Front Rail Pin Drill Bit Size

[Farrell]

Thanks to all who offered suggestions for rebuilding the front rail of an action frame I am working on. I posted a couple days ago about and action frame with erratic front rail pins (angled every-which-way). I have epoxied in two one-inch (wide) by one-half-inch (thick) hard maple inserts that run the lengths where the front rail pins for the naturals and sharps go. A little belt sanding, etc. after an overnight cure and I will be ready to drill new holes for the front rail pins.

If the holes I drilled trough the bottom are not full of epoxy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let's say they aren't. My question is how big a hole to drill for a nice, tight, long-lasting, non-maple-strip-splitting, fit? So that's the  question: what size is tight enough to hold the pin securely, but not so tight as to split the wooden rail?

The pin bases have a diameter of 0.176 inches. Among commonly available drill bit sizes is 11/64". The decimal equivalent of 11/64" is 0.172-inches. I miced the two 11/64" drill bits I have and found they mic out to 0.170-inches. Numbers look promising to me.....

And for sure, I think it is safe to say that I can expect some run-out.

The only thing I can think of to do is test drill a few holes in a scrap of maple and choose the largest diameter hole that seems tight enough. I would hope maybe there might be some more precise information out there.

Does anyone have any good woodworking experience who could suggest an answer to my question?

Thanks.

Terry Farrell

PS: Anyone interested in pictures of this repair, just email me - I took a bunch of photos, etc. I have very high expectations of excellent results.
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