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This is one of my lay awake in the middle of the night ideas—-
I needed an accurate way to guide my drill while I am drilling holes in the bottom of a handrail to receive balusters. I know of the expensive jigs, but they have their limitations. I came up with this idea a couple of years ago. I had a DeWalt drill with a bubble level at the rear. If I could just put a laser pointer in that vial—–idea——-
I drilled a hole through the bubble vial for a friction fit of the laser housing. When the laser is plugged into the hole partway, the laser is off. When I want to turn it on, all I do is fully seat the laser and the ball detent switch is activated by contacting the bored housing as it is fully inserted. The bubble vial next had to be shimmed and epoxied so as to have the laser exactly parallel with the bore axis of the drill. I accomplished this by first drilling a 3/8 inch hole in a block of wood as deep as a paddle bit would drill. I then placed a tight fitting 3/8 inch straight steel rod in this hole and clamped the block so as the rod was suspended absolutely vertical. I then made a dot on the floor below this rod that is exactly inline with it. I now have an accurate alignment jig. I just chucked my drill on that vertical rod, and aligned my lasers dot in the vial until it was parallel to the vertical rod. The bubble vials housing was then shimmed and epoxied so as the laser beam is now parallel to the bore axis.
I now have a very accurate way of drilling my baluster holes in the bottom of my handrails. This laser dot keeps my drilling exactly plumb. I just keep the laser dot on a mark on the tread and drill away. This works exceptionally well on inclined curved handrails.
The laser pointer can be removed and automatically turns off. I picked the laser up at Menards for ten bucks.
I am sure you will notice the laser axis is not inline with the bore axis. It is offset by 3/4 of an inch. That is why I said the laser beam is parallel to the bore axis. When I drill, place a dot indexed 3/4 inch from the baluster centerline and drill away. If I had designed the DeWALT drill from scratch, I would have had the laser housing exactly parallel and zero inches from the bore axis. But, the end result is the same– a vertically drilled hole in the handrail exactly plumb.
Note—— there is more to the alignment procedure, but I am trying to keep this post short as possible. I will be happy to go into more detail.
Heres a picture that explains more than the above—-
Replies
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This is one of my lay awake in the middle of the night ideas----
I needed an accurate way to guide my drill while I am drilling holes in the bottom of a handrail to receive balusters. I know of the expensive jigs, but they have their limitations. I came up with this idea a couple of years ago. I had a DeWalt drill with a bubble level at the rear. If I could just put a laser pointer in that vial-----idea-------
I drilled a hole through the bubble vial for a friction fit of the laser housing. When the laser is plugged into the hole partway, the laser is off. When I want to turn it on, all I do is fully seat the laser and the ball detent switch is activated by contacting the bored housing as it is fully inserted. The bubble vial next had to be shimmed and epoxied so as to have the laser exactly parallel with the bore axis of the drill. I accomplished this by first drilling a 3/8 inch hole in a block of wood as deep as a paddle bit would drill. I then placed a tight fitting 3/8 inch straight steel rod in this hole and clamped the block so as the rod was suspended absolutely vertical. I then made a dot on the floor below this rod that is exactly inline with it. I now have an accurate alignment jig. I just chucked my drill on that vertical rod, and aligned my lasers dot in the vial until it was parallel to the vertical rod. The bubble vials housing was then shimmed and epoxied so as the laser beam is now parallel to the bore axis.
I now have a very accurate way of drilling my baluster holes in the bottom of my handrails. This laser dot keeps my drilling exactly plumb. I just keep the laser dot on a mark on the tread and drill away. This works exceptionally well on inclined curved handrails.
The laser pointer can be removed and automatically turns off. I picked the laser up at Menards for ten bucks.
I am sure you will notice the laser axis is not inline with the bore axis. It is offset by 3/4 of an inch. That is why I said the laser beam is parallel to the bore axis. When I drill, place a dot indexed 3/4 inch from the baluster centerline and drill away. If I had designed the DeWALT drill from scratch, I would have had the laser housing exactly parallel and zero inches from the bore axis. But, the end result is the same-- a vertically drilled hole in the handrail exactly plumb.
Note------ there is more to the alignment procedure, but I am trying to keep this post short as possible. I will be happy to go into more detail.
Heres a picture that explains more than the above----