Sapling Stool: Drill ramp and spacer technique for stretchers

Whereas constructing a stool utilizing maple sapling sections for legs, I got here to the purpose of drilling for stretchers. The 4 legs had been irregular in width and appeared out of airplane in all instructions. I wanted to drill connecting holes by every of the 4 pairs of legs. For stick chairs I’ll tape a leveled straightedge to the pair of legs and eyeball the drilling, however this didn’t work effectively for these precise sticks.

The answer I got here up with is twofold: a leveling ramp for the drill and a system of information rails and spacers clamped to the benchtop.  First, I measured the grip angle of my Milwaukee drill because it stood on the good flat-bottom battery and made a ramp to counter the angle.  I chucked a size of drill rod into the drill and stood it on the bench. There’s a little flex constructed into the battery connection, so I felt for what that’s and aimed to halve it. Then I clamped a vertical assist within the vise and inched the drill towards it till I believed I used to be there. The assist stored the entire thing steady as I checked the angle.

I used a Wixey digital angle gauge and a stage to measure out at 13.4°. The built-in magnets made life straightforward. You possibly can measure manually by taking vertical measurements on the chuck and on the finish of the rod, drawing it on paper and utilizing a protractor. Lay out your angle on a protracted block, lower it on the bandsaw, and clear up the floor. I ran mine over the jointer earlier than reducing it to size. Trying again, I feel a fast coat of one thing would have helped the tape stick higher.

The underside of the drill was coated with painter’s tape, and two-sided tape meant for securing objects to a CNC desk mounted the drill to the ramp. The drill must be completely centered side-to-side on the face of the ramp as a result of the sting of the ramp will get used for registration each left to proper and proper to left. I used the cutoff from the ramp lower to place beneath the drill throughout setup to maintain it from peeling itself off the ramp. (Ask me how I realized this!)

I clamped a information rail to the very fringe of the bench. It wanted to be thick sufficient to permit for including spacers beneath the drill to vary elevation to separate the front-to-back and side-to-side stretchers. For this stool I drilled the S-S holes with the drill on a ½-in. riser and the F-B holes with the stool on the ½-in. riser, giving me an inch of offset between perpendicular facilities. I feel I’d have appreciated the completed piece higher with a bit extra offset.

I chucked a small brad-point bit into the drill and pressed a pair of legs towards the information rail. Then I launched the drill to a leg by sliding it alongside the information rail. Had it not landed within the middle of the leg, I’d have wanted so as to add spacers both to the drill or the leg to get it there.

With the bit centered, I moved to the opposite aspect and repeated the method. I went forwards and backwards till the drill hit lifeless nuts on either side utilizing the SAME spacer for the drill. (Solely the leg spacers can range.) The legs had been now set with the drill factors parallel to the information rail and collinear with one another. I added some weight to the highest to assist maintain the chair in place and drilled by from either side. A little bit of stiff wire tells the story …

If you understand which bit you’ll use for the stretchers, it is going to by no means be simpler to drill them than proper now. Use the identical spacers and observe the pilot holes by earlier than transferring on to the opposite three sides. As a bonus, drilling from the skin of each gap in each leg strikes most potential blowout to the much less seen inside aspect of the joints.