I need to make this railing

[Rich Engelhardt]

The rail is Waddle Galley Rail

I bought the spindles so now I just need to make the rails and put it together.

I need some help making a jig to space the holes on the rails.

I'm sort of stuck on making a jig I can use on the drill press to get the holes evenly placed.

I have a benchtop drill press & will build a table for it so I can mount some sort of jig to index the holes.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

I would do as you say with a table and fence and stack the two rails, taped together, with the bottom rail on top, then set the depth to drill all of the way through the bottom rail (on top or first to be drilled) then into the top rail, with out going through. Mark the fence with your space, or mark the whole rail with a tape measure. I have also drilled an oversize piece of stock then ripped it in two.

[Kevin Jenness]

You can use a compass or trammel points to mark out the holes equally spaced.

[Tom M King]

Step the length off with dividers to make sure all the open spaces are the same. I do that will every section of any kind of railing with vertical balusters. Having a small space on one, or both ends yells ______. With a brad point bit in a drill press and good eyesight, the indentations left on purpose by the dividers, once you step it off exactly, can be all you need to go by.

You have to allow for the thickness of the balusters when you start stepping it off with dividers. You can't just step it off in equal steps from one end to the other, or you will have those awful small spaces left.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Dividers are a great idea. I have always done it with math and a tape. Either way when one action creates the hole in both parts simultaneously, the results are better (for me).

[George Bokros]

I have a couple ready made pieces sitting in my basement. I will never use them. You are welcome to then, I will even deliver.

7 5ft pieces and 1 4ft piece

George

[ChrisA Edwards]

I think I would make a 3 sided jig that sits on the rail. A section of the jig would have reference fences/stops for a plunge router. A bit further down the jig would be a stop hole, where a spindle could be placed through the jig into a previously routed hole. This provides you indexed spacing between spindles.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Actually the only way to get this done is to spend $35,000 on a CNC machine.

[George Bokros]

Actually the only way to get this done is to spend $35,000 on a CNC machine.

Or get it done at a lower cost, free, take the ones I have sitting in my basement!

[John Kananis]

Make a sacrificial table for your drill press, drill the size pinhole (mortise) you need directly into the table. Now move the table over the amount of space you'd like between the spindles, clamp down the table and insert a pin (the size of the tenon) into the hole you just created. Once you drill the first hole into your rail, just move it over so the first hole is over the pin you inserted into the table. Rinse and repeat for whatever length you need. Goes quickly.

[Edward Weber]

I make a stop block with a hole for the proper sized dowel or turning to be used. I clamp it X distance from the bit with enough height to clear the work piece.
Drill hole, move to stop block insert dowel, drill hole, move to stop block, insert dowel...
Simple, accurate

[roger wiegand]

Seems like a good reason to buy a milling machine with a DRO.

[Jack Frederick]

I bought the Parf Guide II a few months back and used it yesterday to lay out the holes for the shelf pins for the legs of a book shelf I am working on. I got the spacing and the 3mm pilot holes and then went to the DP to finish out to size. I was happy to find another use for the PG besides the MFT tops. It worked well.

[Gary Thinglum]

Rich, about 30 years ago when I was into cabinet work I made a jig for drilling the holes for spindle racks for my drill press. It worked great. I made some as long as 12'. All I used was a piece of 5/4" pine, cut a dado in the piece the width of the top and bottom rails, and slightly deeper than the thickness of the rail. I put a piece of 1/8" plexi-glass over the top and drilled a hole in the plexi-glass for the forstner bit. To mark the width of the spindles and make sure they were spaced correctly, I clamped the top, and bottom, rails together, and used a piece of wood to mark out the 3" spacing between each spindle. Not high tech but, it worked. Then, I used a combination square to transfer the marks to both pieces. Next, I clamped it on my drill press table and centered it on the forstner bit. If you can see in the picture, I marked the spacing in a second spot on the jig so, after drilling the first hole, I just slid the rail down till the mark and matched up in the next hole then, drilled it. If you can't see in the picture I can get more picture's if you wish.

478878478879478880478882

[Rich Engelhardt]

Gary - thanks!

I'm going to take George up on his offer (& I hope he at the very least will let me pay for breakfast on Tuesday in return for his railings) to do this project.

I still have 250 spindles that are going to need mounted .