help needed drilling into wood

PrimalTherapy

For drilling with http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.100-6910.aspx into a shed like http://www.bhgardensheds.com/ what would be the best speed to use. It is for putting up a shelf inside and i am not good with diy.

I googled that the speed should be slow but how to guage how slow. How long should it take to drill a 7mm hole and should there be pressure on the drill?

TIA

RKQ

Drill slow into vertical battens, so shelf supports are supported by the battens. Don't drill into the timber cladding / walls.

Drill speed is hard to explain. I'd start at lowest setting and screw in a single motion. Don't worry about it, but maybe practice on a discarded piece of timber.

DublinWriter

I'm completely useless with DIY, but I only learn from my mistakes.

First make sure that you're using the correct drill-bit for wood. These are usually the bronze coloured bits that don't have the little wingtips at the ends that masonry bits have.

Sorry if this sounds obvious, but are you drilling a hole for a rawl-plug? Do the instructions for the shelf specifically state 7mm? When in doubt, drill small and go bigger if needed.

There will always be pressure on the drill, but judging from the pic of the shed the drilling should take no more that a few seconds.

gsxr1

why are you drilling a hole?

A timber shelf in a timber shed.. yes?

Screw directly into the stud battens in your shed with a wood screw.

If you are drill a 7 mm hole. Use full speed with that little cordless.

when you go bigger in drill size you slow it down. but cordless drill speeds are not fast , even at full pelt. and 7mm is not a big bit.

antiskeptic

PrimalTherapy wrote: »

For drilling with http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.100-6910.aspx into a shed like http://www.bhgardensheds.com/ what would be the best speed to use. It is for putting up a shelf inside and i am not good with diy.

I googled that the speed should be slow but how to guage how slow. How long should it take to drill a 7mm hole and should there be pressure on the drill?

TIA

As gsxr says, why not screw your shelf brackets straight onto the vertical battens of the shed? I'm supposing your planning on shelves for lightweight stuff like pots of paint and the like? If so;

1. Buy a box of 4mm chipboard screws from the likes of Chadwicks. They come in various lengths, so buy ones long enough so that when you've put the screw through the bracket or whatever, there's still 25mm or so left to go into the batten

2. Buy a set of drill bits - coming in a box about the size of an old 20 Major box. It'll have drills from maybe 0.5mm up to 8 or 10mm. Get one's suitable for use on steel.

3. Check the hole size in your bracket - if you've a typical L-bracket, the 4mm screwthread should pass freely through, without the head passing through. Otherwise the bracket might be way off for what you need. If you find the hole is a little too small you'll need to drill it out - post back here in that case.

4. Place a bracket at as suitable height against the batten and mark where the holes fall on the batten - try position the bracket so that the holes fall more or less along the centreline of the - not too close to either edge. Do the same for the other bracket(s) on other battens - either by eye or better, measuring off the floor to the bottom of the bracket to get them all the same height

4. Fit a 2mm drillbit into your Tesco screwdriver, make sure the direction of rotation when you pull the trigger is clockwise as you look from behind the screwdriver. Drill a hole at each marked bracket point - holding the screwdriver straight and level. Use the fastest speed it has. If it doesn't appear to be going in, press harder against it as you drill. When you've gone in a 10mm or so, remove the screwdriver (without turning it off) to allow sawdust to clear the hole. Drill again until yourl 25mm or so deep (or whatever length your screws are going to go in). You don't have to be too precise

5. There are typically 3 screwdriver bits that fit the screwheads on these chipboard screws. They are numbered 1,2 or 3. Choose No.2 (or the middle of three sizes if you have 3 available). In any case, check that the fit seems good by inserting the bit into the screw head. If in doubt, bring what you have to Chadwicks when you're buying the screws - they'll supply you with the right one if you've not got it

6. Choose the slowest screwdriver setting. Hold the bracket against the wall and line up a screw with a hole through it. The trick to successful screwdriving is lining the screwdriver, the screw and the hole in a straight line. It should go in easy the first few mm. After than start pressing harder against the driver as you screw. When you half way in starting leaning on it with body weight. This stops the screwdriver slipping in the screw and ruining the head. The pre-drilled holes should ease passage in any case.

Success!

PrimalTherapy

Thanks for the advice

gsxr1 wrote: »

why are you drilling a hole?

A timber shelf in a timber shed.. yes?

Screw directly into the stud battens in your shed with a wood screw.

If you are drill a 7 mm hole. Use full speed with that little cordless.

when you go bigger in drill size you slow it down. but cordless drill speeds are not fast , even at full pelt. and 7mm is not a big bit.

a plug is not needed then? Are plugs ever needed in wood?

