Hi guys.  I've got a problem that I thought I would ask about ITs.  I have a couple of my friends that I drill for and they have sort of extreme thumb pitches.  One has 3/8ths left and 1/2 reverse and the other is 1/8th right and 3/8ths reverse and they use ITs now.  Now I've been installing them for a little over a year now and I'm really proficient at installing them.  My problem is that I drill them, oh and one uses a 1 3/8 slug and the other a 1 1/4 slug, and I can drill with my IT bits ok, sand out for the top sleeves, the installation tool turns in the hole fine and I install the Ball IT and finish the job no problem.  But then once I have them try to insert their slug, it binds up or its very hard to turn and I have to sand out the hole more.  I make sure the top sleeve allows the slug to turn easily.  Do any of you who install ITs have this problem?  I know that on most of the balls I've drill I do catch part of the block.  Is it because of the extreme pitch that the slug binds up?  Its getting frustrating so I wanted to see if the rest of the world has this problem.

 

Thanx guys.

 

Jarrett

It usually comes down to the 1/2" hole and when it is encountering multiple materials at once. Since it is such a small diameter bit, it can flex and walk a lot easier, and it will if its not sharp and you don't go super slow. End result is your 1/2" hole doesn't end up tracking the same line as the larger hole. This causes the Ball-IT to "point" to one side or the other. An easy way to check before you install the IT is to take their slug (the actual one they use), screw a ball-IT onto it, and insert it in the ball without a sleeve. If the top edge of the slug pushes towards one side or another and you have to create any pressure to hold it center, you're more likely to encounter the problem once you install the IT. This can usually be avoided by just going slow and making sure your bits are sharp.