I am the owner of a lumber company that specializes in supplying 2x6 studs with 1.5" holes drilled in them. The predrilled studs are used by my customers to run electrical wiring. Currently we use an old boring machine that is manually fed 3 boards at a time to make these holes. It takes 2 guys 30 minutes to drill and package a unit of 2x6s (189 boards). We drill about 90 units a week and this technique has become ineffficient.
I have been considering building a machine that will drill a unit of 2x6s in one pass. I have tested 3' self-feed auger bits with an electric hand drill that will drill through a row of 21 2x6s in one pass. The problem with this technique is that it is very hard to pull the auger back out. Since hand drilling is not an option I am considering building a machine to get the job done.
I would like to build a drill press prototype that will drill through 21 2x6s in one pass and eventually build a machine that will drill an entire unit of 2x6s (9 rows of 21 boards) that would require 9 drill heads. I have the basic concept in my head to do this but I'm hung up on the idea of how to feed the drill bit into the unit. A 3'X1.5" drill bit is very fragile so I have eliminated feeding hydraulically. I was thinking about a manual quill type feed or something similar.
Any thoughts on what kind of feed system to use? I am not an engineer and any input would be much appreciated. Thank you in advance.
I have been considering building a machine that will drill a unit of 2x6s in one pass. I have tested 3' self-feed auger bits with an electric hand drill that will drill through a row of 21 2x6s in one pass. The problem with this technique is that it is very hard to pull the auger back out. Since hand drilling is not an option I am considering building a machine to get the job done.
I would like to build a drill press prototype that will drill through 21 2x6s in one pass and eventually build a machine that will drill an entire unit of 2x6s (9 rows of 21 boards) that would require 9 drill heads. I have the basic concept in my head to do this but I'm hung up on the idea of how to feed the drill bit into the unit. A 3'X1.5" drill bit is very fragile so I have eliminated feeding hydraulically. I was thinking about a manual quill type feed or something similar.
Any thoughts on what kind of feed system to use? I am not an engineer and any input would be much appreciated. Thank you in advance.