Shelf pins with router...why did I wait so long to do this!

[Peter Quinn]

Last year I did a small job in the home shop and fought with my shelf pin set up, which involves a shop made template and one of those self centering bits. They work ok, on most veneers, when very sharp. I decided that whole scenario needed improvement. I want faster, cleaner shelf pin holes. I don't do that many at the home shop, at work we use the self centering bits for situations where shelf heights are critical, like alignment to glass bars, or for architects who live in states with legalized cannibus who do their drawings late at night, and need floating shelves to align to other fixed points in the room....:rolleyes:...ok I'm guessing on that last part. CNC machine does most of them now, thanks for that, because some of the things we make there have multiple hundreds of holes.

So I want to use 5MM pins, because I've never though that lines of holes in cabinets look particular attractive, the smaller the holes the better for my eye. And I bought a big bag of them on sale, so I'm committed. Took a little doing to track down a 5MM bit here in the states that fits a 1/2" collet. Like they don't make them that I could find. But they do make 5MM X 8MM, and they make 8MM X 1/2" collet adapters...so thats where I ended up.

I'm making a little 10' pantry for my semi finished basement, bunch of shelf holes going in, decided to put it all together, made a template. I used a 5/8" OD bushing guide, drilled 5/8" holes in 1/4" mdf, all in about 12 minutes to make a jig that will handle uppers and lowers. WOW. probably takes me half the time to punch the holes, every hole goes in dead square and no tear out to speak of. I'm using a freud bit thats made for high speed line boring, so its like a brad point combined with a spiral router bit. Not too expensive IIR. I'll save the self centering bit, make still need to add holes post construction at some point, but I really wish I had switched sooner.

[mreza Salav]

Yep, that's what I did. Made a template (out of 3/8" MDF) for uppers, one for lowers with 3/8" holes to accept bushings on my router.
Then got one of these bits: http://www.richelieu.com/ca/en/category/shop-supplies/tools/tool-accessories/drill-accessories/wood-drill-bits/brad-point-boring-bits/1010814/sku-AT204005?fr=fav
Together with a Amana 1/2" to 10mm reducer to use it. Use a Kreg quick-action clamp to fix the template and then make all the shelf/hinge/slide holes.Very clean holes and all where exactly I want them.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Yep ---1/2" MDF for mine w/5/8" holes drilled every 2 inches.
Looks like a thick drywall T square.
Clamps on the work in seconds and I just plunge the holes w/a 1/4" spiral upcut bit.

[Peter Quinn]

Yep, that's what I did. Made a template (out of 3/8" MDF) for uppers, one for lowers with 3/8" holes to accept bushings on my router.
Then got one of these bits: http://www.richelieu.com/ca/en/category/shop-supplies/tools/tool-accessories/drill-accessories/wood-drill-bits/brad-point-boring-bits/1010814/sku-AT204005?fr=fav
Together with a Amana 1/2" to 10mm reducer to use it. Use a Kreg quick-action clamp to fix the template and then make all the shelf/hinge/slide holes.Very clean holes and all where exactly I want them.

Thats pretty much the same bit I'm using, mine is the freud version. Pretty sure thats what they spin on the CNC at work, the amana version. It was so easy, not sure why I ever did it any other way.

[Bruce Wrenn]

American Eagle and MLCS both sell 5MM up cut, spiral, carbide bits, with 1/4" shank.

[Peter Quinn]

American Eagle and MLCS both sell 5MM up cut, spiral, carbide bits, with 1/4" shank.
Thanks for that tip Bruce, didn't see those when I searched, going to get one shortly. I actually need down shear for shelf pin holes in plywood, they have those too. I wanted to use the Bosch colt with plunge base because its lighter and more nimble than my next biggest router at 2 1/2 hp, this solves that problem!

[Paul Lawrence]

... a picture is worth these 1000 words ... :)

I'm knowing I'll need this one day, because my darling bride wants everything adjustable.

[Larry Frank]

I did a lot of cabinets in my shop with a similar jig. I built the WWA Shelf Pin Jig to make the euro style cabinets in my shop....about 20 feet of upper and lowers. All the euro hinges and drawer hardware fitted perfectly.

It was quick and accurate.

[Jim Becker]

Shelf pins with a plunge router and a template is a wonderful way to do this process. I built a wood version of the NYW design that Norm Abram featured years ago to show a way to do this without buying the very expensive metal jig he favored in his shop and show. I've used it often over the years.

[Peter Quinn]

I looked up Nam's jig, thanks for that reference Jim, seems it's based on the MEG system. (http://megproducts.com/pro-bore32.html) Those look pretty cool, but not $270 cool. Even their basic model is $45 made in BB. I see no need for a CNC made jig, I made the same thing from 1/4" MDF on my drill press, and while I layed out the holes pretty accurately and drilled them carefully, I was moving about 100MPH, my jig is made to reference from the bottom of the case parts in every case, so the absolute difference hole to hole is not critical, and doesn't require hyper precision to be highly effective IMO. I do like the quick clamping aspect of that jig, I think I'm going to move that direction on my next iteration of this jig, maybe save a drop of BB from the drawers I'll be making on the current project to improve the jig for the next one. I guess that requires more careful layout to work as you have to rotate the jig and work off of opposite ends for front and rear holes? It doesn't take much variation to result in rocking shelves.

[Jim Becker]

Yes, the MEG is expensive, which is why Norm did a wood version as part of the "Jigs" episode. The wood version is a spot-on replacement for most of the MEG's functionality and also has you use a bushing on the router for precise placement. I'm glad I built it...very versatile and accurate.

