The Essentials: Nest two of the “gallon” nursery pots you’ve scrounged for your access portal. If they’re different sizes, so much the better. Use your hole saw mandrel or a 1/4“ bit to drill a hole in the center of the bottom of each one. Screw your 4 3/8” hole saw onto the mandrel. Put the larger pot inside the smaller. (Yes, I did mean to say that - it makes a space.) (If you want, put something expendable like the 5” plastic disk shown above between the two pots.) Grab the pots firmly in one hand & use the other to operate the drill running in REVERSE. In a twinkling your hole will be drilled; no stress, no pain, no blood.
The Story: When I happened on the idea of using recycled gallon nursery pots to make easy-access chambers, I had no clue that Waterloo was looming in the distance. What could be simpler? Fetch pot; drill hole; end of story. Right? I wish. If I’d just opted to use a keyhole or compass saw, it would have been easy. No big deal. Don’t believe me? Check out the bottom photo on the 18-minute chamber. Go ahead; you’ve even got your own Back button... Okay. The saga continues...
My problem was that I had a 4 3/8” hole saw - the perfect size for the hole.
Of course I wanted to use it. Labor-Saving Device and all that.
You’re familiar with the concept of a reality check? One didn’t happen here.
If it had, these salient points would have appeared in blinking neon lights.
1. Even a “sturdy” pot is astonishingly flimsy when you compare it with a large, hulking metal hole saw rotating at high speed. 2. Bring the two together and you’re in big trouble. Possibly the kind involving blood and body parts on the floor.
Through a process I’d rather not go into, I discovered these truths.
Did I go back to the simple solution? Did it even OCCUR to me to make such a logical, straightforward decision? Of course not. I would Create Something to overcome the problem. (Days pass with much pondering and creation of sawdust...)
Voilá! I have made a Jig so I can use the drill press for this job.
The jig is beautiful - a Work of Art. I’m delighted.
Then I use it. Once. There’s no way to put this gracefully. Total. Dismal. Failure. The jig narrowly escapes conversion to radiant heat due to a pathetic hope that it will one day earn its keep as a Bad Example. Well, that day has finally come.
I had done a little putzing about using a Hopelessly Hokey Contraption involving a clamp and my workbench, but it was embarrassing and still involved an unacceptable level of terror. Many months later, serendipity struck. Hole saw, several pots and impatience for a hole NOW (all in close proximity) were transmuted by a mysterious alchemy into a New Idea. I could use my hole saw mandrel to drill 1/4“ holes in two mismatched gallon pots, nest the larger into the smaller (so there’s a comfortable gap between the two pot bottoms) and the 2nd pot would act as a finger guard while I held pot combo in one hand and drill in the other. (drum roll) Yes! It worked perfectly!! A happy ending at last. (stirring music)
Ye Olde Important Note: The drill MUST be run in reverse (Believe me; I tried it the other way.) To heap miracle on miracle, the hole saw stayed on even when I didn’t use the fancy pin-type mandrel! Running forward the hole saw routinely comes unscrewed when stopping the drill. Go figure.
Just because I can never resist tweaking, I added a 5” heavy plastic disk (left over from making the bottom hole in a beefy bucket) so there’s an extra layer between my hand and the saw. Yes, I know it’s overkill. So? That’s one of my specialties - along with getting very complicated on the way to simple...
