using a jig to drill shelf pin holes for cabinets


Eliminate the possibility of misaligned shelves and cut your setup time in half with the easy-to-use Pro Shelf Drilling Jig!


This jig precisely position the holes 37mm from the edge and 32mm apart to match the installation dimensions used by most European-style hinge companies.





Video: Fastest Way to Drill Shelf Pin Holes in Cabinet Sides - Video Transcript


Ernie Conover: Before we start putting this box together now, we need to drill holes consecutively down the front and back of the carcass that will take pins to support shelves. Those holes are drilled 32 millimeters apart, and they need to be 37 millimeters from the edge. There's lots of jigs around to do this. The Euro-type hinge will also fit in two of those holes. It simplifies the mounting of the hinge hardware. This Rockler jig is pretty good for the job. It works very, very well.

I like to find the center and, of course, this being 28 inch the center would be 14 inches. We'll just put a little tick mark at 14 inches on each piece. We'll then put the jig down, loosen these up, and just bring it in like that. Lock it again. We'll slide that until the center mark is right over where we want it to be. Here is a cordless electric drill with a Vix-type bit in it. The bit is 5 millimeters in diameter and self-centering. It goes right in that hole, and you just...and it's done.

It's the right depth, it didn't come through the other side. Stored in the end of the jig are two pins, which fit into those 5-millimeter holes and the centering holes in the plastic here. That firmly seats that jig so it isn't going to drift up and down. We can now drill the rest of the holes quickly and efficiently. There. That's side one done, and we'll just move over and do the other side. Then we can start putting this together.