PrimalTherapy

Thanks everyone for the help. Much appreciated;)

gsxr1

PrimalTherapy wrote: »

Thanks for the advicea plug is not needed then? Are plugs ever needed in wood?

not really. Wood is soft and a screw will bite into it with great success . But will split in some situations. along the grain. But not with a 4mm screw on a framing batten. ( try not to screw into the cladding on your shed. )

Plugs and holes are necessary when screwing to tile, bricks and blocks.

PrimalTherapy

gsxr1 wrote: »

But will split in some situations. along the grain. But not with a 4mm screw on a framing batten.

How big a screw would be safe and not split i.e how big could I go?

I want to put some horizontal batten between the vertical battens so there will not be a space between the shelf and the cladding. Should I nail it from the outside? I think the battens on it are nailed from outside.

Are those sheds solid enough to be drilling and hammering nails into anyway? I hammered some nails to hang small things like paint brushes on

Thanks

slimjimmc

PrimalTherapy wrote: »

How big a screw would be safe and not split i.e how big could I go?

Diameter 4mm or 5mm will be enough, the battens are usually fairly narrow and prone to splitting.

PrimalTherapy wrote: »

I want to put some horizontal batten between the vertical battens so there will not be a space between the shelf and the cladding. Should I nail it from the outside? I think the battens on it are nailed from outside.

You could screw or nail the battens to the edge of the shelf rather than piercing the cladding. Offer the shelf against the wall and mark the positions of the upright battens along the edge, that will give you an idea of where to fix the horizontal battens.
[Edit]
If screwing, drill the horizontal battens first to stop the screws splitting them. If nailing, dull the point of the nail by giving it a few light taps of the hammer while holding the head against a solid surface. I know it sounds mad but a blunt nail won't split wood as easily as a sharp one.
[/Edit]

PrimalTherapy wrote: »

Are those sheds solid enough to be drilling and hammering nails into anyway? I hammered some nails to hang small things like paint brushes on
Thanks

Hammering nails would be ok so long as you don't batter the hell out of them (and the shed) with the hammer. I prefer to use screws where possible as it doesn't cause the shed to shake from hammering.


Another thing, turn the torque setting of the drill way down so that you don't over-tighten the screw. If the drill's clutch clicks too early before the screw is tightened enough you can always up the setting a little. The screw should only be tight enough to keep the bracket secure (no looseness), if you over-tighten it the screw will loose grip and simply keep spinning in the wood.

PrimalTherapy

slimjimmc wrote: »

Diameter 4mm or 5mm will be enough, the battens are usually fairly narrow and prone to splitting.


You could screw or nail the battens to the edge of the shelf rather than piercing the cladding. Offer the shelf against the wall and mark the positions of the upright battens along the edge, that will give you an idea of where to fix the horizontal battens.
[Edit]
If screwing, drill the horizontal battens first to stop the screws splitting them. If nailing, dull the point of the nail by giving it a few light taps of the hammer while holding the head against a solid surface. I know it sounds mad but a blunt nail won't split wood as easily as a sharp one.
[/Edit]

Hammering nails would be ok so long as you don't batter the hell out of them (and the shed) with the hammer. I prefer to use screws where possible as it doesn't cause the shed to shake from hammering.


Another thing, turn the torque setting of the drill way down so that you don't over-tighten the screw. If the drill's clutch clicks too early before the screw is tightened enough you can always up the setting a little. The screw should only be tight enough to keep the bracket secure (no looseness), if you over-tighten it the screw will loose grip and simply keep spinning in the wood.

Thats a great help thanks;)

PrimalTherapy

@slimjimmc: One more thing. If i got one of the L shaped brackets how long should the screw be if the shelf is say 20mm and the bracket 5mm. The screw need to join the brqacket to the shelf but not come up through it.This is just to give me more option did not even have time to get the batten yet. Cheers.

slimjimmc

If the holes in the bracket are countersunk then a 15mm countersunk screw (e or f) will do. That should leave the screw head flush with the bracket with 15mm thread into the shelf.

If the holes are not countersunk, use a 20mm round head screw (a-d) so you have 5mm to go through the bracket and 15mm thread into the wood.

The easiest way is take a bracket and ruler with you to the shop, and find a screw that fits snugly into the hole. That will tell you the screw diameter. Then see how far out it protrudes through, so long as it's shorter than the shelf thickness you'll be ok.

the watchman

PrimalTherapy wrote: »

For drilling with http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.100-6910.aspx into a shed like http://www.bhgardensheds.com/ what would be the best speed to use. It is for putting up a shelf inside and i am not good with diy.

I googled that the speed should be slow but how to guage how slow. How long should it take to drill a 7mm hole and should there be pressure on the drill?

TIA

. Hi,
Thought a few pics of my untidy shed might be useful.
Shelving is nothing fancy or particularly strong but does what I want it to. All made from scrap incidently.
Good luck with it.

PrimalTherapy

Thanks. This is coming up in lidl, might help some, no connection
http://www.lidl.ie/ie/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20100603.p.Wall_Mountable_Tool_Tidy