Drilling the perpetual plate hole without a template is extremely time consuming and not precise. During your design process, if you have included holes in your graphic representation of each perpetual plate, you can create a drilling template without much extra work.
As most drilling templates are fairly large, I often use cardstock to make the template and keep costs down. The cardstock I use is from the back of writing pads, packed with sheet materials, or can be purchased at an art or craft supply store. At 1/32 of an inch thick, it can be cut to fit in your laser.
The size of the template should not only accommodate the holes along the right side of the template, but should go beyond the holes by about an inch, allowing for taping on the right top and bottom. Taping in four places assures no movement when drilling. The outline of the template and the holes should be laser cut to assure precision.
-Bob Hagel, Eagle’s Mark
