Oh, THANK YOU. I have several projects that will use this technique. It's such a simple, but elegant solution to a common problem.

Oh man. I just finished a project (front-end loader for my kid) where I had to drill holes in the ends of dowels a dozen or more times. I tried all sorts of homemade jigs to make it work and nothing helped very much. Finally found this video the shortly after I was finished with the whole thing, and it would have made a huge difference. Thanks so much for posting this! It'll be a big help in the future. I've already tried the technique out with far better results than I expected.

Unbelievably simple..and I was battling of doing this for a much complicated with a crooked hole result...Thank You for upload

Be warned that while spinning the work instead of the drill will make a true centered hole with the work (beacuse the axis of hole is aligned to spin of the work) the drill bit will not ensure a perfect diameter! Drill bit if sits just a tad out of aligment then the hole generated will be bigger than the drill. This is beacuse think of a boring bar in a lathe. It sits excentric to the spin axis and creates a hole big as the excentrecity to the cutting edge is applied. Same happens with a drill bit if it is excentric by 0.05mm it will generate a hole bigger with 0.1mm. Especially true for soft materials like wood, aluminium, copper, brass, plastic where the drill bit will keep it's offcentricity and force a bigger hole. In tougher materials like steel and stainless steel the drill bit will just flex and indicate the minor excentricity that you can try to correct for. Either way it will for a slightly bigger hole than the drillbit as for sure there are minute bend/excentricy in the drill bit. For such tough materials you need an acurate center punch to start with. As the initial purchase of the hole requires a lot of force and any wondering of the tip skating will flex dhe drill bit a bit and start an out of center hole. Going further will flex the bit a lot and will break. So for drilling accurate holes is best to start with a smaller drill bit that what you need (start with 4mm if you need a 6mm hole) by spinning the work (and hopefully the initial start is selfcentered.. hard to do in tough materials) drill it as long as you need. Then remove the work and go the traditional way where the right drill bit just enlarges the hole you made before. I have a tough time searching for methods of drilling an acurate 2mm hole in the center of a 10mm stainless steel rod. Ended starting the hole with an accurate center punch, used a short split point centereing bit (the short stubby pilot used in mills and lathes) then go with the drill bit (1.7mm) chucked low in the vice and slowly went. Raising the drill bit a bit each step (used a 3jaw chuck to hold the drillbit). After the ordeal was over (5 drill bits later). I've installed it normal way and went with a 2mm drill bit to enlarge the generated hole that was closer to 1.9mm. The hole eneded accurate and centered but with a lot of fussing. The hole i did had a lenght of 50mm. So this is my experience with spin the work technique. Good but hole diameter is not acurate enough and on small drillbits the flex induced can and will break a lot of bits much more the going traditional way.

Simple yet brilliant. Thanks for the video.

This is beautiful. I was about ready to stop making an item that is making a decent profit due to wasting dowels that are not aligning right because of not being able to drill them out straight. Thank you Man this saved it!

I watched this last night and put it to use this mornng, successfully drilling 4mm hole centred in 1/2 aluminium rod. I even finished the work with placing sandpaper on the press table. Worked perfectly, thanks for the vid 👍🏻

Great tip!! Had to put a hole right in the middle of a piece of round bar stock a couple days ago, took me lots of patience and time but managed to make it perfectly. Sadly it doesn't fit on my drill press, but I'll 100% use this tip if I have to do it again in a small diameter round bar. Thanks a lot!

I've tried this and it works perfectly on my home drill press, thank you for a great tip!

This is a great tip! All-around good video work too. I sometimes use a smaller drill first to make a pilot hole for a larger bit. The larger bit will follow the pilot hole quite nicely. This is especially important if drilling into metal because the set-up is hard to control with a large bit cutting all in one pass. Keep up the good work.

Excellent informative video. Thanks for posting

Man! That is a fantastic idea! Thank you! I've racked my mind how to drill a straight he through a rod or bar for so long. Thanks again a

It looked too simple.....it is - but it works like a charm. I needed to drill an accurate 1/4" hole through a 3/8" bolt for a dowel jig I was making (home made Dowelmax) . It was perfect and after set up it was mass production. Thanks so much Tab.

Very unique. Loved it.

Excellent method without complications. Thank you for this.

Thank you for showing this! This will help me out sooo mutch. I just thought one had to have a lathe to do this and therefore; I would have to make due with the double sided technique. Big help!

i have been thinking about this for a day and found this. Made my day! Supersmart :D

Genius idea. Thanks for the video.

Really good explaining, I don't see comments saying "close enuff but not exact" here. Liked and subbed, hope you show a lot of the old techniques. I hadn't thought about the wood bending instead of the bit!

Great tip. Saved my day today thank you 🙏🏼

had a busted nylon roller on one of my kitchen drawers...this tip saved me 20 bucks on having to buy a new pair of runners...great tip...and many thanks for sharing...

