Whats the best way to enlarge tuner holes

[boabskiboab]

Hey,

I want to enlarge the holes in my headstock to accept 18mm tuners.

I think the holes are around 15mm at the moment.

I'm thinking if i stick an 18mm drill thru, i'm going to get huge amounts of "tearout".

Whats the best method to avoid this?

Cheers

[Stylon Pilson]

Plug the holes with 15mm dowel. Sand it flush. Re-drill.

S.P.

[waynepunkdude]

Is this on the P?

[mrcrow]

[quote name='Stylon Pilson' post='663780' date='Nov 24 2009, 02:26 PM']Plug the holes with 15mm dowel. Sand it flush. Re-drill.

S.P.[/quote]

+1

if you are drilling wood you will need a centre to stabilise the cutting edges at the periphery on a wood drill
so the plug is really the way to go...and 18 is pretty big...go slowly and use a really sharp drill

[henry norton]

[quote name='Stylon Pilson' post='663780' date='Nov 24 2009, 03:26 PM']Plug the holes with 15mm dowel. Sand it flush. Re-drill.

S.P.[/quote]
+1 on that - it's the safest way unless you have a milling machine. I would also clamp it down to a block of scrap wood so when the drill passes through the back of the headstock it won't push out and splinter.

[neepheid]

I use a forstner bit in a drill press for this kind of job. The way a forstner bit works you'd probably get away without having to plug the holes if your aim is good with the drill press. I've done this for a couple of Squier basses with the small shaft 'orrible enclosed tuners to fit full size open back types. +1 for having scrap wood underneath to avoid splintering when the bit breaks through the other side.

[Protium]

To change my project bass from 11 to 14mm I plugged with dowel and used a flat bit, no need to even sand the dowel flush to the headstock as long as it's all clamped and marked up correctly. As with anything, take your time especially when breaking through to the back of the headstock

[boabskiboab]

Cool guys, i think i'll go for the dowel method.

Wayne, yes this is on the P, changing to Black hardware.

[waynepunkdude]

[quote name='boabskiboab' post='664118' date='Nov 24 2009, 06:19 PM']Cool guys, i think i'll go for the dowel method.

Wayne, yes this is on the P, changing to Black hardware.[/quote]

NICE!!!

[geoffbyrne]

I used a conical reamer - this ensures everything is kept centered. Work from both sides, uses a shallow an angled reamer as you can get.



G.

Edited November 25, 2009 by geoffbyrne

[mrcrow]

[quote name='geoffbyrne' post='665306' date='Nov 25 2009, 04:50 PM']I used a conical reamer - this ensures everything is kept centered. Work from both sides, uses a shallow an angled reamer as you can get.



G.[/quote]


thats magic...and saving dowelling..whats the shallowest angle 10* ??

Edited November 25, 2009 by mrcrow

[geoffbyrne]

I think the one pictured ( which is identical to mine) is about 5.

I picked it up in the pannier market in Barnstaple.

G.

Edited November 25, 2009 by geoffbyrne