Help: Bail pull installation problems

[chris Bodnar]

Important to know up front, I don't have a drill press.

OK here's my problem. Finished my first mission style chest of drawers. Got the following bail pulls from Paxton hardware.

love the look, but I've never tried to mount one of these before. After 3 sets of holes in one of my drawer fronts I still can't get it accurate enough to be acceptable. Looks like I would need a drill press and a lot of trial and error, and an extremely accurate jig to get this working. Definitely won't be doing that for this project. Luckily I'm using false fronts so if all else fails, I can make a new drawer front for that drawer. But if I can figure out a way to mount it, it will cover the holes I've made so far. I'm thinking of boring a few holes in the bail pull and surface mounting them. Some bail pulls I've seen do mount like this, not mine though. But I would need to find screws that match the bronze pretty well, so they would blend in. Any suggestions on where to find something like that? My other alternative is to go with a surface mounted bin pull instead, and I have found a few that would match well. For example:

suggestions?

Thanks

Chris Bodnar

[Bob S.]

see previous post

[Larry Jaques]

On Sun, 04 Jan 2004 23:38:50 GMT, [e-mail] (chris Bodnar) brought forth from the murky depths:

$39.99 at Harbor Fright on sale every couple months.

_What_ is not accurate?

Are you laying out/marking the screw holes? (That is imperative!) I noticed that the screw holes are on 2 different centers in the pulls you chose. You could also make a template for marking and pre-punching the holes.

Are you using a brad-point bit centered on the + for each hole? (If you use standard metal bits they'll creep on you every time.)

HFT has $5 magnifiers which strap on the head which give old eyes a better view for little things like this. I just picked one up last week.

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[Chris]

Thanks for the reply.

I really don't want to buy the drill press to finish this up. I have seen the $39 press at HF. I'd rather wait and buy one I really like later on when I have the $$.

I have made a template, but there is almost no room for error or play when aligning. If the skew is off by even a 1/64" the face of the bail pull won't lay flat against the drawer front.

I know my limitiations at this point, and know that this is not the correct choice for me on this project.

Thanks again.

Chris

[Andy Dingley]

You don't need one - it's a different sort of accuracy.

Your problem here seems to be one of accurately marking the front face of the panel, so that the drilled holes begin in the right place. The idea of screw-in marking points is a good one, and should sort you out.

A drill press helps to give you an accurate hole, as far as direction goes. It can also reduce breakout on the back, as you get better control of pressure. It does little to improve accuracy for the starting point on a flat panel.

If you dont have any sort of drill press, the cheap ones are worth having. If you're drilling cross holes in dowel, angled holes in chairs legs etc., then they become extremely useful.

-- Smert' spamionam

[Jerry Gilreath]

Well, do like I did. If your pulls are like the 30 or so I just put on the bedroom suite I made for the wife and me, they are kind of beveled. They are

3 1/2 centers on the holes. I drilled a hole the size of the screw on 3 1/2 center, then used a counter sink to set the protrusion of the bail into. Lays flat on the drawer face like it was supposed to. I guess you could always use a little bigger bit and do the same thing????