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I should have said there could have been (apparently was) crud on the drill and also the wood supporting it while drilling. It's the way tiny pieces have migrated into the perspex - or you think those are fractures, not pieces? But "floating", disconnected ones? PPS, I'm not complaining, it's...

Superglue, maybe? But you'd have to be quick brushing it! (And you can polish it) Do a practice piece first of course.

Interesting? A disc of perspex, 8mm thick. I drilled a 2mm hole all the way through, then a shallow 3.5mm one for the screw head. Put a drop of superglue into the bigger hole and pushed the screw through so it sat flush. Then noticed all the junk that seems to have penetrated and spread into...

Hoho

Ok, I didn't think of all that. But it works brilliantly with my Powerfix (Lidl's) die holder (otherwise I wouldn't have posted it)! A good, professional-looking thread, far better than I've previously done by hand. And getting it started is a dream in comparison!

This useful 3D-printed thing keeps the die-holder level. The rod you're threading goes through the central hole, and the die is held at 90° to it. It could probably be fancied-up to accept a range of rod sizes, but I've just printed what I needed - a 4mm one and a 5mm one.

Ah, ok, thanks. Probably candle wax then. (Just looked at 37mm reamer prices - EEK! No!)

So anyway, here's the thing: The hole in perspex is reasonably clean. It's cutting a bit hot, but I guess I can put up with that. It was ½mm dia oversize at first, then a bit more filing and sanding brought it down to only fractionally over. Now to find a 37mm reamer, or more likely a round...

This thread has come to the end of its natural life, so thanks to all for your suggestions and advice. Though the pillar dtill is too weak, this works pretty well, and this (where I tried to reduce the cutting area and ground the tips down to "scrape" not cut) might have been ok if I'd been...

That sounds sensible, too! And there's nothing wrong with being a die-hard bodger - our day will come!

Haha, I've just discovered what I should have known anyway, that my 450W bench drill won't drive a large (36mm) forstner bit through plastic, or even wood... but as the hole has to go right through, it's a bit of a waste of energy cutting out the whole circular area anyway! I'm now thinking of a...

Lol, not quite as bad as 500mm square, but like this MkI: ...but a bit wider, and the 12x21mm bearing replaced with 30x37mm. (Not thinking ahead with enough clarity these days :-( ) So it needs to be a push fit, and alas it won't go on the lathe! Anyway, as I'll need a couple of dozen, it...

Thanks for the ideas - I'll probably try them all! I take it we think that somehow shrinking a 38mm forstner is a non-starter? (For anyone who has similar trouble with trousers... legs DON'T come only in even numbers. I've discovered that M&S realise that.)

Hi - I need to make neat and accurate 37mm holes in 5mm perspex. Forstners work excellently, but I can only find 36 or 38. Can anyone think of a way to accurately convert (grind down?) a 38mm one? I have a wood lathe with chuck, routers etc, but no milling machine. I haven't tried a flat bit...

Yes, I get that, but you'd think the long size would be the "special" rather than the default?!

Hi - I've been doing some drilling into steel with a 12mm hss bit, and of course it vibrated like anything - because it's 15cm long! Why? How many users are going to need to drill through 10cm of metal?! Very few, I bet. For the vast majority (correct me if I'm wrong), 99% of holes over about...

Ok, thanks all....!

Hi - I've wondered for some time about why, when sawing or jigsawing or drilling, wood plastic or even metal, it goes easier just before breaking through at the end? The sound becomes smoother and the cut seems to go faster. Is it the material somehow softening, or is it when the saw points...

Ok, thanks. I've gone off in a slightly different direction now, but I will bear that in mind, likewise all the other helpful/informed ideas.

@J-G: Ok, yes. Scratch "Mod 3" and insert "3mm tooth spacing". I'm sure there is a logic to the mod system but I haven't yet got my head to an intuitive understanding.