 1 ⁄ 8 in.
—Dale Dell’Ario, Port Townsend, Wash.
Edited and illustrated by Charles Miller.
From Fine Homebuilding #317
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