drilling straight holes

[Majorjoel]

I use a small bubble level with my drill press to get as straight a hole as possible. The level used with my eye-balling gets it pretty even on both sides of the many drill throughs.

[flehto]

The only holes I don't use a drill press for are for  the 2 BP screws, 2 TP screws,  the rear finial screw of a TG and for me the most difficult asre alignment, the push rod hole for the PB release which is usually at a compound angle.  A 9V Makita cordless drill is used.....Fred 

[davec2]

Randy,

Didn't mean the line as a challenge.  I do about 90% of my work by hand (in the gunsmithing and jewelry worlds) and 99.9% of it by machine in my rocket propulsion / aerospace incarnation.  I have a great appreciation for what a good craftsman can do by hand with un-powered, simple tools, but I also have an excellent appreciation for what a machine can do consistently and quickly that you can't do by hand.  I know it works for a lot of people, but, personally, I would never risk ruining a tremendous amount of hard work and excellent craftsmanship by doing something as simple as drilling a straight / perpendicular hole with a risky method.  The drill press / mill has its own risks and idiosyncrasies, but drilling a crooked hole isn't usually one of them.  For me, drilling the last pin hole on a nearly completed firearm with an egg beater would make as much sense as using a can of questionable finish or a dull tap.

Just expressing a personal opinion.  Not trying to challenge anyone's sensibilities. 

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

I think the key to successful use of the drillpress for pin holes etc is having the clamps and jigs you need..... I have actually had better luck on precarves with the eggbeater.   This time working from a blank I still have square sides on the forearm!! So drill press Here I come...

[omark]

I made the same jig Omark described and find it works well.  Made mine frim an old blacksmith forged C shaped clamp I found in my father-in-law's junk box.  Just had to drill and tap a hole in the foot opposite the screw and make the centering and pilot screws.  I used allen head screws for the pilot screws and use lock nuts to take any wobble out of the screws.

I also use L shaped jigs or small blocks of wood with an appropriate sized hole drilled through them on the drill press.  However, I do have an observation regarding the use of this type of jig when drilling across the lock and side plate panels.  If one is using a swamped or tapered barrel, the faces of the panels are probably not parallel.  As a result, wouldn't the drill emerge further back than expected on the opposite side?

Laurie 
blue, just measure the pin location you want on both sides and the bit goes straight to the point on the jig on the other side. youre not drilling an exact 90 degree angle from either side.      i know a drill press can be used with much success, but im working by myself and find it real hard to keep it all lined up and drill at the same time.    jerry, that jig is exactly what i mean. i just used different material.

[bluenoser]

I made the same jig Omark described and find it works well.  Made mine frim an old blacksmith forged C shaped clamp I found in my father-in-law's junk box.  Just had to drill and tap a hole in the foot opposite the screw and make the centering and pilot screws.  I used allen head screws for the pilot screws and use lock nuts to take any wobble out of the screws.

I also use L shaped jigs or small blocks of wood with an appropriate sized hole drilled through them on the drill press.  However, I do have an observation regarding the use of this type of jig when drilling across the lock and side plate panels.  If one is using a swamped or tapered barrel, the faces of the panels are probably not parallel.  As a result, wouldn't the drill emerge further back than expected on the opposite side?

Laurie 
blue, just measure the pin location you want on both sides and the bit goes straight to the point on the jig on the other side. youre not drilling an exact 90 degree angle from either side.      i know a drill press can be used with much success, but im working by myself and find it real hard to keep it all lined up and drill at the same time.    jerry, that jig is exactly what i mean. i just used different material.

I guess I could have been clearer in my statement.  I do not use L shaped blocks or similar guides that index against the face of the panel when drilling across the panels because the hole will not be square with the axis of the bore if the panels are not parallel.  I rely on the C shaped guide or drill press with guide pin for those holes.

Laurie

[The other DWS]

I've been fighting and cuss'n this same problem yesterday afternoon and this morning.  working on a precarved kit from one the M/L equivalent of the BigBoxStore.
  It's supposed to be a FrenchCanadian tradegun converted to rifle;  but its got so many 'dutchmen" in it I may have to move it to Pennsylvania

I've concluded that the upper flat edges of the routed barrel channel are either not true to square or the forend has grown a bit of twist---though the RR channel is straight.

Thank goodness this is going to have a dark finish and it is patterned after a real basic, probably home-grown, conversion I saw in a rural Ontario museum some years back

[chuck-ia]

Well, last night after work I measured and eyeballed, marked holes and to the drill press it went. Still off a little, but a whole lot better than the first attempt. Thanks for all the suggestions. chuck

[Roger Fisher]

I pinned in the frt pipe tonite.  Horizontal hold with my eggbeater drill bullseye..

Seems I can hit the mark straighter with a horizontal hold than with a vertical hold.  Anyone??

[The other DWS]

just an odd idea that occurred to me too late to help my project ;but someone else might be able to make it work for them

for the past 4 or 5 years my buddy down in TN and I have been building an RV-7  Aluminum kit airplane.  In assembly we have had to match-drill, ream, and rivet about 40 thousand rivets in the skin and structure.  One thing we found that when drilling into the shiney skin we could watch the reflection of the drill and very easily see if we were holding the drill  perp. to the skin-----critical on the curved surfaces.  If I had made up a real shiny metal plate about 3x4 inches with a a few small pilot holes drilled in it, I might have been able to hold or clamp it to the stock and easily see how I was holding my drill.   maybe a piece of 3" machined aluminum angle stock that had been really polished would work

[Don Getz]

I'm not sure a lot of you guys are doing the right things.   You are trying to overcomplicate a simple thing.   Many of you
should first get into building tables and benches for practice.............Don