[larry senen]

I use a drill bit similar to a vix bit and make jigs on a drill press out of 1/8 material. 2 holes 32 mm apart with a dowel in one of them, clamped to the drills table

[Glenn de Souza]

There's a good book available called Router Magic by Bill Hylton. In it he presents a shelf pin jig for doing exactly what you're describing. It's a nice little jig using toggle clamps to secure it to the workpiece, and using the positioning pin, you can line bore an unlimited number of holes precisely using a 1/2" bushing. The inset of the holes from the edge of the cabinet side is adjustable within a range. I built one for 1/4" holes and one for 5mm holes using a 5mm carbide upcut spiral bit. I didn't think ahead enough to space the 5mm holes 32mm on center, but if I ever make another one, that's what I will do, and at that point it would be very easy to build cabinets completely within the euro system. A jig like this needs to be very accurate to prevent accumulated error and keep all four holes (front, back, both sides) in the same plane.

There are many clever jigs and router accessories in that book. Hope this helps.

http://www.amazon.com/Router-Magic-Fixtures-Unleash-Potential/dp/0762101857

[Chris Padilla]

I went with Festool 3 & 5 mm (8 mm shank) straight bits to do the very same thing, Peter. I used a collet from Whiteside to fit to the 1/2" router. However, I wasn't doing it for shelf pins but for wire shelf supports (http://www.leevalley.com/US/hardware/page.aspx?p=52465&cat=3,43648,43649,52465) that were just a hair under 3 and 5 mm thick each to get a floating shelf look. Granted, these shelves were small and light for a medicine cabinet (3 mm) and slightly larger, deeper shelves (5 mm).

I messed up the alignment a bit and while I was able to slide (pound, force, shove) the shelves onto the wires, they aren't going to be coming back off without damage to probably both the cabinet and shelf. So much for the easy adjustability that my wife could have done. Sigh. :) Still, they turned out nice and thankfully their positions appear fine 1 year into it. :D

[Dave Lehnert]

Found a video looking for for the NYW jig talked about above. Kinda clever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV1V6GqnoVs

[Mike Henderson]

I use a drill bit similar to a vix bit and make jigs on a drill press out of 1/8 material. 2 holes 32 mm apart with a dowel in one of them, clamped to the drills table
What is that vix-like drill bit you use, Larry? Your approach sounds very simple.

Mike

[Kim Gardner]

Found a video looking for for the NYW jig talked about above. Kinda clever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV1V6GqnoVs


The guy in this video: FastEasySmartTOOL has several really unique and imaginative ideas. His videos are clear and concise with not a lot of wasted time. And he looks like a little kid, but must be extremely smart. Well, at least smarter than me!

[Jim Becker]

Here's my original thread about building the NYW version of the MEG jig:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?48836-Project-NYW-Shelf-Pin-Drilling-Jig&highlight=Shelf

[Ken Kortge]

Is there a reason that the folks posting on this thread are not using the Kreg Shelf Pin Jig ($30 at Amazon)?

[Ole Anderson]

Timely thread. I am in the process of making two tall bookshelves for my basement rec room and they will have adjustable shelves with pins. My early versions, over ten years ago used a shop-made 3/8" x 2" x 36" aluminum bar with 1/4" holes spaced at 2". Worked good but when I did my kitchen with euro style cabs, I wanted to go with a 32 mm system. So I bought a phenolic 25 hole template and guide bushing from Woodhaven.com . I like the larger 1/4" shelf pins so I went that direction. I used a solid straight carbide 1/4" bit (couldn't find my spiral bit this round). I hooked my shop vac to an auto-start switch which kept the sawdust under control. Almost zero chip out, easily cleaned up when I final sand. Relocatable pins index to the edge and end of the stock and a supplied pin indexes to previous holes for runs longer than 25 holes.

[Joe O'Connor]

Ken, I currently use the kreg jig and it works fine however I've found that you can't use the base of the jig as reference and need to use a pin in the first hole registered on the bottom edge of the workpiece. This makes the jig worthless on an assembled cabinet. It also puts the first row of holes closer to the end of the workpiece than I would prefer.

[Ken Kortge]

Ken, I currently use the kreg jig and it works fine however I've found that you can't use the base of the jig as reference and need to use a pin in the first hole registered on the bottom edge of the workpiece. This makes the jig worthless on an assembled cabinet. It also puts the first row of holes closer to the end of the workpiece than I would prefer.

Sorry Joe, I'm a bit confused - I bought a Kreg Shelf Pin Jig over the holiday but haven't used it yet. This thread made me wonder if I'd screwed up.

The first holes are closer to top & bottom than the distance between the holes. The Kreg video for the Shelf Pin Jig shows a person using a rather long (12"?) spacer to determine the starting location. I didn't understand why they used it, but now I'm wondering if its for the reason you mention. Couldn't I just cut a 1x6 or 1x8 spacer with a length that defines the desired starting distance? I could even cut a new one for each different project. It seems MUCH easier than creating the fancy jig shown on the video reference in this thread.

[Dick Mahany]

I used a drill and the original Rockler (not pro) plastic hole drilling template with self centering spring loaded drills that worked similar to Vix bits, but have a guide that pilots in the Rockler jig. It worked surprisingly well and I made several cabinets that way. Then I saw the MDF template / router guide bushing idea and tried it. I get cleaner holes and find it faster to do with the router, so it is now my preferred way to make shelf pin holes. Plus, it gave me an excuse for my wife why I needed a plunge router :)

[mreza Salav]

Found a video looking for for the NYW jig talked about above. Kinda clever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV1V6GqnoVs

It is indeed fast but given the setup time involved and measurements etc I am not sure it is much faster than making a full size template.
A full size template can have other holes (like hinge holes) and gets clamped to the gable and then you put the router bushing in the already made holes in the template one by one and go pretty much like above. No measurement. Setup is only aligning the two piece flush and clamp.