Drilling through laminates

[tekebird]

I am wanting to install some drawere locks.

the drawer fronts are covered in a laminate?

what would be the best method of drilling these?

any special drill bit?
cover with tape like you do for sawing?

thanks in advance

[kyle4501]

Eliminate/ minimize the relief angle behind the cutting part of the drill bit. That will reduce the self feeding ability & minimize the chance for grabbing & tearing hunks out.

Another idea is to clamp a piece of plywood to the surface & drill thru it all together. that really works best, even on fragile items.

[Hank]

I would use a good quality and sharp forstner bit. They're made from about 1/4 up. They're not designed for metal and if you hit a nail or screw you'll mess it up. They work best in a drill press but can be used successfully with a powerful enough hand held drill (not really a problem if you're drilling under an inch). The biggest challenge is keeping the bit square to the work when doing it freehand. Clamping two pieces together is a good idea but hitting your mark accurately can be a problem if that's an issue. You don't use a pilot hole with forstners either.

What I always do when in doubt is try whatever I'm about to do on a scrap to see how it behaves.

Hope that helps.

[cody]

I drill laminates on a regular basis in our cabinet shop, the way we do it is to mark the hole with a felt tip marker so it'll show thru masking tape, then use a sharp center punch to center the hole and pierce the top layer of the laminate, then drill a slightly undersize hole with a cobalt bit, then the exact size with another cobalt bit, the masking tape will help keep the chipping to a minimum. You can make a center punch for laminate by taking a nailset and sharpening the point with a grinder.

[tekebird]

thanks All