DIY drill guide

@Wadeintahoe Bummer the cross member is under a row of holes. Is it a tube? You can probably still drill through it and be ok.

There are two cross members. It doesnā€™t line up right with both crossmembers to drill. I bought the table for $250. Didnā€™t know I was ganna go down this road or I would have built a custom base. Iā€™ll make it work.

Jason is right, with the annular cutter you can drill down about 1-1.25", clear the chunks of whatever is cut loose, and leave the rest of whatever is left of the cross members in place and add bracing if needed for any loss of rigidity from what you remove(the annular cutter wonā€™t really care if itā€™s cutting on an edge of a tube or piece of angle under the tabletop, even off-center). Thatā€™d be deep enough for any pins on fixtures or clamps to seat flush to the tabletop.

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@Redforgefab theyā€™re in stock right now, this is not a big batch but thereā€™s more coming behind it

Dumb question here, was that a 1ā€ counter sync bit or a 3/4 counter sync bit for the chamfer ? Ordering all my tools this morning! Got some sheet metal to hang on shop extension this week but pal. To start making holes next week!

Iā€™m expecting heā€™ll say 1" if he drilled 3/4" holes, otherwise the countersink bit wouldnā€™t have been able to countersink them, it would have just slipped through the holes.

The countersink reminds me of these, in case anyone wants to block the holes on their table when itā€™s not in use for welding so stuff doesnā€™t fall through.

3/4" Steel Dog Hole Plugs

Hi, I used a 1ā€ with an 82 degree chamfer.

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Interesting, do you or have you used these? What do you think of them?

I havenā€™t, just saw them being used by a guy in a woodworking video a couple days ago. I donā€™t use my tables as a general work surface where the holes cause me problems, so Iā€™m not sure if Iā€™ll pick any up or not. If I do, I could see using them nearly full time where the legs mount so nothing falls in those holes and into the closed space the legs create when mounted.

Got mine on the way! Thank you!