[higtron]

Home made plywood jig with half inch holes to accept the bushing of my router and a 1/4" bit. But I may try the 16 drummels ganged together trick I just need to get the financeing

 

[rogerw]

template made out of mdf and a plunge router with collet

 

[DamnYankee]

Peg board has always worked well for me.

 

[NiteWalker]

I've been using the rockler jig for a while now. No complaints. Get it on sale and it's a great deal.

 

[bravozulu]

Wish I still had the photos and plans for a jig I made. It employs a small plunge router mounted a wood base that has cogs on one edge. Resembling a jigsaw puzzle piece. Done with a bandsaw. Then make a mating guide rail of a scrap 1×2 with female cogs matching the cogs on the baseplate. The base plate is screwed into the bottom of the router plate so they become one unit. Use a straight bit (preferrably pointed) to match the size of pins.

With just a couple of rails having varied spacing, you can create an assortment of shelf pins. Clamp the guide rail on the bench to the side of the cabinet sides (laying flat) Start progressing with the router, engage a cog, plunge the pin hole, move to the next cog and so on. When i did my new house with tons of built-ins, I plunged shelf pin holes for half a day. You are only sliding a router along, and then plunging it.

No need to even watch what you're doing closely. Good dust collection helps.

 

[fge]

Cnc is my favorite method.

But since we cannot afford it I use the "wife drilling with rockler jig method".

 

[North40]

Plunge router with a 1/4" spiral. It really goes pretty quickly.

 

[fge]

Peter, i have given some thought on the plunge router. Bet that is much better

 

[LeeBarker]

I have had a Blum drill press head in a dedicated DP(7 bits, amazingly accurate even for a FTOC cabinet), a humongo pneumatic Ritter single gang (BweeEE-kah-WHUMP-chhhhhhhhh), and now the manual Delta (a pretty nice solution for a small shop).

Occasional use:
I've never understood how the plunge router could be efficient when a drill is made to be used one handed and a piece of tape can flag the depth. I have come to the conclusion that that is one of the things Norm's producers chuckle about when they get together for martinis at a Boston bar.

I also have the Rockler jig which, wisely, stores the preset VixBit which does not oval-out the holes. I use it when Mr. Stupid built the cabinet and forgot to line bore.

Kindly,

Lee

 

[NiteWalker]

Yeah, that's what I though watching norm do it.
With the router I'd need hearing protection.

The rockler jig is quick and efficient. I bought it a few years back for $20 (sale) and it hasn't let me down yet.

 

[North40]

@ Lee Barker - I guess "occasional" is subjective. I'm not sure I understand your reasoning that the drill is more efficient because it is designed to be used one-handed. What can you do with that other hand to increase efficiency? Me, I have both hands on the drill to try to keep it perpendicular to the material.

Here are the efficiencies I find using a plunge router:
1) All my drills are cordless, so they turn fairly slow. Even a corded drill is only turning about 4k rpm. That's got nothing on the drilling ability of my router doing 22k rpm. The router is easily drilling each hole in half the time or less.
2) Even if you are really good with a drill, getting holes that are perfectly square to the face of the material is tough. Slight variations in the angle of the hole mean a shelf that is not steady. The base on the router takes care of that problem.
3) If you are drilling very many holes the one-shoulder-up posture of drilling becomes very uncomfortable. The plunge router is used with both hands, creating symetrical posture and motions … much more ergonomic.
4) The tape on the drill bit thing is hard to setup and adjust accurately. Drill a hair too deep and your tape gets pushed back and wadded up on the drill bit. The depth stop on the router is a breeze.

There's more than one way to skin a cat. If the drill works for you, that's great! For my purposes, the router is the ticket, and I wouldn't go back to drilling.

Here's a short video I put together showing how my setup works.

Cheers!

 

[cabmaker]

Shop fabricated story poles. Two inch wide rip by 3/4 with bore holes down the ctr. Use a bit stop on drill. Very fast and accurate. I have been doing this for thirty plus years. I have numerous lengths and can quickly whip out more when neccesary. I typically bore before assembly but after is no problem. Short of a cnc or line boring setup I have not seen anything faster (including a router) but as always it depends on the operator.

 

[maljr1980]

i used to like the horizontal line borer ideaa till i worked at a shop with a cnc, much better

 

[DMIHOMECENTER]

Peg board with drill depth stop. We highlight the target holes with a sharpie and use the same piece for all of the cabinets that get them (unless some are 36's and some are 42's, etc.

 

[woodbutcherbynight]

I use pegboard like most suggested but I glued two back to back giving me a deeper guide hole. If it is possible I use my drillpress and set the proper depth and it is worry free. If not I use a drill with tape as my guide.

Works okay just mark it well. Was in a rush one day and said hey that will work and used the board. Thus a new one was born and painted bright red with LARGE letters saying DO NOT USE EXCEPT TO MAKE HOLES FOR SHELVES. (Laughing)

Gunny

 

[Bearpaw]

Made Norm's jig many years ago and still using it.

 

[BillWhite]

Shop built jig and Vix bits here.
Bill

 

[alkillian]

I had a machine shop make me a few out of alum. One for tall cabinets(6' long) and one for cabinets(40" long). Then we use a router with guide collar and 5mm bit.

 

[Steveayerse]

Nice old thread, I will revive this! I am using drilling machines, it took me a lot of time to find out which one is the best. I wrote about top in my opinion best drilling machines , you can read it in my blog

p.s sorry for putting my site link, but I am too excited to share my new post with you guys, I can bet that it will be useful!

 

[AlaskaGuy]

Homemade template and small plunge router. Dewalt 611 is perfect.