🟢 Drill STRAIGHT Holes (5 Easy Ways without a Drill Press) 

How dare you make an informative video in under four minutes? Great info and to the point.

Have seen too many videos on this topic and almost gave this one a pass, but then, glad I watched it. Very nice video, no fuss, straight to the point and most importantly, very nice options listed out. Do post more tips&tricks for DIY'ers..

I'm new to drilling. I actually thought I was a failure for failing to drill a straight hole. Nice to know that this problem is so common that products have been made to solve it.

Just used the two blocks of scrap wood in the clamp option. Fantastic result. You will make experts of us all 😀

A major plus for the drill block you showed is the V shaped cutout in the bottom that allows you to drill crosswise through the centre of a dowel or pipe.

Thank you for sharing this. I used a speed square with mixed results. A drill block is in my future. Thanks man.

Actually drilling straight holes is easy, it's drilling curved holes that's hard.

Excellent video. Great ideas, clearly presented. Very helpful. Thanks.

Thank you for making this as straightforward as possible

You are a great teacher! Looking forward to see your channel grow exponentially! 💪👏

You can also use a plunge router to start a straight hole at least. It has the flat bottom plate to align it with the material you want to drill. It functions similar to the alignment tool. Just the travel is pretty limited. .. :o)

I've used a drill block for years, and it's great. My top pick.

The only cutting faces on a drill bit are the two leading edges so once you've got the hole started the rest will follow, so removing the drill block to drill deeper or thorugh a peice is no issue so long as you let the hole guide the bit. Nice post by the way.

The two pieces of wood clamped together, save me! Thank you

Super helpful!!! Thanks for putting this out there for us perfectionists…

I love the CD trick, I'll try it next time

Since I have a drill press, I drilled a hole into a block of wood, put it on the bench and made sure it was level. Then I chucked the bit into my hand drill and stuck it into the hole. Then I glued a circular level to the back of the drill and made sure it was level. Now, I can free-hand a vertical hole pretty well by keeping the bubble centered in the level as I drill.

The offset blocks are a great idea. Great info!

Thank you! The portable drill guide looks perfect for drilling horizontally - it's so easy to get this wrong if the hole is a different height than you are, or if drilling into brick etc. Off to buy one now.

The clamping together of 2 pieces of wood is a great idea since it is quick and the surfaces can be shifted/re-sawn as they become worn.

Question- Has anyone made their own drill blocks? I have a drill press available. I’m thinking using 1-1:2” hardwood and maybe 4-6” long. Go along and drill common size holes. Looking for comments, both positive, negative or suggestions. I’m not making fine furniture, just trying to get a decent, straight hole. Thanks in advance for any help.

Thank you SO much. Great ideas Bud that WORKED fine for me. Thank you again. 👍🏻👍🏻🙏🙏

I knew I should have kept all of those AOL CDs.

The DrillBlock is for me. I appreciate your to-the-point videos minus stupid blasting music and an audition.

What's a CD

If you are in the market for a portable drill guide don't waste your money on the new ones on Amazon. There's no better one than the old sears portalign precision drill guide. There are tons of them on ebay for 20 to 30 dollars in perfect condition(some unopened) and they are far better than the cheap new ones. I have the milescraft one off amazon but I stumbled across a portalign at my local thrift store and the quality is comparable to the 200 dollar versions of today.

Drill blocks are used expensively in the aircraft industry but with a little foot on each corner to accommodate the curvatures

Nice video mate, it's really helpful...

I'm building a custom dog crate, and I'm using wooden dowels for the bars, I have the perfect drill bit for them to fit snug, but I can't drill a hole or insert a screw with any resemblance to straight. I didn't know drill blocks existed, but I'm heading out to buy one now! Thanks! I totally wasn't going back to the Home Depot already because I didn't buy enough lumber... who would suggest such a thing? (ok, yes I am).

Exactly the video I was hoping for. Thanks Aaron.

Get s small plastic mirror, drill a hole into it and use the mirror effect as a guide. you almost always will get within 1-2 degree accuracy depending how slow you go. then i see you CD Method.

Use a table saw. Make sure your fence is square to the blade. Adjust the blade height to half the blade thicknes.. run a scrap piece across. Use a depth guage to make sure the cut is even throughout....repeat this process with another piece. Join the two pieces together with wood glue making sure the cut is aligned. And now use a bit that is the same thickness as the blade and now you have a perfect 90 pilot hole jig.

great video, used your link and bought the drill block

Dude, thank you so much. Im here because I made a mistake, more than once. Headed to Lowe's for both a drill block and drill guide.

