Basic woodworking question

[Steve B]

We just installed new cabinets. I need to put on knobs and drawer pulls. I need to make a template that will have a right angle corner to fit onto the face of each drawer to drill the holes for the hardware.

The knobs are easy, one inch in and one inch up from the corner. One hole.

The drawers are odd size, and have to be centered with two holes 3" OC.

I have some 1 x 10 select pine, very straight pieces.

I intend to cut a piece 16" long, the length of the longest width, then brad on a right angle fence as an edge guide, and drill the pilot holes according to each of the three drawer face configurations. I have a drill press, therefore should be able to make some accurate pilot holes.

Is putting on the fence guides first the best approach, then as accurately as possible marking the hole centers, then drilling on the press the best way?

These all need (preferably) to match on the horizontal and vertical. The vertical may be plus or minus 1/16, as they are 5 7/8' to 5 3/4" differences between faces. The 16" widths, and 10" heights are very close for six of the drawers.

An accurate idea of how to make a template would be appreciated.

I really think I can do this, as I am good at math, but wanted some input before drilling holes that will definitely be hard to correct.

Get it square, measure twice, and go slow. Am I right?

Steve

[dadiOH]

A. Once the drawers are in the case a slight variation won't be noticed.

B. One can also make one or both holes a bit over size to allow some wiggle room when putting on the pulls. When tightened, the pulls will stay where they should be. After attaching loosely, you could put a straight edge along all knobs for the final tightening.

[Larry Jaques]

Measure your drawerfronts and mark for center, both vert and horz. Then use one of these:

use mineral spirits to erase the pencil marks, and drill.

You would be very hard-pressed to make a better jig yourself.

No, no, no. It's MEASURE ONCE, CURSE TWICE.

-- "A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government." --Edward Abbey

[Rich]

Never mark wood or walls with a pencil. Just place blue tape,mark the tape and remove it when done.

[-MIKE-]

Perhaps, but I'd be done with the project by the time the thing was delivered. :-)

But he probably already has one.... called a combination square. If he doesn't, he can go down to the corner and buy one for about half the price of that jig. Then he has a multi-tasking tool and he's not stuck with some specialized jig that sits in a drawer for the next 20 yrs. :-)

With a combination square you only have to mark the vertical center of the drawer front. He said the fronts were 16" wide, so you slide the rule out 9-1/2", which is the center of the drawer plus have the width of the pull. You mark/drill at 0 and 3".

While you're at it, buy another, small combination square (both for less than that jig) and set it at 5". Use it from the top to set the long square to vertical center. You might even get lucky and be able to use the short side of the combo square to line up with the top or bottom of the drawer front for center.

In any case, to the original poster... by the time you make your homemade jig and remove your fronts, you could have the pulls installed, by leaving the fronts attached to the drawers and using a combination square to mark the locations.

Like dadiOH suggested, drill the holes a bit oversize and you don't have to worry about drilling perfectly straight. Those pull screws are 8-32 IIRC, so a 3/16" bit should give you plenty of play.

[RP]

Jig is best, whether you buy it or make it. Period. I do it for a living. Measuring every drawer introduces errors. "Nuff said. I make a plywood jig with a split in the top for center so I can see the mark. Mark your drawer center on top of the drawer lightly with pencil. Use tape if you want to. Blast holes 3" or 4" on center. Whatever.

RP

RP

[Luigi Zanasi]

In my experience, it's perfectly OK to lightly mark wood with a pencil, as long as you don't press hard to make a dent/scratch. Also, rubbing/wood/denatured/isopropyl/moonshine alcohol or shellac thinner works even better than mineral spirits in removing pencil marks.

Luigi

[RP]

I second the denatured alcochol idea. You know what else works as long as you have a good film finish? Spit, and rub it with your finger. Works every time! The key here is light pencil marks. If you gouge the finish it's over before you start.

RP

[-MIKE-]

I never said to measure. I said to use a combination square which is set to a measurement, just like a jig would be. You're going to measure to make the jig, might as well just set the square to the measurement and do it.

I've done both. If I were doing it for living, like you, I'd have a jig in the toolbox.... wait, I do have one in the tool box. :-)

But this guy has what... a dozen drawers? He could be done installing three or four in the time it takes to make the jig. I'm assuming he doesn't make jigs all the time like most and from the description of what he planned on doing, he was going to turn a simple jig into a weekend project. :-)

[-MIKE-]

I know that carpenter pencils don't come with these, but many pencils of other styles have these cool little pink, rubber tops on them that can remove pencil marks.

[Mike O.]

This is pretty much how we do it to except that we measure from each edge of the jig to the edge of the drawer front to find center. No need to mark the drawer. We just make our jigs from 1/4" with a piece of 3/4 stock tacked flush along one edge. The piece of stock acts as a fence and lays against the top edge of the drawer front You can make your jig as tall as you need for your tallest drawer and center the lay-out the lines (on the jig) for the width of the hardware. Drill all of the same sized fronts then mark out the holes to remind you not to use them again and put holes for the next tallest drawer on your lay-out lines and repeat until all the drawer sizes are finished. The corner knob jig is made the same way (you need a left and right) but you will have the fence piece on two edges 90 degrees from each other.

I helped a couple of guys with the factory made jigs but in both cases the jig they bought didn't have holes in the correct place for their specific hardware. I just drilled new holes in the factory jig. In another instance the jig ( Rockler) was not long enough to do the two tallest sizes of drawer fronts.

Some here have suggested that you make the hole a little larger but be careful of this because some of the hardware has pretty small shanks where the screws go. They don't leave much room to cheat. Just be sure to check the hardware.

Mike O.

[Luigi Zanasi]

IME, they don't work as well as the alcohol & leave little bits of rubber on the wood. YMMV

[-MIKE-]

see: brush

[Scott Lurndal]

Or in the words of the immortal (and gorgeous) Ingrid Bergman,

"just put your lips together and blow"

scott

[Scott Lurndal]

My error, it was Lauren Bacall.

scott

[J. Clarke]

Be careful with cheap combination squares. I got one way backalong that I used regularly until one day I figured out that it wasn't square. Even worse, it wasn't always out of square by the same amount. Tossed it and spent the 200 bucks for a 24 inch Starrett.

[Larry Jaques]

I thought she was OK (attractive), but not really that hot.

Sweet Lauren could blow me anytime! I loved her voice, too.

-- "A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government." --Edward Abbey

[-MIKE-]

Can't that be said for any tool? I don't leave a store with a square that isn't square, a level that's not level, or a plumb bob named jim.

[Robert Bonomi]

Spelling counts!!

that's 'Sophia Loren".