Drilling square & level through brick walls

[RonA]

Anybody have an tips or suggest any devices for keeping the drill bit going square & level when drilling with long masonry drills through brick wals (thinking 11” cavity walls). Have used the guess & god technique mainly but Im sure there must be a better way.
Any suggestions please.
RonA

 

[Kayos]

Practice, I do it most days so find it easy.

Upto about 30mm with the sds then bigger using the core drill

 

[R-D-R]

I had loads to do not so long back and have a tendency to dip the drill down I gaffa taped a little level to top of the drill. Not a slick solution but did make me think at the time would be handy for big SDS drills to have a level built in. Square. Is another matter

 

[gaz1]

the only sure way to drill level in a wall

is use a stand and arm so it drills straight not even kayos or I can drill a straight hole even with years of practice behind us there is always a slight level difference in any hole that is drilled

 

[RonA]

Practice, I do it most days so find it easy.

Upto about 30mm with the sds then bigger using the core drill

Unfortunately I don't do it often enough for practice to kick in, other than turning the house into Swiss cheese. I was wondering if there is some sort of levelling device I could attach to the drill.
RonA

 

[8ob]

Unfortunately I don't do it often enough for practice to kick in, other than turning the house into Swiss cheese. I was wondering if there is some sort of levelling device I could attach to the drill.
RonA

Cant see a reason why the vertical one wouldn't work on the horizontal Ron. https://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-drill-guide-500458

Bob

 

[Barking Mat]

Could you tape a small spirit level to the top or side of your drill.

Or an assistant standing side on going up a bit, down a bit?

 

[Kayos]

the only sure way to drill level in a wall

is use a stand and arm so it drills straight not even kayos or I can drill a straight hole even with years of practice behind us there is always a slight level difference in any hole that is drilled

I'm not saying I drill it laser straight but I can do it good enough for what it's used for

 

[gaz1]

Cant see a reason why the vertical one wouldn't work on the horizontal Ron. https://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-drill-guide-500458

Bob

it wouldnt work as walls are never straight you would need 2 levels in that device with adjustments

easy alternative is mark your drill with lines that are level from the drill bit for vertical and horizontal and then use a laser level but that wouldnt give you the third level needed

 

[8ob]

it wouldnt work as walls are never straight you would need 2 levels in that device with adjustments

easy alternative is mark your drill with lines that are level from the drill bit for vertical and horizontal and then use a laser level but that wouldnt give you the third level needed

Perhaps screw it to a square of ply if the wall was a bit squiffy

Bob

 

[gaz1]

Anybody have an tips or suggest any devices for keeping the drill bit going square & level when drilling with long masonry drills through brick wals (thinking 11” cavity walls). Have used the guess & god technique mainly but Im sure there must be a better way.
Any suggestions please.
RonA

if you want straight and level precision then you need 2/3 items

a sat nav that measures by longitude and latitude the other one is a core drill for walls with lazer level

measure outside wall

measure inside wall measure 4ft away just with l and l then set up your core drill in this internal line or outside line and level your core drill up so its also level

that is the only true way of leveling over long distance and also making sure your drilling straight and true

i bet you dont buy all that gear just to drill a hole in the wall but your not doing 3ft tunnels in walls or tunnerling with drills either

the question would be does it really need to be straight

in drain reference if it has a slight drop it dosnt matter its better to cement up being that way

 

[Parm]

Not brick walls, but reminds me of something my cousin told me last year. He’s a master carpenter, was working on a restoration project at Alexander Palace.

Needed to join a new extension to an old staircase, this involved drilling a 10mm holes about 250mm deep. Wasn’t any space for fancy gadgets. Many folk tried and failed on the practice sections.

His solution was to attach a plum bob to the drill for alignment in one plane and a speed square for alignment in another plane. Holes were spot on. He earned a handsome bonus for his efforts

 

[Barking Mat]

I like the laser level idea.

Mark a line with a tipex pen along your drill straight with the Chuck and drill and get your horizontal plane of laser level.

 

[RonA]

I like the laser level idea.

Mark a line with a tipex pen along your drill straight with the Chuck and drill and get your horizontal plane of laser level.

I like this idea of using laser to get level
RonA

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Not brick walls, but reminds me of something my cousin told me last year. He’s a master carpenter, was working on a restoration project at Alexander Palace.

Needed to join a new extension to an old staircase, this involved drilling a 10mm holes about 250mm deep. Wasn’t any space for fancy gadgets. Many folk tried and failed on the practice sections.

His solution was to attach a plum bob to the drill for alignment in one plane and a speed square for alignment in another plane. Holes were spot on. He earned a handsome bonus for his efforts

Wedding band on the drill shank takes care of level a(it slides if it's not)easy to eye up side to side .
Does the same as a plumb bob

Or two bits of ply screwed together into an L. Drill down the L.

Block of wood. Center drilled on a pillar drill. As a guide.


Or in my case. Do it by eye

 

[awemawson]

I've Alraldite'd a circular bubble level to the top of my post hole borer - excellent for starting upright but the bubble breaks up into lots of tiny ones as I increase the revs (2 stroke engine) - still a worthwhile addition as when you ease off the throttle the bubbles coalesce into one again and you can re-check upright.

 

[Gareth J]

When doing gate eyes, to get them more or less ok with one another, we drill one as best as possible, with a helper to check level.

Then, insert a bar into the hole just drilled, helper helps allign drill so it's parallel to previous hole and level again. Checked a few times on the way and they're generally ok for the level of accuracy required on a gate.

If you need to drill accurately enough to bolt matching plates either side of a thick wall, I think it'll be tough, even with a perfect guide. In that case, you might be best off drilling one allignment hole through all the way and the other holes from either side of the wall?

 

[dobbslc]

Drill from the outside > in if you don't want to blow large chucks of brick facing off.....

 

[Pete.]

I'm very good at it but then I've been at it for 30 years.
Here's a trick I've used in the past. Get a small piece of plywood and a short piece of poly pipe maybe 100-150 long. Pop a hole in the timber and glue the pipe into it. Start the hole and then stop to put the poly pipe over the drill. Now the plywood will hang against the wall and the pipe will rest on the drill. When you're square horizontally the drill will touch the top of the pipe at the back and the ply will be flat on the wall. If you're not square sideways the ply will touch one side but not the other. A piece of timber that is long and narrow works better than a square bit which will spin when you're drilling.

Oh, always use a short bit first then a long bit to go through afterwards. Long bits bend when unsupported and you get a curved hole.

 

[brightspark]

why does it need to be 100 percent accurate generaly get within an inch of level freehand if im putting anything 25 mm through just drill a 10mm through 1st and go through the mortar joint rather than the brick . if its brick either side it will go through the joint real fast and line up