New Products

Shade Sails Awning Installation

Application Case Study:
Drillmate Portable Drill Press

Alligning two holes through a pipe in the field location can be tricky. When you throw in schedule 40 vertical pipes with a diameter of 10 inches (254mm), 5/8" (15.9mm) hole diameter and a wall thickness of 1/2 inch (12mm) the task can be daunting.

Mike Tenenbaum, General Building Contractor from Chatsworth, California (www.perfectremodel.com), was facing this dilemma when installing a Shade Sail awning at a customer's location. A quality job was required on all aspects of the installation from the design, to the materials, to the professionalism of the installation work. Mike forsaw an issue with a way to align and drill two holes through a wide diameter pipe without the use of his shop equipment.

  Shade Sails pipe connections

The three-cornered high density polyethylene shade cloth is often attached to a building and a freestanding pole buried in 3 to 5 feet of concrete. The hot dipped galvanized pipes are required to firmly hold the sail in place even during the most climatic weather. The vertical pipes can range from 6 to 16 inches in diameter. The difficulty Mike faced was how to drill accurate and concentric holes in large diameter pipes (already sitting in 5 feet of dried concrete) on the jobsite without the use of a standard drill press and clamp with minimal cost impact. Mike turned to Evergreen Tool Company of Menominee, Michigan for a solution. Jim Anderson of Evergreen Tool Company suggested the use of the Drillmate portable drill press.

Drillmate Portable Drill Press

The unique mechanical Drillmate drill press will hold a standard drill at a right angle to the surface being penetrated giving the operator control over the drill speed and the drill travel distance. The lightweight Drillmate includes and 11 inch (280mm) carriage travel and 7 1/4" (185mm) throat length. The 11" carriage travel posed a small problem for Mike's application. With the length of the drill cutter and chuck the Drillmate was two inches too short. Jim Anderson suggested that the Drillmate body be traversed, allowing for nearly 4 additional inches of travel. This easy and quick modification was all that was needed.

Mike used the Drillmate portable drill press with Hougan mini hole cutters available through Evergreen Tool Company and his own DeWalt battery operated drill to make the perfect tool package for the job at hand. Mike Tenenbaum found the right solution for the job. The solution Mike found, with the help of Evergreen Tool, will make future installations that much easier and quicker.

Unusual situations often call for creative solutions. Not every hole-drilling situation is black and white. Often experience can help overcome difficult problems. Evergreen Tool Company is an expert in special hole drilling situations. If you have questions concerning Drillmate or Evergreen Tool Company Holecutters, please contact Evergreen Tool Company at 1-906-863-7064. See our Web Site at www.evergreentool.com.