Thanks for the reminder. I have a drill block, now just locate it 😅

I use an drill block or guide made by Big Gator Tools. It has the v shape cutout on the bottom for drilling in round pieces. It works very well. I bought it online from USA. And this purchase has a little funny story. At customs office when I received the package and opened it for inspection the customs dude was stunned. He had never saw something lile this until then and called a coleague to look at the guide, to make sure it's not a firearm part. I was prepared for that and I pulled out an drill bit from my pocket and showed them how it works. They asked why I bought it from USA, because there are some taxes I have to pay. I told them that their reaction to seeing it is the answer. There was nothing like that guide, to be found on Romania's tools market, and the EU sellers asked more than double the price in the US. This happened more than 10 years ago. Now there are several options to buy, locally, but all are polymer body with metal bushing, not solid hardened steel like the Gator guide.

Trick no 3 is GODLIKE!

Excellent. While I am sure that drilling straight into a block of wood siting on your bench maybe easy for some, these tips have really helped me drilling straight into wood where I have very poor access. A small scrap wood 90o jig was a brilliant idea. Thank you.

Excellent info, exactly what I was looking for! Thanks 👍

I epoxied two 1 inch spirit levels to my drill. One for level and one for plumb. Or I use a drill guide.

what about proper wood drills these drills on here are for metal.anybody got any ideas for using those.they have a flat shank mmmmm

This is why I love youtube. Thanks for posting this.

For the second con of the drill block (drill bit not matching the hole), you can drill a hole one size smaller, and then widen it with a bigger drill bit.

I’m here because I’m unhappy with my kreg drill block. It works fine for shallow holes, but when I had to drill a 3” hole in a block of wood I was sorely disappointed when the hole wasn’t perpendicular - not even close. I’ll try the CD method, but if that doesn’t work I’m gonna get a proper drill guide. I really don’t want to make space in my shop for a drill press, so a drill guide seems like exactly what I need. Thanks for a great and informative (and efficient) video!

Need a Metric drill block. Hard to find, and a bit more expensive

Howdy. Bewilders me that drill manufactures have not thought of furnishing drills with bubble levels ... Regards.

I bought a Cheap drillpress 14 years ago, 30 euros, 350 Watts; still fine and accurate, wood or metal, semi_pro use. Cheaper than your handbill and lots of fiddling

#4 works great. They even make ones for drill and tapping holes in pipes that had a curved base.

I have an old Ryobi battery drill that has a centre bubble level on the end of it, so, when you drill you just watch the bubble.

for me it's a homemade drill block made from an off-cut of hardwood. 8 bucks cheaper than buying one but you do need access to a drill press 👍

I’ve always wondered why manufacturers don’t include.a flat surface to the top of their machines which lies parallel to the axis of the drill bit? This surface could then be lined up with anything that would give the required straight hole. Also a spirit level, perhaps two lying at right angles to each other could guide when drilling holes in walls.

Thanks fot demonstration. I already subscribed.

Great video! Thanks for sharing bro. I have a little recommendation to save some money. It will either be for free pretty much or really cheap! and all it takes is a little effort and scrap metal. you can make your own drill blocks! if you already own a drill press, mill or even a metal lathe or maybe can get access to one of the above. All you really need is a scrap piece of steel, cast iron, Aluminum, possibly bronze or even a hard wood a could work in a pinch. So bring your most used drill bit sizes with you. Simply drill a series of all your most used Drills and then you have a drill press accurate Drill block that works great! And youll save alot of money! The gator brand drill blocks are pretty pricey for all sizes. so i did this to save money. I had some scrap metal so i didnt spend a dime on it. You may ask why would someone need this if you have a drill press? Well the short answer is the portability of the drill block. Sometimes i have to go to sites and need to drill fairly accurate holes but only have a power drill. So this works great for those situatuons, Or maybe you just need one hole and dont want to go in your shop to drill it lol (ive been this lazy many times!) Lol anyways its useful and youll find yourself using it almost anytime you need to drill holes. If you use hardwood it will not last as long or stay as accurate as steel, cast iron or even Aluminum or some other harder metals maybe even softer like bronze could work for a while. Well good luck everyone and i hope you all have a nice day. Thanks for reading my free book lol

Straight hole? Most twist drill bits will drill a straight hole. They do this naturally. MST be you should rename your video, Drill holes perpendicular to a surface or at a particular angle.

Thank you for your video. (That scrap wood jig has worked well for me. But I think I'd like to graduate to a drill block. I may purchase one soon. Thank you again for your video). God[Bible] Bless.

Best video on the subject.

