Drillpress vs. pre-drilled enclosures

[mrclean77]

I was skeptical of the HF drill and had been looking to spend 4-5x more on one, but after a mountain of DIY folks' praises, I took a chance and am glad I saved the money. I was even ready to have to re-buy after a few years. This one is still going strong after 3-ish years. 99.9% of all I've done with it is drill enclosures. Small holes in aluminum boxes is far less abuse than most drill presses take. This is the only tool I describe as beating my auto wire stripper for best DIY pedal tool. At one point, the Mammoth folks said they used the HF drill on their enclosures and said they took some mileage before giving out.

I use a step bit like the fat one in the middle of that pic of the multi set. I have a dummy post-it taped to the wall in front of the press:
TOGGLE - 1
POTS - 2
IN/OUT - 3
DC/3PDT - 5

I have a clamp, but hold firmly with my hand. I clamp if I'm drilling something besides these soft boxes. I wanna make a jig to be able to do uniform holes in multiple pedals, but have not messed with that yet - I doubt I will add a clamp to that. I have never ever had an enclosure try to take off spinning on me.

Definitely get a spring punch. I think I got mine at Lowe's, but it's as frustrating as some of the descriptions of the HF ones. I may order the one with the big red part on it posted above.