Drilling Pilot Hole into Wood Question

I am refinishing a dresser and I need to drill another pilot hole into the dresser so I can attach my cabinet pull. I am using a 3"/16 Brad Point Drill Bit and my drill is a cordless drill that has 2-speed gear box with 24-speed settings. What I've noticed is that when my drill bit is halfway through the wood the drill stops rotating yet the actually drill continues to spin.

The only way I can get through the wood is by slowly pulsating the drill with my finger where I push the trigger on then off, on then off. Hope that explanation makes sense.

I've played with the speeds on my drill but the slowest speed doesn't seem to help.

What am I doing wrong? Wrong drill bit? What setting on my drill should I be at? I just want to drill through the piece of wood without having to stop. The wood is only 4" or so.

Any feedback would be great.

Thanks,
EZCUSE

 

2 things. Your chuck is probably not tightened sufficiently to prevent the drill bit from slipping / spinning inside the drill. And you probably need to pull the drill bit in and out as you drill. With your smaller drill bits, the "threads" of the drill bit are small and get plugged up with wood shavings which causes the drill bit to get tight in the hole. Pulling the drill bit back out after you drill in a ways clears out the wood shavings so that the bit can continue to cut when you plunge it back in again.

 

Are you sure those "24-speed settings" are not torque settings? Are they adjustable by turning a collar behind the chuck? I may be completely wrong as my drill is several years old but it has a two-speed gearbox and about a dozen torque settings. For drilling I always set the torque to maximum.

Also, in addition the gear shift do you have another switch that switches between drilling and screw driving?

 

mmm, good point Furd, I totally missed that point about the torque clutch. He/She's probably trying to describe the clutch clicking while drilling. You're right that the drill should probably have a setting on the clutch past "24" that shows a drill bit (usually the highest setting, for drilling).

 

Thank you all for giving me your feedback.

The 24-speed stetting I was referring to in indeed a torque setting and adjustable by me turning the collar behind the chuck. The 24th torque setting looks to be a picture of a screw but it could be a picture of a drill bit.

There is no other switch that switches between drilling and screw driving.

So it sounds like the feedback is telling me to put the speed setting on 2 (as opposed to 1) and use the maximum torque.

Will try this out while pulling the drill bit in and out so the wood shavings don't cause the bit to stop.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

EZCUSE

 

The slower speed might be ok and sometimes a drill is easier to handle when running slower. It does sound like your biggest issues are the clutch setting and letting the hole plug up with sawdust.

 

The thing that looks like a screw or drill bit is actually a drill bit. It locks the clutch completely and is the position you should use for drilling.

Start the hole on slow speed, then switch to high. Though a brad point bit doesn't wander that much on wood.