I have been doing all sorts regarding kitchen and other cupboards recently. Mostly it has gone well.
But one thing that I keep finding awkward is making holes for shelf supports. I usually use the metal 5mm ones (either the ones that came with some cupboards or ones I have bought). But getting the holes precisely lined up (back to front and left to right), particularly with the cupboard already fitted, is not easy.
I have used various means of marking up, drilling and so on - for the latest one I actually used a strip of Spur support as a guide for drilling. (Quite successful.)
Does anyone have any suggestions for better ways of doing this? Are any templates available?
Can't say it's ever caused me any problems... sorry, not trying to be smug! Having decided on the shelf height I draw a line on the left side panel front to back using a spirit level, and mark the position of the two supports along the line using a bradawl; then drill the bradawl marks and fit the supports.
Then position the shelf, supported by the supports on the left, and adjust the height of the right side until it's level. Then draw a line under the shelf on *both* sides, marking its position. Remove shelf. On the left side there are now two parallel pencil lines, which denotes the vertical offset of the support from the bottom of the shelf - draw a similarly offset parallel line on the right panel, which is the line upon which the right-hand supports are centred. Bradawl, drill and fit supports as before.
Thanks - and no problem you being smug! And you technique is similar to what I have tried for single shelves.
I think I didn't go far enough in explaining. The aim is to have rows of holes at precise distances so that moving shelves is trivial.
When doing the latest cupboard, I used Spur strip and my pillar drill to do a dozen or more holes near each corner-to-be. When assembled it worked fine. But I was hoping to find an easier/better technique.
Another situation today was where I had a cupboard already fitted but only a few suitable holes. But (of course) we wanted to fit a shelf exactly between existing holes. So I need to drill extra holes. And getting them precisely positioned relative to existing holes is important (otherwise they look a mess). And if I commit to doing one set of holes, I really have to do new holes all the way between each existing set of holes. So a really easy, foolproof way of positioning would be very much appreicated.
The standard way of doing this on a side panel is to use an index jig. The fence on the drill press takes care of the distance from the edge of the panel.
You have a stop clamped to the fence just above the workpiiece. The first hole is drilled accurately then a dowel inserted and the workpiece moved till the dowel touches the stop. Next hole drilled, dowel moved into that, repeat - all the holes will have exactly the same spacing.
Won't work with a cupboard already fitted of course.
With a fitted cupboard, cut a strip of scrap timber to suitable width & use this to mark lines vertically from the front & back edges.
Use a level to establish a horizontal line for the top two holes, then a pair of pointed dividers to mark the spaces between the holes. Drill with a brad point bit.
Single shelf. Timber strip to mark vertical lines as above, timber block/square to mark horizontal lines. Or two equal block/squares to rest shelf on & fix with joint blocks.
I've now done several cupboards using the same techqiue - fairly simple and works for me.
Cut a strip of waste 12mm MDF 50 to 75mm wide, and 600 to 1000mm long - depends on cupboard size. Draw a line down the centre, and cross mark at intervals suitable for your shelf studs - say 50mm, but to your taste. Drill holes to suit your shelf stud diameters across cross marks as accurately as your gear will allow - a pillar drill will obviously be preferred if you have one. Mark one end of the strip as reference. This is the boring part of the job.
Now clamp your new template onto the edge of the cupboard side, setting it in from the edge to suit, and lining up the strip reference end to the top of the cupboard side. Drill though the template using preferably a dedicated wood bit such as
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rather than twist drills, for cleaner holes. Wrap tape around the drill bit as a depth gauge.
Repeat for the other edge of the cupboard side. Make as many cupboard sides as you need the same way.
This technique means that any minor errors in your template are repeated for each set of four shelf holes, so although the shelf spacing might be marginally wrong, each shelf is level and non-wobbly. The MDF template would not last for a long production run, but I've now used mine for half a dozen cupboards, and it has not yet worn to the point that the holes are too sloppy to be satisfactory.
I've seen this method used by pros, with variations, for odd spacings. They use a strip of MDF made, marked and clamped as you describe, but don't drill through it. Rather they use a round awl to mark the drill points, because it wears out the jig much less. There are also awls with square points but these wear out the strip faster than drilling.
An offcut clamped to the table of the pillar drill keeps the distance between edge and hole constant, so it's just a question of lining up the drill point in one dimension.
For standard rows of holes, the use a Festo router with a special guide that fixes the router every bit, every 32 mm, I think.
Yes, it's known as a jig, and they often take longer to make than the job they're designed for. Sod's law states that, if you make a jig, you'll never have to do that job again.
What an excellent bit of kit that Festool guide thing is! Just need to find the bank willing to give a mortgage...
One of the things that set me off on this was that we fitted some new kitchen wall cupboards. And they only had 3 or 4 holes at 64mm spacing. Clearly silly as the height of the cupboards could easily take 2, 3 or even 4 shelves and a finer gradation would also be appreciated. So I made a small "jig" (don't want to over-dignify my lash up) - angle aluminium, a few holes (based on existing holes). Then by pushing the shelf supports through the jig, into the existing holes, I could drill another hole. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat......
(I think that "jig wears to the point of unusability just before getting some more holes to drill" is another law of jigs/sod.)
This worked but a) aluminium wears quickly; b) any error gets added to previous errors at each new position; c) very tedious if you want a lot of holes. It is b) that concerns me about indexing (thanks TMH).
Thanks for your ideas. Seems about time there was a simple but effective commercial template. While waiting for that I shall try some of these ideas.
Just remembered how that's solved: a large hole in the aluminum, and sleeve of hardened metal with a hole corresponding to the drill diameter is slipped in and guides the drill.
The sleeves are standard parts:
and pictures and tables in
I'm also pretty sure they'll make the Festo kit look cheap by comparison.
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