We're going to make the famous self-supporting bridge by Leonardo Da Vinci. All we need is a drill press, a Forstner bit or a hole saw, and some wood pieces to make a simple woodworking jig to notch the wooden rods. I explain step by step how to make the drill press jig and how the trick works so that the notches at the ends of the wooden rods are aligned and both at the same distance and at 180 degrees from the central notch. Finally, we see how to assemble all the pieces to set up Leonardo Da Vinci's bridge.
👉 What problem did I have with the Forstner bit and the hole saw?
First, the difference in diameter between the rod and the drill bit being a millimeter more or less is not very important. Although it's better if they are the same diameter. It's advisable to make a test notch to ensure that the round rods fit well in them.
My intention was to make the notches in the wooden rods with the Forstner bit. But for some reason, I thought that this type of drill bit wouldn't work for notching the rods. I thought it wouldn't cut the wood well. Because this isn't the first time I've made one of these Leonardo Da Vinci bridges, and I always did them with a hole saw. So after taking all the measurements and making the jig for working with the drill press, I decided to use the hole saw. And everything went well. But at the end (although in the video it seems almost at the beginning) I decided to do a test with the Forstner bit and saw that it makes a perfect and cleaner notch than the hole saw. Definitely, I should have used the Forstner bit.
If you're interested in the board I have screwed onto the drill press metallic table, watch this video and you'll realize it's part of a vertical table:
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I also have a guide for cutting equal wooden rods with a jigsaw, in my channel with comments in English:
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This Leonardo bridge can also be made with wooden posts. Check it out in this video I uploaded years ago to my channel with comments in English:
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Following the Leonardo's technique to make the self supporting bridge, I even made a complete circle with wooden rods that stands on its own:
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