Ya’ Gotta Do what Ya’ Gotta Do

These are the times that try builder’s souls…those times when your favorite compact right-angle air drill, the one that uses threaded bits and fits ANYWHERE just won’t cut it. Why not? Well… I needed a hole for an AN4 bolt and I didn’t have a threaded 1/4” bit, that’s why. I’ve got practically every size threaded bit that can be used in aircraft construction, but that 1/4” must have been carried away by the spiders that live under the workbench. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

Fortunately, a long time ago, before I had better tools, I bought one of these right angle attachment monstrosities that has a <shudder> chuck and attaches to a regular drill motor chuck. Usually, if you need a right angle drill, you don’t have room for something this long, but in this case, I had enough distance to use it to upsize the holes using a step drill (my regular 1/4” jobber bits were too long, even for the right angle adapter.

Job done, I pondered the fact that even Harbor Freight tools occasionally prove to be the solution to an obscure problem!