Okay, I'm midway through my first project, and everything has been going really well, until I started predrilling. I am making the twin farmhouse bed, and the legs are 4x4 posts that have to be predrilled, then secured to the headboard or footboard. My problem is that when I go to drill, the bit just turns slightly for a second, then refuses to go through the wood. I might as well be drilling through 4 solid inches of steel for all that its budging. I thought maybe I needed a new bit, so I went to the hardware store and bought one, but that hasn't helped. The drill is in good condition, and I have used it many times before for various household tasks. Can anyone offer any advice as to what I might be doing wrong?
Thanks!
Jen
Forums
tnslb
Wed, 10/27/2010 - 10:50
is the torque set wrong?
jennifer
Wed, 10/27/2010 - 12:10
Um, I don't know...I feel kind of dumb and embarrassed now, lol. I don't know much about the thing - I've only ever used it for things like hanging IKEA shelves, which haven't required any know how beyond, "here, push this button."
tnslb
Wed, 10/27/2010 - 12:14
There's probably some settings near the front (on mine, it's the big metal piece just behind the bit) that say like 'more torque' or less...some have numbers. You might be on the 'screw driver' torque..Do you have the manual or the brand/model?
jennifer
Wed, 10/27/2010 - 12:27
okay, mine says, high torque 1 and high speed 2; I have it on 1, but I tried it both ways, and nothing.
tnslb
Wed, 10/27/2010 - 12:30
Is it cordless or corded? Does it need charging?
What kind of wood did you buy? is this just a regular untreated pine 4x4?
Are you putting some muscle behind it?
maman
Thu, 10/28/2010 - 03:51
This probably isn't the solution to your problem, but I read your post and had a flashback to yesterday when I was buidling! My drill wouldn't budge through the wood no matter how hard I tried, because I had unknowingly set it set to reverse.
sjohnston
Thu, 10/28/2010 - 07:42
Is it a nice drill? We had a black and decker run-of-the-mill that had seen us through years of picture hanging and such. I even used it for my first couple of projects here. Then the first time we used it on bigger stock it just stopped working. We pretty much just burned it out. It was corded, it just wasn't a powerful enough drill for the work it was suddenly being asked to do. We upgraded to a DeWalt. It wasn't super-fancy, about $60 at Orange and it worked like a charm.
Susan
debrrose
Tue, 05/06/2014 - 12:11
spade bit
I pre-drilled some 4x4 posts for a pergola, a spade bit worked well. (The flat kind with a pointy thing on the end).
I'm no carpenter, but the project went pretty well.