Sloppy shelf pin holes: Help

[jehrlich6]

I am new at this so I don't know what to expect and I need some advice. I know that this is woodworking and not precision stuff where you want

0.001 inch tolerance but I am getting some really bad results.

I am trying to drill some shelf pin holes using a PC plunge router with a 1/4 inch carbide spiral bit, a 1/2 inch to 1/4 inch collet reducer, and a shelf pin gulde. I clamp the guide to the work to make sure that it doesn't move while plungeing the router, and I have cleaned the collet holder and collet. Here are some measurements I made: the router bit diameter is right on the money at -0.0005 inches. I used a dial indicator to measure the wobble of a piece of drill rod to be 0.002 inches at a point 1.75 inches from the collet base, which corresponds to the tip of the router bit when it is installed. This should give a hole about 0.004 oversize, right? The holes actually measure about 0.005 to

0.007 oversize. No big deal, after all this is wood. The shelf pins measure about 0.003 to 0.004 under size. So here is the problem; holes too big and pins too small make for around 0.010 slop in the fit of the pins. Is a loose fit like this normal or can I do something to get the pins to fit better. I know that the pins will not fall out when the shelfs are placed on them, but the very loose fit of the pins bothers me. Should I worry about this or not?

I can actually drill a better fitting hole using a hand held drill and a

1/4 inch forstner bit, but then I lose the placement accuracy of the guide. Any suggestions?

What is a normal value for router bit wobble? is 0.002 too large or is it about normal?

Thanks for any advice.

[Mike]

I'm wondering if you are supposed to be using a template guide in your router in conjunction with your shelf pin guide. Is there any play when the router is plunged into the guide?

I would look at the setup of your guide/router before trying to measure thousandths or smaller amounts of wobble in your router bit - if the bit is moving side to side enough to make a difference you have a problem with your router.

As for shelf pins, I've always used a hand drill, a brad point bit, and a piece of peg board as a template.

Mike

[Pat Barber]

What does your shelf pin guide look like ??? You don't mention using a template guide, which is almost always used for this type operation....

Does your jig look like this ???

how you do it:

I am new at this so I don't know what to expect and I need some advice.

[Rick's Cabinet Shop]

Woodworker's hardware sells brass grommets made for 1/4" shelf pins, if there's enough play in your holes to pound them in, you'd be set.

Rick

[lwasserm]

Personally I would use a drill and home made guide or a piece of peg board. I really really dislike using a router because of the noise and can't imagine using one for dozens or hundreds of holes. For that matter, I've come to the opinion that adjustable shelves are highly overrated and haven't used them very much for a few years (Mostly when requested^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H specified by SWMBO) Seems like the adjustable shelf feature gets a one-time use over the life of the piece.

Honestly, I have never taken a DI to a router to measure runout. So far IME if I can't see it or feel it it's been acceptable. A

[Jerry Dickens]

Hi there another suggestion,

1- take one piece of 1/2" plywood 12" wide, about 36" long shorter if you need it. 2- mark the center down the length of the board 3-mark on the center line about every 1" or so a line 4- drill holes with a speed bit the size of one of your bushings that you know you will have for along time 5-rip the board in half that you just drilled, rip down the middle of the holes you just drilled 6-creating 2 halves identical 7-clamp to board you want holes in for shelf pins on each side 8-place router with bushing on top of new template and use plunge mechanism and slide down board, plunge , raise, slide down to next hole, plunge and go at it. 9-fastest way I have found to make holes, simplest and most accurate.Not often you get all that in one.

[dadiOH]

No

[Bill]

Amen, brother! In my house, it usually goes like this:

Me: "Dear, I'm building a new cabinet for the basement."

SWMBO: "Will it have adjustable shelves?"

Me: (after being through a different version of this conversation) "Yes, dear. Of course, dear."

SWMBO: "Great!"

I build the cabinet with adjustable shelves, placing the shelves exactly where I would have placed non-adjustable shelves.

The shelves are never "adjusted" again.