Abstract
The use of portable drills is common in manufacturing; construction; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC); and auto repair sectors. Holding a heavy drill machine overhead for long periods can cause muscle fatigue and shoulder pain and it is difficult to drill in dead spots. Dead spots are areas that are difficult or impossible to reach, such as the inside of a cabinet, underneath a car, or underneath a desk/bench, etc. Falling dust particles also cause problems, affecting the eyes even when safety goggles are worn. To mitigate these problems, I constructed a vertical arm drill machine by using a portable drill that is fixed on a mechanism; the portable drill moves up and down using a pinion and rack which are controlled by a manual lever. If the operator wishes to drill, s/he must simply turn the drill on using the foot pedal switch/push button switch and then move the lever up and down. This makes the drilling process significantly easier and safer by using the lever to drill instead of using the drill itself. The device carries a laser crosshair and endoscope camera that helps the operator locates the hole to be drilled. The vertical drill machine reduces the need to hold the drill overhead for long periods, decreasing the risk of fatigue and shoulder pain. It can also help improve one’s ergonomics and improves work safety by eliminating particles or liquids from falling into the operator’s eyes. It reduces the time required for drilling dead spots and increases drilling accuracy by using the laser crosshair and the endoscope camera to locate the hole to be drilled, which otherwise would take a lot of time, particularly when working with a dead spot area or ceiling. The device was tested in different fields such as manufacturing, HVAC, auto repair, plumbing, and construction fields. A survey has been filled out by the field testers providing feedback. These data helped improve the device by adding more features such as the laser crosshair to locate drilling spots, a portable stand jack to reach high spots. The survey gave more ideas for future improvements like adding LED lights to increase the vision range, a small vacuum that collects dust during drilling, and a plastic cover to protect the portable drill from falling liquids.