I didn't realize the things I had changed over the years to make drilling small holes for the scroll saw blades easier and quicker.

Wich I have a table model drill press that I put higher than normal especially so I could drill the little holes for inside sawing using very small drill bits.

  The first thing I did to make it easier for drilling lots of holes at  time was install a floor switch to turn the drill press on and off with my foot.

  Next I built a higher table than normal to sit the drill press on so my head is just a little higher than where the wood to be drilled is sitting. Putting my eyes closer where they are needed saves time.

   And in one of the pictures you can see the top of the drilling area is higher that the out feed table for the table saw by a few inches. I have found it takes lots of time just to make sure where the bit is sitting compared to where the hole needs to be drilled especially when a person is dealing with an area that is a hair larger than the holes are to be!

My drilling area is 55 inches off the floor.... but if you are tall the height should be more.

 The drill press in about 4 foot from the scroll saw which I use a roll around office chair  for I built a table 20" high to sit the scroll saw on and it is not bolted to the table. This way I can slide the saw one way or the other if I am sawing wide wood. The saw sits on some cut up car intertubes.  Hard to come by anymore!

 The first two drill bits are for # 3 and # 5 flying dutchman blades and are small enough to saw through the holes and disappear and they mostly won't show when done with the projects and the 1/16" bit is for all the rest of the holes out inm the middle of the waste wood.. The first two bits are number bits 56 and 54 which is .046 and .055.  These two bits break easy so only use them in a drill press. Some drill press chucks won't go small enough to tighten these bits.

 The Teddy Bear stocks small number bits and they only sell them 6 bits at a time. 

This drill press is only for scroll sawing holes so the speed is faster than the drill presses used for steel drilling.

I keep the height between the drill bit tip and the wood to be drilled about 3/8" or so so the handle don't have to be moved too far to engage the bit.

  Also if you don't already do stack cutting then try it for you can cut out three or four of the same thing way faster than it takes to saw four seperate pieces of wood at a time sawing the same thing four times. I put a small hole in all four corners then nail in a longer brad than needed and leave about 1/4" out the of the wood  so a pair of pliers can remove them and it also gives a person something for fingers to rest on to help guide the wood towards the blade.

  Also I always use a regular scroll saw blade so the edge of all the pieces of wood are already super smooth so I never have to mess with the edges with sand paper.

 

 

  

Great idea to set the drill press higher.  I find myself leaning over to get the holes in the right places.

obtw - I use a #58 bit for my #3 holes