I am hoping someone may be able to give some insight, I wish to make some fitted book selves. I intend to use pegs to support / adjust the shelves, and I am concerned about how to drill the holes accurately. I am currently considering two options, buying a jig like this
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and using this or sending them to a local CNC routing company and having them do it. As way of background I would say I am ok when it comes to woodwork but I am certainly no cabinet maker. I am likely to build shelves again but not on a regular basis. Any advice or alternative options would be appreciated.
I am hoping someone may be able to give some insight, I wish to make some fitted book selves. I intend to use pegs to support / adjust the shelves, and I am concerned about how to drill the holes accurately. I am currently considering two options, buying a jig like this
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and using this or sending them to a local CNC routing company and having them do it. As way of background I would say I am ok when it comes to woodwork but I am certainly no cabinet maker. I am likely to build shelves again but not on a regular basis. Any advice or alternative options would be appreciated.
Let me offer yet another alternative - buy a half-dozen of these
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have the CNC outfit drill the holes in your jig to ensure precise spacing and straight holes.
I have _both_ setups, and much prefer the CNC for precision - but you can have the precision and the re-usability _and_ save moneyif you have the CNC folks drill six holes for you.
Use a piece of 1/4" drill rod or the shank end of a 1/4" drill in one of the holes for registration.
hole you've just drilled to maintain accuracy. I bought a set of these LV guides and they work great. Anything else other than some semi-pro home set up is a waste of money.
Consider getting the metal strips and routing them in. No skill is needed, other than the proper flat-bottomed router bit and a straight edge to guide the router. The cut, as I recall, is about
3/16" deep by 5/8" wide per strip to get them flush, and then shelf support clips snap in and can be adjusted as desired.
If you are planning on doing this infrequently, I have several suggestions:
A. do as J Clarke suggested by making a 4 hole jig
B. If you have not selected your wood yet, check your building centre for particle board / melamine panels that are pre-drilled. In my area the home centres sell 16" wide, by 8' lengths that are pre-drilled for making book cases.
C. If you still want to drill your holes in a custom manner, then I suggest using a protractor or compass to mark repeatable distance marks on the 4 lines for the shelf holes. Determine how far from the front & back you want the row of holes; lightly mark the 2 parallel lines on each side; determine how far down from the top the holes should start - mark this onto all 4 lines; with the protractor / compass scribe the lines - using the intersection as where to reset your protractor - repeat until all rows are done; using a punch mark the holes better; drill each hole as appropriate for your shelf pins.
D. As in C, but do this to a strip of plywood or aluminum or steel to make a jig, then clamp it to your material and drill appropriately
E. read up on system 32 / European kitchen construction - they all show how to drill those holes
F. look up books published by Danny Proulx -
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He wrote several books on how to make cabinets and shows several methods for marking the holes and making jigs.
The Veritas Jig is really cool, but overkill if you are making only one shelf system. And sending out to have the holes drilled will likely cost enough to take the fun out of your own precision measure, mark and drill process
On Sun, 4 Apr 2010 21:09:36 +0100, the infamous "Stuart Pearson" scrawled the following:
You can save your $130 if you build one. Here's a freebie:
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pegboard?
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buy a cheaper model:
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$25
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$13
-- In order that people may be happy in their work, these three things are needed: They must be fit for it. They must not do too much of it. And they must have a sense of success in it. -- John Ruskin, Pre-Raphaelitism, 1850
I will assume you can mark the location of the holes accurately, and your concern is (as you did note): how to drill the holes accurately.
Use a brad point drill bit, of the right size for your shelf pins or sleeves. This type of drill bit has a sharp point to easily start your hole where you want it to go.
Use a Drill Stop to limit the depth that you go so you do not blow through the side. Also, be careful to hold the drill steady and at a right angle to the board being drilled.
Check this out:
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is a drill stop and right angle helper.
Practice a few on a scrap bit of wood to make sure you have it right & are comfortable doing it.
I use one very similar to that and it works perfectly. By the time you set up some of the fancy, expensive ones, you could be done drilling with a simple one.
Spend the money on a good bit & stop system that don't stick or clog.
ran across your suggestion and decided to click on the link and check it out. I had been struggling with the accuracy of my drilling for a while and I am excited to try these out. I bought one of each, and with shipping it was $22.00. Thanks so much for mentioning them as I wouldn't have known about them otherwise.
It's always handy to know more "ways to skin a cat"...
AFAICT, they're the same bushings used in some of the doweling jigs and if you want a gee-whiz custom drilling jig, you can screw the bushings into an aluminum base with 1/2"-20 threads
With that kind of setup, you can share the bushings between multiple jigs and not need to buy threaded inserts at all.
I'm such a cheapskate that I went out and bought the 1/2-20 tap. :)
That's the same one I got from Woodcraft. Those bits are great, but mine had trouble with clogging and the clog would make it stick in the depressed position.
It got frustrating having to whack the thing every two or three holes to clear the clog. Maybe it was the plywood, maybe it was just a case getting what you paid for, maybe they've improved the bits. Just FYI, for anyone looking into it. Maybe buy it local, in you can, so you can return it.
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