How to make a pilot hole

Video: HOW TO create pilot holes to drive screws | EASY DIY

Content

Steps
Tips
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When working with wood, it is very important to learn how to make pilot holes correctly. A pilot hole is a small hole drilled with a drill before starting the screw. Such a hole will help in many cases: it will prevent the wood from splitting when screwing in the screw, it will make it easier to screw in when working with hard woods, and will give you the confidence that the screw will be screwed in straight as the screw will follow the direction of the hole made. Before you start any woodworking, you need to learn how to make pilot holes.

Steps

1 Mark with a pencil the intended location of the screw. If the screw is to be screwed in at an exact location, then it is necessary to mark this point directly on the object with which you are working. Using a ruler, determine where the screw is to be screwed in (as a rule, you need to measure the distance from the edge of the material) by drawing along the line of the ruler with a pencil. At the required distance of the drawn line, put a point.
2 Use a center punch to mark the point. A center punch is a small, slender tool with a pointed tip that will help you mark the surface of the material. This indentation mark will help you prevent the drill from slipping when you start drilling the pilot hole. Place the end of the center punch at the mark you made with a pencil and lightly hit the top of the center punch with a hammer.
3 Determine the drill size for the pilot hole. As a general rule, the diameter of the pilot hole should be significantly smaller than the diameter of the screw. This will help remove the right amount of material, which in turn will prevent delamination of the material you are working with, but leave enough space for the screw to snuggle into the wood.
- The exact recommended hole diameter for a specific screw can be found on the Internet. However, a visual comparison of the drill diameter with the screw diameter will provide additional confidence in the correct choice. It is better to make a hole with a smaller diameter, since a larger hole can always be made from a smaller hole, and a small one will not work out of a large hole.
4 Drill a pilot hole. After picking up the drill and securing the drill in the drill, position the end of the drill to the mark you made earlier on the tree with a center punch. Hold the drill at the angle required to screw in the drill and drill a hole with a depth comparable to the length of the screw shank. Stick out the drill bit carefully.
5 Insert the screw. When the pilot hole has been drilled, you can start screwing in the screw. Place the cross-head drill into the screw head and insert the screw into the hole. Slowly and gently start screwing in the screw without breaking the angle of the pilot hole you made earlier. Repeat the process for each screw you need to install.

Tips

Pilot holes are especially important when driving screws near the edge of a piece of wood or into a very thin piece of wood. Both of these tasks carry a high risk that the wood may delaminate when screwed in.
The pilot holes are not very large and are necessary when you are driving the screw into a very soft material such as drywall. When performing this task, the risk of material delamination or screw displacement is minimal.