Tuesday, September 13, 2016
How to Drill a Curved Hole
sploid.gizmodo.com: Even if your carpentry skills aren’t much more than having watched a few episodes of This Old House, it’s still pretty common knowledge that a drill only works in a straight line. Or does it? Woodshop hacker Izzy Swan created a custom rig that can actually drill a curved hole instead.
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7 comments:
Probably one of the more interesting things to do when cutting wood is mitering an angle; but in this instance you are drilling a curved hole. I don’t know if I have ever seen this type of thing done besides running a pipe through a hole and then curving it afterwards. While creating a curve with a bit is a hard task in and of itself. It does require some planning. If you think about it, most things that you do on a table saw or any other places in the shop, if you need to do something complicated, easiest thing to do is create a jig. Knowing what you want and having the tools accessible for use are the stepping stones towards creating something interesting and unique. I don’t see too many applications for this inside of the theatre, partially because there are other ways to run cable and wire, but knowing us, we will find a way.
This seems like way too much overkill. What is the use of having a curved hole? It sort of makes sense that it could be used for running cables through the corners of a home, but at the same time that’s like one specific use that if they’ve been doing it for years without the curved hole, it probably means that you don’t really need the curved hole. It just seems like a lot of effort for something that doesn't have a whole bunch of applications. The fact that you can make the hole is cool. At the end, he cut the piece of wood in half, having a curved channel is interesting, and is something that would be hard to do with a chisel (and the hole itself is is impossible to do otherwise unless you do the channel first and glue both sides together). I just keep getting hung up on the fact that the only practical use for this is to run cables around a corner.
I think there have been Izzy Swan videos on the green page before, but they never disappoint. He always stretches what you thought was possible and makes some really cool gadgets. It seems like this gadget still needs some refining, or maybe just a sharper bit, since it was cutting through the wood pretty slowly and didn’t make the most beautiful cut. I think the pivot point needs to be a little more rigid since the curve seemed to waiver off a perfect curve. I can’t think off the top of my head for a use for a curved hole in theater. If we need a hole on two adjacent ends of a post, then we would either drill 2 holes that meet in the middle, or we drill one hole on an angle, but a curve probably isn’t necessary. But I do think a curved hole for woodworking could be cool in certain situations.
I’m not sure how I feel about this. On one hand, it is pretty cool and innovative. On the other hand, what practical purpose does this serve? The article says that it is useful for running cables inside corners. I can see that. But do you really need it? No. It also looks a little unsafe. One would have to get the center of the drill bit aligned perfectly with the center of the flexible shaft, otherwise it won’t work. I can see someone needing this to get them out of a jam during install. It also seems like the “drill bit” can’t be used as a stand alone item. It looks like it has to have some kind of plate or other item to drill the hold at the angle/radius required. Depending on the radius of the curve, one could accomplish the same thing by drilling two holes from either end. If it works great, but it just looks wrong.
This is really clever. It reminds me of when a Stanford student learned how to drill a square hole. So I just read everyone's comments ahead of me and some people are saying that you can just drill two holes at a right angle to achieve the same effect, but I can say from experience that then it is a huge pain to wiggle the cable through that angle if were talking about running cable. I love this because i am crazy for weirdly specific jigs. There are some things that just need a tool that doesn't exist.
My gut reaction upon reading the title of this article was along the lines of "Cool! But why?!" There is no denying that the ingenuity here is impressive and inspiring. This type of outside the box thinking is totally apt and necessary when it comes to theatrical construction methods and approaches. Though I can't foresee a time when i would ever need to drill a curved hole, I have this image and approach sitting in the back of my head waiting to be tapped into one day. Sometimes I wonder if I am a creative enough or innovative enough TD, but I think that's a unrealistic notion to put on ones self. Most tricks and shortcuts that TD's employ are usually borrowed or adapted from some other application, and the gathering of as many obscure and specific techniques is almost a necessity of the job. Now I'm just waiting for the day when a designer wants curved holes all over a set and I will be ready and waiting with this solution!
Now my question is what is the functionality of this. If you really needed a curved hole like that you could care out a half recess is two pieces of wood and glue them together. this may be more tedious but it will in fact have the same effect i cant see a situation where this would be needed for the stability of something but still its a neat idea.
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