Drilling Hole Down the Middle of a Four Foot Long 6X6

[Teachu2]

I would buy a piece of 3 1/2" square steel tubing, two 1x6s and two 1x4s. Gorilla glue the wood and you are done.

 

[MossRoad]

Well and good. ... But OP wants a lot more room:

Geez, I missed that 3" hole part, too.

As others have mentioned, make a fake post out of flat lumber or cut it in half on a band saw, route out the channel and glue it back together again.

 

[MossRoad]

With that said, you might not want to put water and electric in the same post.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

my turned porch posts are hollow in the middle, but not 3". That's a large hole to put in a post.

 

[EarPlug]

I would use 2x6 boards. Miter the edges to build a box. Glue and clamp together. Hit the edges with a sander to round off the sharp edge. This should give you about a 4x4 hole down the center.

 

[MossRoad]

I would use 2x6 boards. Miter the edges to build a box. Glue and clamp together. Hit the edges with a sander to round off the sharp edge. This should give you about a 4x4 hole down the center.

A 2 x 6 is really only 1.5 x 5.5, So you'd subtract the thickness X 2 from 5.5.

5.5 - 3 = 2.5" square hole down the center.

 

[EarPlug]

A 2 x 6 is really only 1.5 x 5.5, So you'd subtract the thickness X 2 from 5.5.

5.5 - 3 = 2.5" square hole down the center.

I stand corrected. I did my mental calculations based on a 1 by lumber.

The area of the 3 in hole would yield 7.07 sq/in and the 2.5 inch box would be 6.25 sq/in of space.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Well, I got some nice 1/2" rod and had a friend weld a 1/2" bit on to it. Should have gone larger on the bit, but I didn't think of that.

So I drilled through it, first with a cordless Ridged Drill and then a 110v Makita Hole hawg type of drill.

I was not too far off, but not good enough. I realize the 6x6 is not going to be big enough anyway. I played with the large bore cutter and the amount of material left is just not enough. A friend has a surplus piece of 8x8 PT, so I will try again on that.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Well, despite the jig I built to keep the drill on course, The best I could do was come out two inches from centre which was not good enough. I thought I would give it one last try and went the other way, hoping I would hit the hole from the other end, which is remarkably what happened. So that battle was won.

I replaced the screw in the bit with a 3/8" rod used as my pilot.

Then I went from having very fine saw dust and slow going with the big bit, to it catching and almost ripping my arm off.

Now I think the bit needs sharpening as I am making very poor progress.

Does anyone know if I could possibly sharpen the bit with that small hand held air sander? I don't suppose the outer teeth would need to be very sharp, or?

Thanks