Perfect solution - at the perfect time. Thanks so much for sharing this!

Thanks, mate! Top presentation. It worked perfectly on 10mm dowel that I used to connect bowl to stem on a hobbit pipe. Cheers!

Smart. I will use this technique today. Thanks

That was a handy dandy excellent tip!

Thans I'm fabricating control rods for A/P servos in aircraft, and this is going to work just perfect! Nice vid!!

Tips like this are worth their weight in Osmium. Brilliant- thanks.

Brilliant two-step solution!

Just stumbled onto your channel. Great ideas you share. Thank you.

Exactly what I was after. Before finding your video, I did get a “v” inside, and I did not get it centered. Thought; there has to be a better way :) Thanks a lot for sharing and making an intuitive explanation!

Thank you for this tip. You have solved a very frustrating problem I have!💯

Simple but full of ingenuity. I'll give it a try. Many thanks.

Great tip. Thanks for posting it!

Awesome tip, Thanks!

you made my day with this tip. Simply perfect solution!

thank you for taking the time to make this video, its a massive help.

Great vid. Thanks for sharing, man! I always fail at this but your video has given me renewed hope!Thanks!

You're a genius. I'm subscribing

Great tip! Thanks. Was very effective.

This was I was looking for Thanks so much tom

Thanks, just what I nee for a current project.

이렇게 좋은 방법을 알려주셔서 너무 감사합니다.

I wish I saw this video a week ago. Been trying different methods but nothing works as simply as your way. Can't wait to get back at it.

that's really creative, thank you

Wow, that was a great video tip that I will definitely use. Thanks!

Excellent! Thank you!

That is so friggin clever! Amazing! I owe you one...thank you for sharing that 👍

Good Video, I will try this, as I always have trouble finding the center of a round rod or dowel. Thanks.

Brilliant ! Great stuff !

Great video

Very cool trick. Thanks for making this video.

Great tip. Thanks for sharing.

Great tip! I should have watched before try to freehand 😄 i will try it out

Great idea for small diameter dowels. Thanks

That's really cool, takes out a lot of guess work. Thanks!

Works perfect !! Great tip. Easier than the other way around ...thanks

Thanks so much for posting this video!!

Very useful, thanks for the short video.

Thank you for the video! This is just what I needed.

A great idea, thanks, solves a few problems for me.

Thank you for sharing this tip

Thank you so much for this video Sir.

Very good tip that I will be using. Thanks.

fantastic.... thanks that's just what I need for a project ☺

That is clever, thank you!

Very useful, thanks for sharing

Too cool for school! new subscriber!

Very very good!!!

As for me I appreciate the math explanation keep it up

This is a great tip! I was actually searching for a jig that will help tap into aluminum tubing. I need to tap into the ends of an aluminum tube to install 8-32 rods. Tried it by hand today just holding the aluminum tube in a vice - what a hot mess that turned out to be! First I'll drill the tubing to the correct size ( #29 bit I think), then try tapping into the tube. Think this will work for my application? Thanks again, great info!

Thank you! I never would have figured that out.

Brilliant. Thanks so much.

Wow that is a great idea!

Thanks for the video.

Great video, thank you so much, now I can drill a hole in the centre of some bar stock 😁

This really saved my bacon! Thank you!

Brilliant simple yet brilliant

That’s an awesome idea

thanks very good trick

i wish ive sheen that video some days ago...it would have saved me from trouble! Very clever!!! Thanks!

This is amazing. You just earned a new subscriber 😉.

huge thanks

Awesome!!! Thanks for the tip.

This is very interesting. Thanks! What if the drill bit is from material lighter than then the work piece material? Does it still work?

Awesome tip!

Same technique they use for metal on lathe. The material spins not the drill bit. Great explanations for doing it with the drill press for those that don't have a lathe .

I purchased a bell punch to center hole, then step drill with the smallest drill bit first slow. remember to walk the drill bit out of the hole many time to clean the hole 40w motor oil work great for lub

Very nice! 😀

Thank you!

Cool tip and video. Seems that you could did the inverse as well, that is use the chuck to center the piece into the vice then put the drill into the chuck. It wouldn't be self-centering, but it would not enlarge the hole the way self-centering could.

+TabLeft Workshop i use the lathe as it has a 110mm travel and 1000mm travel if also moving the headstock, instead of the rubbish 50mm travel of the drill press but wether you have the bit or the dowel in the chuck the biggest issue is deflection causing the bit to wander due to wood grain, brad point wood bits instead of hss helps but still no substitute for slow feed and regular chip removal with a thinner bit for a pilot hole first.

Nice tip thanks

Cool tip, thanks.

very good tip. consider clamping the vice once the drill bit has been positioned.

Muito bom! Funciona com metais?...

Great, thanks!

Genius . Thanks for sharing this

Very cool, thanks.

Awesome!

Could you make a recessed dowel for a project about 3/4” 2” Long