Drilling Jig


Lathe Drilling Jig
By Keith Jeeves



Drilling accurate holes in a workpiece held in the lathe can be difficult to achieve accurately, especially if the angle to the wood must be repeatable.

Bushings and guides are available but soon become worn and setting of accurate drilling angles is difficult.

To solve the problem, a jig was produced from scrap plywood to hold a cheap plunger type drill guide, available from any hardware store.

The jig is easily adjustable and the angle of the drill to the lathe bed is easily measurable.

Consistently accurate holes are achieved, especially when using an index plate to align a large number of hole on a small diameter workpiece where the drilled holes are almost touching and slight inaccuracies are noticeable.

The drill press is mounted in slots to allow the drill to be aligned perfectly on centre or above/below centre which will achieve a 'Catherine wheel' effect (see photo below).

The following photos are self explanatory, click on a thumbnail for a larger image.







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