what size drill bit to use for #8 wood screw
The Pro Fob for Figuring Out What Size Drill Scrap to Utilise for Your Next Project
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Credit: Joe Lingeman/Apartment Therapy
This year, I've finally gotten comfortable using my ability drill. Honestly, it'south really empowering once you know what you're doing. I highly recommend it.
When, like me, you lot're a beginner in the power drill universe, there are a lot of pieces to navigate (at least, compared to a hammer and nail!). At that place'south the drill, the battery, the screws, the anchors, and the drill $.25. It can seem a bit overwhelming at the start.
One affair that left me scratching my head: If y'all're doing a projection that requires pre-drilling (such as hanging shelves), how do you know what size drill scrap to use for your airplane pilot hole?
Thankfully, a pro stepped in to assistance guide me. Eli Donahue, a carpenter at Stand and Build in New York, showed me how simple it is to make up one's mind which drill bit to utilize for your project.
Permit's say yous have your shelves ready to hang, the advisable screws, and you're drilling into a stud, so no anchors are needed. If y'all know the size of the spiral, you lot can locate the size of the drill bit by looking at the opposite end from the sharp point of the flake. It'southward likely engraved there.
But if yous don't know the size of your screw, how do you know which drill bit to use? 1/8? ane/xvi? 5/32? Donahue has an like shooting fish in a barrel manner.
How to Decide What Drill Bit to Employ
Here's what the pro says: You can actually simply eyeball it (carefully).
Donahue says you merely concord the drill bit up directly in front of the spiral. "At that place's the central cavalcade of the screw, and then there are the teeth of the spiral," Donahue says. "Yous desire to pick a drill bit that's the size of the central column, not the screw."
And so when you lot're belongings your drill bit in front of the spiral, if you tin can see the cardinal column as well as the teeth, the scrap is probable too modest, so endeavour a size upwards.
If you tin't see the teeth or spirals of the screw when yous hold the drill bit in front of information technology, the bit is too large, so size down.
If y'all're belongings the drill scrap in front of the spiral and you lot tin can encounter the spiral, but not the central column, congratulations! You have the right drill flake size for this screw.
Notation that if you're not drilling directly into a stud, you'll likely need to use an anchor for your project.
How to Make up one's mind the Size of Your Drill Fleck for an Anchor
Donahue says the aforementioned method applies here.
If you're using an anchor, he says to hold the drill bit upwardly to make sure it'southward the same size every bit the anchor minus the flange (the part at the finish of the screw that sticks out from the wall).
"Y'all want a drill bit that's big enough to drill a hole in the wall, and like shooting fish in a barrel to push the anchor in with your thumb," Donahue explains. "You don't desire to have to force it in there. The drill flake should be the same size as the body of the anchor you're using."
What to Practise if You Pre-Drill a Hole That'southward Too Small-scale
"Just step it up a size," says Donahue. Choose the next bigger scrap, then re-drill in the same spot. He says drilling a pigsty that'south as well small is definitely the easier trouble to fix, equally opposed to fixing a pigsty that's likewise big.
What to Practice if You Pre-Drill a Hole That's Too Big
"If it'due south likewise big, so y'all accept to buy a little spackling, seal information technology up, and become somewhere new," Donahue says. In other words: Err on the side of likewise small.
While there are other options for fixing too-large holes if you're a more avant-garde carpenter, he advises the easiest matter to practise is to allow it go, make full the likewise-large pigsty and move on. And don't be too difficult on yourself.
"Spackling is not that expensive!" says Donahue. You tin can option some upward from your local hardware store or on Amazon for less than $6.
How Many Drill Bits Yous Need as a Beginner
"For most things, you're not going to need besides many drill $.25 because you're non going to need that much precision," Donahue explains. "If y'all're 1/16 inch too large or small, it's usually not going to be too large of a deal if you lot're hanging a shelf."
In other words, save your money on the 230-slice drill bit set if you're but doing some basic effectually-the-house DIYs.
So accept a deep breath, hold up your drill bit in front of your screw or anchor to determine the size needed, and get started on your next project with the confidence of a pro.
Source: https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-to-choose-correct-drill-bit-36894049#:~:text=%E2%80%9CYou%20want%20a%20drill%20bit,anchor%20you're%20using.%E2%80%9D
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