Drilling and counterboring apparatus and method for forming screw pockets

An apparatus for forming an obliquely oriented counterbore in a surface of a workpiece and a fastener receiving passage proximate an edge of said workpiece, said apparatus comprising:

• a support frame;
• a router assembly having a router bit, and movably mounted to said frame and oriented with the router bit rotational axis generally perpendicular to the direction of motion of said router assembly, said router assembly being mounted for arcuate movement between a stored position, out of contact with said workpiece, and a routing position, contacting said workpiece along a progressively inwardly path to cut a tapering recess in said surface terminating in a shoulder transverse to said surface proximate and in spaced relation to said edge to form said obliquely oriented counterbore;
• a drill assembly having a drill bit, and being movably mounted to said frame and oriented with the drill bit rotational axis generally perpendicular to the router bit rotation axis when said router bit is situated in said routing position, said drill assembly being mounted for linear movement between a recessed position, out of contact with said workpiece, and a drilling position, engaging said workpiece in a direction generally opposing said router bit to drill said passage from said edge into said workpiece a sufficient distance causing said passage to communicate with said counterbore;
• a biasing assembly independently biasing said router assembly and said drill assembly in generally opposite directions toward said stored position and said recessed position, respectively, to maintain said router bit and said drill bit out of engaging contact with one another.