This afternoon, the task of drilling all the bigger holes (13mm in diameter) continued and was finished today, using the hired “mag drill” machine with its core drill bit.
Drilling-both-the-top-plate-of-the-leg-and-the-beam
The core drill bit is actually a circular line of teeth, set in two rows, one slightly lower than the other. Also there is a central spring loaded spike up the middle of the core which is used to exactly position the drill!
Plus also, it is where the oil/water mixture comes down and lubricates and cools the cutting action – very clever design!
But this is not the end of the drilling operations as we still have plenty more holes to do, with lots of 5mm ones to fix the wood parts into place, ready for the nailing the rafters etc. when the roof is constructed.