JIGIT SHELF HOLE JIG ??

[Joseph E. Shea, Jr.]

I need to put in some holes for shelf pins. This has been a source of frustration over the years. I have manually laid them out with what I would rate a ³C-² success for accuracy of being on the same plane. I have just bought and used a ³JIGIT² drill jig from Rockler ­ really not a GREAT improvement. What is the experience that you folks have drilling these holes??? Any tricks, techniques or products would be appreciated. Also, I find the pin / sleeve hardware available varies too much to get a consistent fit regarding sloppiness of fit.

Thank You in advance for your help / suggestions.

[George]

JIGIT SHELF HOLE JIG ??Router, collar, spiral bit, just like Norm. Make your own plywood jigs at your drillpress by boring a hole with a Forstner the size of your collar, put a dowl in it, move substrate "X" distance right or left, and clamp a fence to it. Put your jig ply down, bore a hole, move it to the dowel for interval, repeat.

Thank You in advance for your help / suggestions.

[Charlie Self]

Joe Shea asks:

Havew you tried the Veritas jig from Lee Valley?

It is a long ways from cheap ($198), but should solve your problems for an awfully long time. Charlie Self "There are two ways of exerting one's strength: one is pushing down, the other is pulling up." Booker T. Washington

[Leon]

Thank You in advance for your help / suggestions.

[Pat Barber]

[Bill]

Thank You in advance for your help / suggestions.

[WoodChuck34]

Joe have to agree with George. "Router Magic" by Pat Spielman has a great jig that you can make with workshop scrap. Perfect results, everytime.

Chuck

[Pat Barber]

Router Magic is by Bill Hylton and the jig in that book is easy in the pictures and little different in reality.

This "simple" jig requires that you drill a series of holes that "exactly" the same distance apart. This is not a "trival" task and is "almost" impossible using a drill press and a few marks on a piece of plywood.

If the holes aren't "exactly" the same distance apart, when you "flip sides", the series of holes will NOT match exactly which results in a "rocking shelf".

In my opinion, if you don't buy a CNC produced version, you are working at a disadvantage.

WoodChuck34 wrote:

[Wayne Whitney]

Maybe I'm missing something, but if you always align one end of your jig with the bottom end of the side, it seems like all the corresponding holes would be vertically aligned, and it would not matter if the inter-hole spacing varied.

Cheers, Wayne

[Pat Barber]

Typically you align from the center point of the side not the bottom... Starting from the bottom will only work if you had a mirror image of the jig for the opposing side.

My "exact distance apart" still stands.

Wayne Whitney wrote:

[Wayne Whitney]

Hmm, the sort of simple jig I'm thinking of is just a length of (ply)wood with holes drilled in it, so you could use either face up. For the opposing side, just use the other face.

Anyway, I'm about to try doing this, so I hope it works!

Cheers, Wayne

[George]

Read my post above, and bore with confidence!

[Prometheus]

Not if the jig was just a board with a lip on the end- then you could just slide it over.

You could also make a big jig for the drill press with a fence and blocks on either end that you could move one at a time, sort of like the Woodsmith fluting jig.

[FEngelman]

I use a strip of quarter inch peg board. It has equally spaced holes, and is readily available at most home centers.

[Woodcrafter]

Not as fast as using the router, but it works fine and is accurate. Here's my review of the Lee Valley Shelf Drilling Jig:

Bielanowski Editor, Online Tool Reviews 60 woodworking product reviews online!

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[Leon]

You should try out the Rockler jig, the one that OP is having trouble using.

have been using this jig for about 8 years with great success. It is quick and gives great results. However you must use the special bit that is sold separately for great results. I think you will find it many times faster than using the router jig and less tiring. After drilling the first hole you use a shelf pin to index the jig for long runs. About $45.00.

[mac davis]

I lined up my bench dog holes with a larger version of the classic shelf peg jig...

If you can do the 1st 2 holes well, the "pegs in a stick" works very well... just have 2 dowels in the end of the board that fit inline holes, and a hole in the board where the next hole goes..

[WoodChuck34]

Pat,

You are right. Thanks for reminding me. I don't know why I always confuse those two.

On this point you are wrong, becuase Hylton suggest making a simple baseplate for your router with a dowel inserted into the bottom that is offset by the distance between the holes for the shelf pin. Simply drill the first hole and plunge bore the remaining holes the exact distance from each other.

Chuck

[Pat Barber]