Hi there! I'm confused with this one... I've got these plywood squares that I had to drill a bunch of holes in. Despite using a low speed on my drill and adding masking tape (below) there's still pretty nasty tear out on nearly all holes. (EDIT: These are not through holes, this is for crochet square blocking boards. Metal rods which need to stay in place are put into the holes.)
And this is it after removing the masking tape.
What should I do? Thanks in advance!
Would countersinking the holes impact the function you need from these boards? If not I would just do a shallow countersink.
Otherwise drill a small pilot hole, then follow up with the full size bit.
Fast rotational speed with a slow plunge might help too.
I think countersinking might cause issues. This is for a crochet board that a friend requested. The pins that sit inside might wobble a bit too much. I didn't realise faster speed would be better, I imagined it would be rougher, thanks for that!