I was going to make a floating shelf out of a 1 inch board and I needed to drill on the thickness of the board so this is what I did to make my whole straight I got a another piece of board and cut out A straight piece and made it 1 and 1/2 in in width 6 in in length after drilling the straight hole into the middle of the thickness of the wood I then glued a piece of wood on top that was 1 in thick 6in log 6 in width top and bottom so that it slides it looks like a c-channel like a letter C if you look on the side of it and that slides into the board because the one and a half inches will guide your drill bit nice and straight and Improvement to the idea you could add a piece of pipe so that you don't mess up the hole that's made out of wood since the drill could go sideways a little and then make the whole crooked so that's why you would put a piece of pipe but since I had steady hands I just did it this way I didn't feel like doing extra work with the pipe plus I didn't have a tool to cut the pipe ended up not using that wood cuz it was too heavy so I ended up using quarter of an inch plywood some high density spray foam and I just put a hole using some Square Dill rods to create the holes that the pipe with or the spike or whatever you call it that goes through the holes to hold it up and I glue those in there where all the holes needed to be at and the rest I just sprayed it was pray foam to keep the spray foam from bending the wood I just made another floating shelf out of thicker wood and then that would fit inside that that's keeping from warping it and that's how I did it and then I just shaved off a chunk with an utility knife those ones that you can pull it out more and more blade a light weight strong making a lightweight floating shelf i did not needit to hold heavy thing it worked out fin

this is really helpful for guitar builders on a budget, thank you so much

The drill guides usually have a V shaped groove in the base so you can put a pipe or other cylinder in it to drill centered holes.

Wow a speed square actually works really well, thanks

All except the speed square & CD are in my arsenal. I mean, I've got a speed square, but it's not meant for a drill guide. And CD's... it's not 1998 man!

New to the channel, but based on how great this video was, I will be checking out more of your content!

i use the chin metod its pretty reliable

Plunge routers work really well too, if you have one that is.

Great tips! Have a project I've been working on that stumped me about how to drill some holes straight. Now I know how- Thanks! Liked and subscribed.

Awesome thank you 😊

Which method would work best for using a hammer drill on a concrete wall? I need perfectly straight holes to hang a wood rack on my garage wall.

Excellent and well researched advice. Comprehensively explained in clear concise language. Many thanks! 🙏🏼

Thank you very good job

well finally --never knew there was such a gadget as a drill block ==love your two wood guide for straight drilling --90 degrees -----thankyou --many of us cannot afford a fancy drill post guide ----well done--- from the poor artisans club !

I've taped washers the same size of the bit together to make a guide. It works well.

Personal opinion, none of these really work well other than the drill block and mini drill press gadget.

genius!

You can start with drill block then use the wood blocks to keep you straight. 🎸. Great video. Thanks. I'm putting handles on cabinets not sure if a portable drill press is necessary. If holes are less than 1" inch deep then ill be okay without a press.

I have one of those Drill Blocks I bought a few years ago. They work great. Better than trying to eyeball the drill. Yes you cant drill a deep as you would like, but the hole becomes your guide to finish drilling.

So helpful, ty!

Great guide! I am wondering , if there is a home-made jig for a forstner drill bit at all?

good stuff man!

This video helped a lot. I'm building an end table and I realized after doing the glue-up that it's not going to fit in my drill press. I have an old Craftsman drill guide with drill permanently attached drill but it has the smallest jacobs chuck I have ever seen and can't take the bit I need.

I was about to order a drill block, luckily i remembered that i have a printer, so i just 3d printed one lol

Dremel for the win

You are the man

CC is a good thing...

Great video. I will make that jig with the 2 pieces of wood but those drill blocks look pretty sweet too.

Big gator tools drill guides, they make a few varieties. I use them for attaching door hardware either mag locks or door holders.

In all my years i have never seen a drilled hole be anything other than straight. The drill bit is straight. Im under the impression that you mean perpendicular to the drilled surface. Or a 90 degree hole or square to the surface. If you should ever see a curved hole that would be a talented driller.

Thanks for the video, very informative and helpful; will try finding a precision drill guide.

The drill guide is more expensive and less reliable. There is some wiggle with it so it is not completely straight. Ergonomics is also poor as you need to raise your arm quite high and try to push it down vertically.

Drill block.

Thanks man! High value, straight to the point

the best is to use a professional benchtop drill

Some really gd tips thks. I’m currently making some bookshelves out of some tongue and groove flooring and need to glue several boards edge to edge. I’m adding some dowels to the edge joins for extra strength as the tongue and groove on its own is a bit loose. I found it really challenging drilling straight dowel holes into the edges of the boards / that’s even with using a dowelling tool. Any suggestions? The tips presented assume you have a flat face on the material perpendicular to the drill but drilling holes in the edges of boards doesn’t.

DUDE... Thia video is exciting ! Thanks fir the tips.... this old man 74 can use etc. make more video's please ! Mike Hendershot, Beaumont, California. Oct. 23. 2021

That was just what I needed! Thank you for sharing!

Stack of washers taped together

What about on a round or uneven surface? I’m trying to drill straight holes a driftwood coffee table I’m making. Any ideas anyone?

Who has old cds lying around? Lol nobody

This is extremely useful. Thanks

CD was interesting to say the least. Thank you

Short and to the point. I like it. Thanks for the good information.