Shelf pin drilling jig

[Drew Sanderson]

Which shelf pin drilling jig would you recommend?

I am leaning towards the one from Lee Valley. http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?c=&p=32251&cat=1,180,42311

[Ken Deckelman]

I made my own from 1/2" MDF. I personally like the ones that use a plunge router with bushings rather the a drill because you get much cleaner holes (especially in plywood), and it's faster.

[Erik Christensen]

+1 on what Ken said - a router is the tool to use for shelf pin holes

[Phil Thien]

I'm going to third what has been said above. I have the special drill bit and it does cause splintering on plywood. The truck is to keep the RPM high before pushing the bit, but still...

So I recently made my own template using 1/4" hardboard. I just drilled 3/8" holes. I plan on using a mini plunge router to actually do the drilling for me.

[John Nesmith]

The only thing I have ever used is shop-made jigs from peg board, and a sharp drill bit. I have never had a problem with this approach. I also use the sleeves you insert into the holes.

[Rob Wright]

I like the concept of this one - http://megproducts.com/index.html

I made a similar jig on a CNC machine.

[Mike Goetzke]

I just drilled a few hundred holes with a Rockler jig. Went very quickly and I didn't notice any splintering. I had several kitchen cabinets to drill so I made a spacer block clamped it to the bottom of the panel and then clamped the jig. Before I knew it I was done. I never tried the router but it just seems a bit bulky for this job???

Don't know if you are aware but there are a few drill sizes out there. Metric & English - with & without use of protective sleeves. I chose to use the sleeves and it really gives it a professional look.


Mike

[glenn bradley]

I bought the Rockler version on sale and it is my only experience aside from a shop made one that was always "nearly" right. The material is too thin (1/8") so if I bought again I might look at the phenolic or metal ones. Their drill bit/guide is also poorly made; the drill bit is of a poor quality and the guide does not spin freely enough to avaoid heat build up. After only a half dozen holes I nearly melted a part of one guide hole. Using the plunge router versus the drill bit when possible eases your efforts. Not to dog Rockler harshly but, I would consider a different one and cannot recommend theirs at all.

[Chip Lindley]

I couldn't resist another real bargain last summer! This is my shelf pin jig!

175269

But, The plunge router template method is great too! Clean holes that go down pretty fast!

[glenn bradley]

I couldn't resist another real bargain last summer! This is my shelf pin jig!

You are a cruel man :D:D:D

[kent borcherding]

drew ,

I would recommend the Woodhaven 786 Kurka jig - cost is around $180 .

website www.woodhaven.com (http://www.woodhaventools.com) think that is right , I have it bookmarked.

Brad , the owner is able to answer any questions you might have.

I had the complete Lee Valley jig for about 5 years , prefer the Kurka .

[frank shic]

i agree with chip lol although i didn't get it for a steal. if i do manual drilling this is the one i use:

http://jandrdrilljig.com/

[Peter Quinn]

I've always made them out of lexan or scraps of maple. It doesn't take long if you have a drlll press, and they work well. I like to drill them after assembly and reference off the bottom of the case, so you really can't get a router in there after assembly. I've found with a good brad point and a shop made jig chip out is not a problem. With those rockler drill bits, the bit is pretty much crap, and it will eat up thin veneers (we have that at work) but if you start the bit in reverse then switch to forward to drll the hole it will not tear out. Sort of a climb cut approach. If you can change the bits in those to a better quality that might help?

[Greg Portland]

Drew, a few years ago I needed to drill about 2500-3000 pin holes for a large set of bookshelves I was building. I literally bought 5-6 different jigs and tried them all, including the Lee Valley option. If you just have a small shelf project then any of the solutions listed above (router or drill based) will work well. If you need to drill a lot of holes and start calculating the time required then you start to realize that it could take you -hours- of drilling to finish (moving templates around, drilling holes, keeping everything straight in your mind without making mistakes, etc.). The fastest solution is of course a line boring machine but that may not make fiscal sense for most WWers. I ended up building and using a solution that speed-wise falls nicely between a line boring machine and these $100-$200 jig solutions. I had a multi-page writeup that was unfortunately deleted (another site crashed) comparing all the various jigs to this DIY solution. Here is the post (http://www.woodworking.org/WC/GArchive99/4_23holejig.html) describing how to use and build the shelf pin hole jig that will be cheaper, as accurate, and MUCH faster than all the other jig-based options (yes, including Festool LR32). The jig was not my idea, I simply built and used it with a lot of success. I can't imagine spending $100+ on a line boring jig when you can build something better and faster yourself using a few scraps of MDF or plywood and a few cheap pieces of hardware.

I bought a plunge bar for my router from Woodrat (Chipsfly sells them in the US). Using this + the jig I can accurately drill about 1 hole every 1-2 seconds and I can do an entire bookcase panel in 1 shot without having to reset the jig. When comparing jigs, think about how often you'll need to reset the jig to drill the holes (not an issue for kitchen cabinets but a major issue for full height bookshelves).

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions about the jig...

[frank shic]

greg, i remember that writeup on woodworking.org. excellent job!

[Brian Backner]

+1 on the MEG jig (post #6) - my wife and I built a very large library in our house and I needed to bore over 9,000 holes (yes, that is correct - this library has over 11' ceilings with 480 total feet of shelving). As the uprights were a full three inches thick, I had to add some spacer blocks to the plates carrying the hold down clamps on the underside of the jig, but it worked just fine. The jig has a 1/4" centered hole at both ends of the 5/8" holes used by the bushed router - used with a 1/4" diameter steel pin, this allows you to index the jig for long rows of holes. I found that I could bore the 115 holes along one side of an upright (10'6" tall with a 9'6" row of holes on 1" centers) in all of 4-5 minutes. If I had tearout on one hole using a downcut solid carbide spiral bit, I don't remember it. Did all those holes with one bit, BTW, even though I bought a total of four, just in case. Worth every penny.

[Cary Falk]

I got the Rockler one on sale for $19.99. From what little I have used it I am happy with it.

[Drew Sanderson]

You guys are all awesome! Thanks so much for the info. You shared about things I did not even know existed.

[Bruce Wrenn]

I made my own version of the MEG. I have one that does 1" OC holes and another that does 32 mm OC holes. Either can do 5 mm, or 1/4" holes. Jigs were made from 1/2" baltic birch ply. My jig even compensates for the rabbet on back side of cabinet, something the MEG doesn't do.

[frank shic]

i recommend you selectively bore the holes if you're going to do it manually. it looks nicer and it's less holes! i tried a jig similar to the MEG jig but pulling up the router after every hole gets annoying after a while. i'm surprised the manufacturers haven't come up with a jig like what greg designed as that would be the fastest way to bore holes with a router.