I learn a simple lesson on drilling tonight.

In drilling the new acrylic cover I learned a lesson very fast. Look at the bottom left corner. Yep, I busted that drilling it.


I was smart enough to use the original cover to guide the drill. But with the corner hanging unsupported on the drill press, so the corner broke. For those who have never seen a drill press, do a search on google. The platform where you put your work to be drill has a hole in the center for the drill to travel through. Well when the drill bit travel down to make the hole, the acrylic bent and broke.

So, for the next three I place the acrylic on a board so as the drill bit travels down through the acrylic and into a piece of 3/4 inch MDF underneath. So it could not flex and you see the other 3 corners are intact.

So the lesson learned. If you are drilling thin or flexible material or at the edge of something, Sandwich the item top and bottom to stabilize it as the drill bit travels through. This way the material won't flex or be pulled.