Drill Shaving Removal

[Cedar Eater]

How important is drill shaving removal on the 5/16 spiles? It seems like the risk of plugging is high if I leave anything in the hole. I used a nut pick today to pull them out. Is there a better method when the drill bit doesn't do it?

[Homespun]

Cedar - This year I used a can of gas duster (used for cleaning computer keyboards) with it's extension tube. A quick squirt of gas blew all chips & dust out of the hole after drilling.

[Cedar Eater]

Thanks. That sounds better.

[Mr Sugar Maple]

We use a piece of wire with a hook bent on the end, it pulls the chips out great.

[upsmapleman]

I have a string tied in a loop on my tapping hammer and have it on my wrist so I don't lose it and it is out of the way when seating a cv1 but easy to get when seating. On that I have a wire tie with one end snipped off. The end with loop goes on the string the straight end is used to remove any chips if I happen to have one.

[n8hutch]

Are you using a taping bit? I just run my drill back in & out of the hole wonce more if I see something I don't like, Generally I can just drill & tap.be sure to keep the drill spinning on your way out of the hole. If your not already.

[adk1]

Are you using a taping bit? I just run my drill back in & out of the hole wonce more if I see something I don't like, Generally I can just drill & tap.be sure to keep the drill spinning on your way out of the hole. If your not already.
Not a good thing will oblong the hole most likely. One in and one out that is it. The air duster idea is a good one. Many use a piece of wire, or a stick or something. Problem is that if you use it on a hole that you have drilled that might have some dead wood/bacteria etc then you will be transferring that to the next tap holes etc.

[Cedar Eater]

I didn't have a tapping bit. I just used an ordinary titanium drill bit. But I've heard that running the bit back in and out multiple times can mess up the hole. I was thinking of getting a long nail, grinding half of the head off, and making it like a rake or hoe. But the air blast sounds better.

[DaveB]

I didn't have a tapping bit. I just used an ordinary titanium drill bit. But I've heard that running the bit back in and out multiple times can mess up the hole. I was thinking of getting a long nail, grinding half of the head off, and making it like a rake or hoe. But the air blast sounds better.

I don't run the bit back in and out but rather leave the bit spinning when I pull it back out so it's once in and once out. I find that gets most of the shavings.

In terms of the canned air, is there a risk of spraying some of the liquid propellent in the hole and collecting it in the sap?

[Cedar Eater]

I think the liquid is just Nitrogen. It will evaporate quickly.

[Homespun]

I did a little research weeks ago on the gas duster's propellant. Most are using a modern refrigerant gas like R-134 (used in home refrigerators), a few use C02. There should be no liquid refrigerant going into the hole if you hold the can upright. It boils off into a gas at a very low temperature, so no residue will remain even if it got sprayed in as a liquid.
Warning - If you hold the can upside down it will spray out as a liquid and freeze whatever gets sprayed instantly...including your skin. I've used it this way with a heat gun to pull many dents out of our vehicles fenders, after seeing this trick on many youtube dent repair videos.

[n8hutch]

If I drill 100 holes I might run the drill back through a second time on 2 or 3 of them, usually it is just the very edge of the tap whole where the bark might have tworn of instead of cutting a perfect hole, I definitely wouldn't suggest doing it on every hole. I like to carry as little as possible when I'm tapping so it works good for me.

[Ausable]

I use the back end of an acid brush - It is like a metal tube. Works for me.