Shelf pin drilling jig

[Art Mann]

Anyone have a recommendation for a 32/5mm shelf pin drilling jig? I've used the Veritas and it worked well - but took forever to set up and is expensive. The cheap plexiglas rocker/woodcraft models look they could be inaccurate since there's no sleeve keeping the drill bit perpendicular to the workpiece. Should I just make my own, or is there another jig I dont know about?

thanks

Actually, the comment about not having a guide for perpendicularity is not quite true for the Rockler jig I bought. You can see it at the link below.

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?p...6&site=ROCKLER

You don't just stick any old bit in a plexiglass hole. This jig comes with a bit that has a collar on it which serves two functions. It guides the bit perpendicular to the hole and it provides a stop so the bit won't go too deep. The bit they provide makes a clean hole with no splintering. I have made several shelf pin drill guides such as those that have been suggested and this Rockler jig works better and is easier to use than any of them. The only drawback I know of is that you have to accept the hole spacing and depth they provide. It isn't adjustable for different spacings.

[George Werner]

Woodpeckers has their shelf pin jig on sale this week. Does 32/5mm...

[Harvey Melvin Richards]

I have a M.E.G. shelf pin guide that works very well. It's probably more $ than most want to spend though.

http://www.megproducts.com/shelfpinholes.html

[Garth Almgren]

Anyone have an opinion on the Bench Dog jig? Seems pretty affordable if it works well...

[Matt Meiser]

I made Norms MEG knockoff for 1" spacing years ago and it has served me well. Recently I made another for 32mm spacing. Really easy to make, just do a very careful layout and drill on the drill press. The holes are 5/8 to accept a 5/8 router bushing. Whiteside makes a 5mm spiral upcut bit. Mine has an adjustable fence the full length--can't recall if Norm did that or not that I easily set off an edge with a square. I could get really fancy and cut shallow dados for two cheap scales epoxied into place. I want to rework it slightly as I've found my MFT is a good place to use it and I can set up clamps in the table to hold everything nicely but the fence needs some minor revisions. When I did my kitchen I borrowed a 32mm Delta line boring machine which was nice but I could never justify the cost or expense even if I did another kitchen and couldn't borrow it again. Its fast, but the MEG style is pretty fast too. And relatively clean with my little Dewalt plunger with the DC add-on.

[George Gyulatyan]

I use the Rockler Jig-it Shelf pin jig. Works fine for me. Haven't had issues with alignment, even when drilling holes on already assembled cabinets.
35151-01-500.jpg

[Ole Anderson]

I went with the Woodhaven metric phenolic system as well. Bought a 1/4" spiral bit for my plunge router (3/8" guide bushing) and bored hundreds of clean holes lickety split fast in Hickory ply. Where the hole was to be a hinge screw hole (I was not using the plastic Blum inserts) I made a punch from a 3/8" dowel pin to locate the screw holes using the template.

[Thomas love]

I have all of the mentioned, Always grabbing the Rockler jigs... +1 what Art said.