Milling with a hand drill?

[Foogoo]

Is there a way to mill with a handdrill or something similar? There is a 2" or so square of plywood in a tight space I need cut out, and the wood cannot be moved.

[areze]

Id venture to say no... a mill requires extreme control over the bit. control that you could never have. you could drill a series of holes in it and hammer it out maybe depending on the specific application. but it wont have any sort of precision

[spf9992001]

How neat does the hole need to be? Could you start it with the drill, then use something like a keyhole saw?

[fella1320]

why not a dremel or rotozip? thats what i use and i really feel that any diy reefer should own one.. hmmm i think dremel should pay me for advertisement..

Good luck

[Foogoo]

Neatness is not required since this is behind the tank, but nevertheless the neater the better.

Basically the tank is sitting on a sheet of plywood. There is about 4" sticking out horizontally and maybe 3" of clearance from the plywood to the wall. I need to cut this U-shaped square out starting from the edge of the plywood. If that doesn't make sense, I'll post a pic this afternoon.

[cres]

You can purchase side cutting bits designed to fit in drills.

You can simply use a RotoZip or Dremel bit in a drill.

It won't be pretty. The RotoZip/Dremel will spin at 5000-30000 RPM and make a smoother cut. Your drill will more likely spin at ~500-2000 RPM, it will be harder to control and harder to make straight lines. But, it can be done.

I have used a 3/8" HSS milling cutter in a drill to quickly enlarge an opening in plastic. Chew / rip is a good description, but, the opening was definitely bigger in the end.

[countertopguy]

If you can use a small bit and make multiple holes around the area you want to remove. Then use a chisel to break away the waste.

Hope this helps

Steve

[Foogoo]

Thanks for all the replies. So they do make side cutting bits for drills? Are they called anything in particular? That's probably the best choice I think, and I can probably find a rotozip to use.

[cres]

Here is one type:

http://www.widgetsupply.com/page/WS/PROD/drill-bit-saw/D-GS13

You can likely find something like this in HD or similar. I'm pretty sure I've seen them in my local HD.

[won digity]

hey, you can borrow my rotozip if you want. Sending you a pm.

[cannarella]

How thick is the plywood you need to cut?

Andy

[Foogoo]

Originally posted by cres
Here is one type:

http://www.widgetsupply.com/page/WS/PROD/drill-bit-saw/D-GS13

You can likely find something like this in HD or similar. I'm pretty sure I've seen them in my local HD.

That's pretty cool, never seen that before. Thanks won digity that'll help lots, pm sent.

For the record, the plywood is 5/8".

[cannarella]

If I were you, I would find someone to borrow a rotozip with a base on it. Take the diameter of the base and add it to the dimensions of the area you want to cutout. So if you want a 2" x 2" hole and the base diameter is 1.5" mark out a 3.5" x 3.5" hole with the 2" x 2" one in the middle. On the 3.5" x 3.5" lines attach some long thin scraps of wood with double faced tape to outline it and creat a template. You can now use the rotozip inside the template you just made and it will come out nice and clean.

Andy