If you use a power drill, chances are, you’ve experienced drilling the bit at a slightly skewed angle. Most of us just aren’t naturally adept at keeping our aims perfectly straight. It’s not a big deal for many personal projects, although it does turn out less-than-ideal results, which can cause issues when it comes to getting a perfect fit and finish. The BullseyeBore Core looks to help with that.
A power drill attachment, it slips onto any power drill’s chuck to give it laser guide lights you can use to fix your bit’s alignment in real time. No need to check your hand position, the bit’s angle, or anything else to ensure your drill is aligned – just follow the guidelights and get yourself a perfectly perpendicular hole each time out. In case you’ve heard of a similar thing before, the outfit previously showed off their prototype laser guide many years ago in hopes of licensing it. This time around, they’ve decided to manufacture the final product instead.
The BullseyeBore Core is designed to mount on the chuck of any power drill, where it uses the built-in laser light to project concentric circles around the drill bit. When your drill is perfectly aligned, the drill bit is situated directly in the middle of the smaller circle and the smaller circle is perfectly situated in the middle of the bigger circle, so you simply proceed with pressing the trigger and driving the whole thing. If it’s not positioned at a perfectly straight line, though, the concentric circles will be positioned at off angles, so you’ll have to realign the drill to move everything into their correct place.
It comes in two versions: standard and extended. The standard projects two concentric circles onto the work surface you’re drilling into, which, the outfit claims, makes it ideal for use with bits up to five inches long. The extended variant, on the other hand, projects three concentric circles instead, which makes it more suitable for use with the longer bits you’ve got stashed in the tool chest.
The BullseyeBore Core isn’t the first solution designed to help users drill a perfectly straight hole, as we’ve seen stuff like levels, guides, and similar stuff offered to deal with the same issue in the past. Problem is, levels only work when you’re working with vertical surfaces, while most of the guides we’ve seen in the past are designed for specific bits, making them difficult to use. This laser-based solution, on the other hand, is designed to work will all kinds of bits up to eight inches long, all while working the same way whether you’re drilling an upright wall, a horizontal floor, or a diagonally-mounted beam.
It uses a class 2 laser, so the output is below 1mw, which makes it perfectly safe for normal operations, although they offer two options in color, either green (which lasts 2.5 hours on a coin cell battery) or the more energy-efficient red (lasts nine hours on a coin battery). Other details include compatibility with bits up to half an inch in thickness, a durable polycarbonate housing, and a power switch in the back, so you can easily turn it off when not in use to extend battery life.
A Kickstarter campaign is currently running for the BullseyeBore Core. You can reserve a unit for pledges starting at $129.