Woodsmith Tool Review: Auto-Line Drill Guide | Woodpeckers Woodworking Tools

Dillon Baker, Design Editor over at Woodsmith, takes an in-depth look at the Auto-Line Drill Guide.

About The Auto-Line Drill Guide:

There are those among us who can pick up a drill, place it on a workpiece and drill a straight hole. Then, there are the remaining 99.9% of us. A drill press solves the problem…as long as the piece you want to drill fits. But if you’re not one of the 0.1% and you want a straight hole in the middle of a large piece of plywood, or in an installed cabinet, or in anything you can’t get to your drill press (or you don’t have a drill press), you want to keep reading. Introducing Woodpeckers Auto-Line Drill Guide. This new tool keeps your drill bit perfectly perpendicular while you drill, but it goes further. We added a versatile base and fence system that makes it simple to keep your hole locations right on target.

[vcar_guy]

This US made drill guide has excellent workmanship, and some very innovative features. The feature that's one of the most innovative I've seen is the tapered shaft and stop mechanism. This by design prevents the stop from moving down assuming the screw stays tight. The fence system is great and will simplify builds. It has some other interesting features as well, such as the built in hex key on the screw. Well, done Woodpeckers!
While being made of high quality materials, built with near perfect workmanship, the basic design still needs improvement. The base is too small and doesn't have a way to attach it to a larger base, the screws loosen during use, and the spring has way too much tension. My other experience with this tool is has excessive rotational runout (1/32 in each direction) as well as up/down end play in the shaft. At the drill motor hex input shaft at the top of the tool, with very little sideloading pressure (lateral deflection) the chuck will angularly deflect side to side. The hex shaft will also move at least 1/32" if pulled up because of the bearing spring tension used to preload the bearings. These forces will be experienced and applied at the input shaft while hand drill and cause variances in the workpiece's drilled hole layouts. As with any drill setup, the drill bit tip will amplify this motion depending on the length and how much the drill may bend under pressure as it cuts into the material. The drill guide's chuck (not made in USA, btw) will add some additional runout too. The end result when actually using the Woodpecker's Auto-Line Drill guide with a 3/8 brad point drill is hole placement may be significantly off target of 1/16" or greater, slightly out of round, and drilled at an angles other than true 90 degrees. Unfortunately this compromises any of the accuracy the tool could otherwise provide, making it not much better than other higher quality metal drill guides that are available; however, again this tool is made in the USA and the others are not. I have decided to keep the tool despite this issue, but will attempt to improve it. If I'm successful, I will send the design suggestions to Woodpeckers.

[David_K_pi]

I've been making a few jigs and bases for my tools as I set up my workshop. I often use threaded inserts in these projects. Therefore, the holes have to be perpendicular to the surface. Often the holes are too far from the edge for my drill press.
The Auto-Line Drill Guide has been a great help in getting perpendicular holes exactly where I want them. I've only had it a few months, but have used it quite a bit.
I even use it on projects that would fit on the drill press because it's actually more convenient.
So yeah, it's not cheap, but it costs less than a good drill press and is more versatile. I love this tool.

[ToddAndelin]

Some very intelligent engineers created this tool... much respect. Im gonna be getting one of these for sure!

[PBRStreetGang]

My wife said that 7" won't be long enough, going to need that extension.

[joshortiz]

Love the stuff Woodpeckers produces I just can't justify the cost. Being disabled leaves for difficulty to afford items of such cost.

[memezilla]

Another quality item as per usual.

But unfortunately another cost prohibitive piece of equipment for drilling a straight hole.

[Zamboni-]

You didn't mention the largest Forstner bit or hole saw that this can accommodate.
$259.99 for the for the standard and $369.99 for the Deluxe kit. Well that counts me out....This is only for the rich and or stupid....or both