drilling button holes and splintering wood

[shateredsoul]

I was wondering if someone could give me some advice on this,

I have my control panel built already by arcadesrfun, but he forgot the flipper buttons for pinball games, so now i'm drilling my own into the cp.

I noticed that the wood splinters when I drill on a piece of scrap wood, and looked it up in saints book, he advices using extra pieces of wood clamped onto the exit hole side of the hole.

Jack from arcadesrfun told me to use painters tape to help reduce the mess, i'm not too sure how that works, but I bought painters tape  

I'm using a hand held drill with a spade drill bit

I don't have clamps, is there any other advice that would work in reducing splintering? I guess it doesn't matter so much if it's on the inside and no one can see it, but i'd like to reduce splintering if possible

[bkenobi]

1) Don't push the bit through, let the bit do the work.
2) Clamp a piece of wood as Saint says.  It is your best bet to avoid carnage if 1) doesn't work.
3) Painters tape won't do much for plywood, but it might help a little for MDF.
4) Get a hole saw or Forstner bit and you will have less damage period.

Basically, if being patient and not pushing on the bit doesn't work, you NEEEED to get a couple clamps.  You spent enough on the base CP that doing it right is not the expensive part.

[WhereEaglesDare]

for a good clean hole you have to use a hole saw, yea an arbor bit is1-2 bucks and the hole saw is 10-13 bucks, but it makes a world of difference.  a good 1 1/8" hole saw is worth it, and you'll use it for a long time.

[Franco B]

Forstner bit over a hole saw any day of the week. 

Just to echo what bkenobi said, make sure you have some scrap material behind the piece you are cutting. You get splintering as the material pushes out as the drill bit exits the piece. Having a scrap piece behind it will stop this from happening.

[shateredsoul]

ok looks like i'll be investing in some clamps, they're not so expensive. 

Hole saws look interesting... but when I checked online I only saw them in sets, are they for use with a hand drill? Sorry I'm new to power tools

[apfelanni]

forstner vs holesaw .. hehe .. i d say it depends on the material and the size of the hole u wonna drill. for ex. i would never drill a 70 or 100 mm hole with a forstner . working with hardwood using a holesaw is often a better choice than a forstner bit. with a good drill press , sharp tools and some patients u can do excellent buttonholes with both of em . 

[saint]

Scrap wood + Forstner bit.

[MB]

Spadebit, handheld drill and MDF don't go together very well. I had a very hard time making nice holes with
that combination. The point of the spade that is supposed to keep it centered quickly starts moving around
because of the soft material and I ended up with holes that looked like they were made with a shotgun.
A forstnerbit is MUCH easier to use and gives great results. You can use the same size 1 1/8 inch for almost
all holes in the CP, like for joystick, buttons and spinner. You can get one for under $10. Highly recommended.

[drventure]

Based on my exp, I'd say a piece of scrap backing the hole and just about any ol' bit will do just fine.

I've used standard bits, forstner, hole saws, speedbore bits, etc, they all seem to cut a clean hole all the way through if you back the hole up with scrap.

Also, you can drill a small pilot all the way through, then drill from the front about halfway, then flip and drill from the back.

That will also produce a clean hole. It might be a tad more work, but if you've got the cp out and bare, not much more than using clamps and scrap.

[shateredsoul]

Any specific type of clamps? or will any type of clams do the job just fine? I was going to head out to homedepot and just get these

http://www.homedepot.com/Tools-Hardware-Hand-Tools-Fastening-Tools-Clamps-Vices/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xglZaq5e/R-100184969/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

[saint]

Any specific type of clamps? or will any type of clams do the job just fine? I was going to head out to homedepot and just get these

http://www.homedepot.com/Tools-Hardware-Hand-Tools-Fastening-Tools-Clamps-Vices/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xglZaq5e/R-100184969/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

You don't want those. They will bite into the wood leaving indents.

Find clamps with easy release mechanisms and padded grippers. It's worth spending a few extra dollars for good clamps. You'll wonder how you ever did without them.

[saint]

Something like these, sized appropriately of course.

http://www.homedepot.com/Tools-Hardware-Hand-Tools-Fastening-Tools-Clamps-Vices/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xg1Zaq5e/R-202017816/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

[syph007]

Something like these, sized appropriately of course.

http://www.homedepot.com/Tools-Hardware-Hand-Tools-Fastening-Tools-Clamps-Vices/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xg1Zaq5e/R-202017816/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

Yep, once I got those quick release kind, it was incredible how many times you use them.

[drventure]

+1 on good clamps.

Those c clamps are good for metal or if you're using scrap as a pad, but never use those things directly on the surface of your actual workpiece.

If available, cruise Craigslist for guys who are selling off their entire shop. I've picked up tons of good clamps like that for dirt cheap.

You can never have too many clamps.

[shateredsoul]

Something like these, sized appropriately of course.

http://www.homedepot.com/Tools-Hardware-Hand-Tools-Fastening-Tools-Clamps-Vices/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xg1Zaq5e/R-202017816/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

Nice, I'll head over to home depot tomorrow, Me and the wifey went to the outlets today and fought people for parking instead.  Holiday shopping... never again.

[zafdor]

One more option if you can drill from both sides.  Drill half way, then switch to the other side to finish the job.  The pilot hole in a hole saw (or spade bit) will assure perfect alignment from the second side.  This also makes removal of the plug from a hold saw easier as it is not fully buried in the bit.

[zallax]

I used a Forstner bit on the the bottom and went in about 1/4", drilled a hole large enough in the top to get my hand router and bit through the top, then use the router whose bit was at a depth less than the control panel to make the circle real clean.

[bkenobi]

That combination should turn out pretty nice, but that's a lot of tools for a simple hole.  On the other hand, if you are doing a plexiglass top, the router would be a good plan.  I didn't do that and cracked the plastic on one of the last holes (not bad enough to redo it, but annoying none the less!

[CapriRS302]

I had no problems drilling button holes into MDF with a 1 inch spade bit by hand, but to each his own.