Problems Drilling Holes - Installing New Cabinet Pulls

[Brian]

Hi all,

I am in the final stages of refacing my cabinets. Now I am attempting to install new cabinet pulls/handles. Problem is no matter how much I seem to measure I can't seem to get the holes to line up properly. Some of this has to do with how straight (or NOT straight) the holes I drill end up being since I am using a handheld drill. I do not have access to a drill press. I know that building a jig would be a great help also (haven't really gotten that far yet).

My main concern is the fact that it is very hard to drill a perfectly straight hole with a handheld drill. Since I don't have access to a drill press which would probably help this problem, does anyone have any advice as to what is the best way to get the best results with a handheld drill? Are there attachments or special bits I can buy?

Keep in mind that I am a complete novice at this woodworking business! I'm fairly handy but this project seems to call for a level accuracy that I had not previously had to deal with...

Thanks!

Brian

Anything you can suggest would be great!

[Leon]

Let me let you in on my secret. Drill the holes a bit over sized so that there you can wiggle the screw. Over sized holes do not need to be perfectly spaced for the two screw pulls and do not have to be at a perfect

90 degree angle form the surface. This has worked for me on the past 3 or 4 hundred pulls that I have installed.

[Morris Dovey]

Brian...

It's time to get that far now. A piece of plywood with two strips of wood to position it repeatably at a corner of the panels to be drilled is sufficient.

Lay out the holes on piece of paper and fit that paper into the right angle formed by the two wood strips and transfer the hole locations through the paper to the plywood rectangle.

Carefully drill the plywood from the side with the wood strips. Test your new jig on a piece of scrap. If the result is what you want, then use this jig to drill for the pulls from the face side of the drawers/doors.

If it's not what you wanted, try again until you /are/ satisfied.

Note that with this job, hole placement is more important than hole straightness. If the holes are properly placed on the face of the cabinet, the handles will line up properly.

[patrick conroy]

Tiplett #1: Lowes/Ace/Home Despot has little plastic jigs hanging in these aisle. They'll allow you to put some marks in the right spot for the handles.

Tiplett #2: Use a nail to dimple the mark where you want to drill. This will keep the bit from wandering.

Tiplett #3: Zip over to Wal-Mart and buy some inexpensive, yet new ("sharp") bits. Black n' Decker bits are considered disposalable, IMHO.

Tiplett #3: Find an inexpensive Try Square or square - stand it upright so you can "sight" align the drill bit perpendicular to the stock. You'll find (for longer bits) that using the square as a visual cue allows you to drill holes that a "pretty straight".

Tiplett #4: Find a small block (cube) of wood - at least an inch in width/depth/length. Carefully, with practice drill a straight hole (the same diameter as the screws for the handle) through that block of wood. You've now made a guide for your drill bit. The guide should do a reasonable job of keeping the bit straight, and will a little ingenuity, you can use it as a depth stop too.

[Alan Bierbaum]

I missed the original post. The jig below works very well. Drill the holes 3/16" with a brad point bit (to keep it from wandering) or center punch the holes. Several hundred kitchens done this way.

[patrick conroy]

Whoops - forgot the obligatory:

"Tiplett (R)" is a registered trademark of UA100 Inc. Any unathorized use, reproduction, or bastardization of "Tiplett (R)" is forbidden without the expressed, written consent of UA100, Inc.

[Leon]

When I first started I did that. I forgot to mention that I do use a jig along with the over sized drill bit.

[Gerald Ross]

Tip: To mark the holes I have a couple of screws to fit the pull that have the head cut off and the outer tip turned to a point. I screw these in the pull and use the pull itself to mark the two holes at once. I made the points by chucking the screws in a drill and used a file.

[Jay]

Drill guide, think "Plunge router base for a drill":

a precision instrument by any means, but once you get it locked in at 90 degrees, it does the trick.

Or, use a plunge router and a spiral bit. More set up time, but it would go in at 90.