Norms Shelf Pin Jig

[Jonathan Spool]

I need a shelf pin jig, and have decided that a plunge router type is the way to go. I recently saw Norm using a jig that really caught my attention. It was aluminum, with hole machined out for the router template guide, and had two toggle clamps on the underside to secure it to the work piece. Moveable pins determine the distance of the shelf pin holes from the edge. Does anyone know who makes this?
And;
I would be pleased to hear what you recommend for a shelf pin jig. Festool looks interesting but expensive.
Thanks in advance.
Jonathan

[Bill Neely]

Is this the one? Meg Industries:

http://www.megproducts.com/

If you think you will be building 32mm cabinets in the future take a look at the Kurka Jig at Woodhaven, I bought one after having used my own homebuilt jig and another from J&R Enterprises.

Kurka:

http://www.woodhaven.com/ProductDetail.asp?Id=2308

[Dave Bonde]

I know you indicated that you want a router system but I thought I would add some thoughts about the plastic systems you use with the self centering bits. The big advantage for me with that system is I can drill pin holes after I construct a cabinet. I don't like to drill a continuous line of holes so will often wait until I have the unit built and then drill the shelf support holes where I want them. That would be difficult with the router system. Dave

[Larry Fox]

I built this one and it works very well. It is a router system though.

http://www.woodworking.org/WC/GArchive99/4_23holejig.html

[Jonathan Spool]

First, I apologize for dropping this post in the wrong forum. If someone can move this to General Woodworking where it belongs, I'd appreciate it.

Bill,
Yes that's the one! Looks interesting to me, but is not cheap!
I'll give tyhe Kurka a look.

Dave,
Good point, but I drill all my holes prior to assembly, even if they are not a continuous row. Seems I do a better job of it that way.

Larry, I stumbled on the jig you built while I was searching for the one Norm was using. Actually looks pretty easy to make (acurately) and the half holes should support the router nearly as well as a full hole. Do you ever have isse with the router wanting to jump out of position at all?
Jonathan

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Moved as per your request.

[William Addison]

Norm uses an MEG and I have one I bought for a job where I needed several thousand holes. They are expensive and overkill but they do work very well. They also have the standard length jigs in a very good multi ply which cost a lost less than aluminum. I bought the long jig which will lay out 50+ holes and will work for shorter projects but which can be unwieldy.

For occasional short jobs I wouldn't pay that much for one.

[Jerome Hanby]

You could pick up a cheap copy of Bill Hylton's Router magic off of Amazon (clicking through SMC of course). I've built and used that shelf pin jig extensively.

Wow, just checked Amazon, looks like that book is GONE....

[Larry Fox]

Larry, I stumbled on the jig you built while I was searching for the one Norm was using. Actually looks pretty easy to make (acurately) and the half holes should support the router nearly as well as a full hole. Do you ever have isse with the router wanting to jump out of position at all?
Jonathan

Nope - it has always been rosk solid for me. It is a nice and cheap alternative to some of the more expensive jigs if you only have a handful to do ocassionally. If I had more to do I might look into something different because there really inn't anything at all exciting about drilling the holes.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Those jigs are super easy to build, if you want cheap. I've gone through a couple homebrew ones now. You can even use a couple pieces of pegboard glued together for stiffness, and just enlarge the holes that you want to use to fit your router bushing. Add a fence or register pegs, and there you go.

Meg is way prettier though;)

[Scott Stafford]

I've had the Meg jig for years and love it. Expensive, yes. But I've never been sorry that I have it.

Scott in Montana

[John Ricci]

I have the deluxe version of this one from LV. It sets up to do shelf pin holes as well as dowels to do complete cabinets. http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=42200&cat=1,180,42311 . It too is expensive but like pretty much everything from LV, it works flawlessly.

J.R.

[frank shic]

it's hard to match the accuracy of the machine bored jigs. i tried building a router-driven 32mm hole jig before by boring with a drill press and i ended up with some discrepancies afterwards. the kurka looks like a suitable alternative. i hated using the router for boring the holes because it's a lot slower and noisier than a drill. you won't get much tearout with a drill if you use a corded drill and the right bit. the nice thing about manual boring is that you can selectively bore just the holes you need for drawer slides and hinges.

[Steve Kohn]

SWMBO always tells me to buy the best tool for the job so I only have to buy it once. However in this case I find that going to the BORG and getting a partial sheet of pegboard is the best solution for me. I can cut a piece exactly the right size to lay out the holes, clamp it to the work and use a self-centering drill to mark the location. I then follow up with a brad point bit to enlarge the holes.

Pegboard is really cheap compared to $269 for the aluminum jig.

[Byron Trantham]

Originally I bought Veritas hole jig and I found it to too error prone. Plus getting the hole depth correct was hit and miss affair. I bought Rockler's hole jig and I have used it on three projects now with no mistakes and it automatically drills the correct depth. It can be used "after the fact" inside the cabinet as well. They show a guy holding the template with one hand and drilling with the other - NOT! I clamp mine down and now I can concentrate on the drilling operation. Its the right price and it works very well.

[Greg Hines, MD]

Norm makes a very serviceable jig on one of his jig shows, where he drills 1/2" holes every inch on the drill press, then secures a fence to the underside of it with carriage bolts through slots on either end. This gives him good variability on the distance from the side, and by lining up a centerline for the workpiece and the jig, you get consistent results.

Doc

[Bruce Wrenn]

The trouble with Norm's jig is it requires both accurate spacing of lines for holes, and lining up marks for drilling of the holes in the jig itself. I modified Norm's, using a Bridgeport to line up and drill holes. But not everybody has a Bridgeport just sitting around. So I developed a system, using common hardware to exactly space holes. I even figured how to get end holes the exact same distance from ends of jig. This makes it reference from ends, not a line drawn in the center. I wish I could say more, but it is out for consideration for publishing by one of the magazines.

[Mark D Hillier]

I also have the Deluxe Lee Valley Jig. I like it and it works well but it is a little fiddly to get setup. It's real purpose is for euro-style balanaced and half-balanced cabinet systems -and if you have a lot of identical panels to do, it's a gem.

However, for quick and dirty jobs, it takes as long to setup as to use.

As someone else pointed out, it's also possible to do panels vertically (perhaps in an existing cabinet) whereas that would be tough with a router.

That said, I wouldn't mind having one of those MEG units too ;-)

Norm makes it look easy -but then, he always does (that's TV for you).