Slimy38
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| posted on 29/4/18 at 09:01 AM |
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Engineering help (drilling a hole in a tube)
I'm making a keyboard stand for my daughter, nothing special but I thought it would be a fun project with some leftover metal and fixings. Think
'ironing board legs' but with a keyboard on the top instead of a flat surface.
I need to drill the hole for two legs to be bolted together, but it needs to be in a specific place to ensure the feet and the top bars are parallel
to each other. The closest I can think of is using a spirit level to set the tube in a vice so the feet are horizontal, then balance the same spirit
level on the tube and see at what point it's touching the metal. But I'm not sure it'll be accurate enough?
Is there a better way to mark the exact point on the tube to know that when I drill through, it's perpendicular to the ends?
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paulc
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| posted on 29/4/18 at 11:51 AM |
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The best trick i've been shown for round tubes is to wrap a piece of paper round the tube.
When the paper lines up with no misallignment between the ends the edge of the paper is square to the center of the tube.
Does that make sense?
Paul
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Angel Acevedo
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| posted on 29/4/18 at 04:52 PM |
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Make a fixture where you can slide the tube in to a stop and a hole where the drill passes through.
HTH
Beware of what you wish.. for it may come true....
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trextr7monkey
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| posted on 29/4/18 at 09:43 PM |
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Can you hold tube in a milling vice to get angle right?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14016102@N00/ (cut and paste this dodgey link)
Our most recent pics are here:
http://s129.photobucket.com/albums/p211/trextr7monkey/
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Toys2
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| posted on 29/4/18 at 10:10 PM |
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If I understand you correctly, I'd do it like this
Measure the diameter of the tube
Clamp the tube on a flat surface, with the legs vertical
Measure up half the diameter of the tube and scribe a line along the length of the tube
In reality as long as your drill is perp to the legs - assuming that this will be a through hole on both sides of the tube, then a little variation of
the actual place that you drill won't be the end of the world
 
Description
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nick205
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| posted on 30/4/18 at 08:22 AM |
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Appreciate you're using metal stock you already have, but have you not goy any square tube?
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Slimy38
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| posted on 30/4/18 at 12:06 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by nick205
Appreciate you're using metal stock you already have, but have you not goy any square tube?
The square stock that I have is likely to come in useful. The small amounts of round stock I have are too flimsy to form part of a car, but
they'll do fine for a keyboard stand.
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Slimy38
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| posted on 30/4/18 at 12:06 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Toys2
If I understand you correctly, I'd do it like this
Measure the diameter of the tube
Clamp the tube on a flat surface, with the legs vertical
Measure up half the diameter of the tube and scribe a line along the length of the tube
In reality as long as your drill is perp to the legs - assuming that this will be a through hole on both sides of the tube, then a little variation of
the actual place that you drill won't be the end of the world
Description
Ah yes, that'll do it! Many thanks.
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nick205
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| posted on 30/4/18 at 01:09 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Slimy38
quote:
Originally posted by nick205
Appreciate you're using metal stock you already have, but have you not goy any square tube?
The square stock that I have is likely to come in useful. The small amounts of round stock I have are too flimsy to form part of a car, but
they'll do fine for a keyboard stand.
Fair point - I've found myself making use of what's at hand before!
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