Electric drills are noisy, but his one maintains a perfectly sweet harmonious tone, unless you deviate from the initial preset angle. (usually a perpendicular or horizontal 90º)

Drop below 90º relative to the surface being drilled, and the pitch goes down. Go above 90º and it goes up. Deviations to the left and right and extra disharmonious notes join in.

Go way off and it starts sounding like two cats howling in an alley way.
-- xenzag, Jul 14 2008

patent US6247879 http://v3.espacenet...C&IDX=US6247879&F=0
hand held drill press [xaviergisz, Jul 16 2008]

This sounds painful to people like me who like to abuse their drill bits by using them to oblong holes, grind edges, and countersink both sides of the hole. It needs special settings for special people…
-- CwP, Jul 15 2008


[marked-for-del3tion] magic. Poster does not explain how the sound will be made. Is it due to some interaction between the drill bit and the medium, or is it just a preset audio sample that is emitted and distorted based on some input from an internal leveling device?

If you choose the former, then it's definitely magic as I assume you will not be able to reliably control this noise.

If you choose the latter, then it's just silly to add noise to an already noisy affair and I bone it.
-- daseva, Jul 15 2008


Why not just add a level to the top?
-- Voice, Jul 15 2008


The level isn't always handy to look at, when you're looking at the workpiece.
-- afinehowdoyoudo, Jul 15 2008


You are quite correct [iron_horse], and a level will not monitor lateral deviations unless it's a complex one that needs a close eye -not easily achieved when drilling a hole with the hammer action on!
[Cwp] You can always turn it off when you don't need to use it.
[daseva] Drills can be made quieter and there are so many ways to generate a tone that I didn't bother burdening the idea with that aspect. As for monitoring the position and linking it to the modification of the tone, that sort of simple feedback system is not exactly what I would call magic.
-- xenzag, Jul 15 2008


An auditory sweet spot would be good.
It just needs an angle pre-set and I want one.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jul 15 2008


Alright. I've retracted the mfd. But, seeing as drills and noise are inextricably linked I hope you reconsider your lack of burdens.
-- daseva, Jul 15 2008


I think a guiding device would be more effective. The guiding device would be fitted onto the drill and would keep the drill perpendicular to the work surface. I've found a patent that illustrates this idea nicely (link).
-- xaviergisz, Jul 16 2008


It could use GPS for positioning
-- afinehowdoyoudo, Jul 16 2008


+ Readily bakeable, except for the horzontal drill position. An optically sensed bubble-level would work fine for vertical positioning, but it's not clear how to detect deviations left and right when the drill motor is held horizontally. GPS is not nearly accurate enough for the +/- 1mm precision required.
-- csea, Jul 16 2008


I am aware of other guiding devices, but these have a few problems, one of which being that they partly obscure the work area. They are also not adjustable. I envisage a type of closely monitored sensitive mercury tilt switch, linked to a processor then in turn the sound generator.
-- xenzag, Jul 16 2008


//I envisage a type of closely monitored sensitive mercury tilt switch//
Mercury?
Three axis MEMS accelerometer and microcontroller. <nods assertively>
-- AbsintheWithoutLeave, Jul 16 2008


The deviations left and right are not distances, but angles. +/- 0.5 degree (thats angular not temperature) is probably good enough, and achievable with GPS. Accelerometers also good. Mercury bad.
-- afinehowdoyoudo, Jul 16 2008


I don't think 3-axis accelerometers would be helpful in accurate angle measurements, since I they detect linear acceleration. But a gyroscope (my favourite toy) would be very good. It could be spun up by the drill motor and a one way clutch. The datum could be set on a nearby object (corner of the room).
-- Ling, Jul 16 2008


[Ling] with the added advantage that tilting the drill from that axis could make it screech.
-- 4whom, Jul 16 2008


// don't think 3-axis accelerometers would be helpful in accurate angle measurements, since I they detect linear acceleration//
What about the constant one, straight down?
-- coprocephalous, Jul 16 2008


[Copro...] Heh, heh. They really need to come up with a better name. And another laugh on "gutter-snipe" it seems to have gone now.
-- 4whom, Jul 16 2008



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