Jig for drilling holes. Let's set the correct coordinates! Furniture jig for drilling holes: types, making it yourself Furniture jig for drilling holes with your own hands
Quite often it becomes necessary to drill a hole at a certain angle, to a precisely specified depth, or with a standardized distance from the edge. In an equipped workshop this is not difficult to do, but during field work you have to use various devices.
Device and scope of application
There are a lot of options for drilling devices, but they are all united by the presence of three structural elements. The first is the guide bushing, which is made of steel with increased hardness and has a ground inner surface and features precise diameter tolerances. Even with a sleeve length of 10 mm, a deviation from a given direction of no more than 0.5° is ensured, especially if the sleeve is located at some distance from the surface of the workpiece.
Second structural element— a device for fixing the conductor on the workpiece or the surface being processed. As a rule, one or more screw clamps act as such an element, which makes it possible to reliably immobilize the jig relative to the workpiece. If we are talking about a device for drilling walls, the fixing element can be a handle, a vacuum suction cup or perforation for installation on temporary point fasteners. In any case, the need to immobilize the conductor is clearly dictated not only by the requirements for high accuracy, but also by the need to ensure clean processing and prevent damage to surfaces adjacent to the hole, especially slippery ones.
The third structural element is a system for positioning the conductor along markings or base surfaces. The drilling area when using a jig is, as a rule, not visible, so the body of the jig may have additional holes with marks, the centers of which are exactly aligned with the axis of the drill guide. Side stops can also be used for parts that have base planes - this positioning principle is implemented in jigs for drilling ends.
For assembling cabinet furniture
The most famous jig, which is widely used in the manufacture of cabinet furniture additives, is KWB Dubelprofi. That's enough universal device, which has an adjustable stop for drilling exactly into the center of the end and with a certain distance from the edge, which makes the jig an excellent tool for making holes for confirmation using a separate pattern with high accuracy of adjustment. There is also a revolving washer with guides different diameters, thanks to which the product can be quickly reconfigured also for making connections on dowels or body ties. It is especially nice to have a guide for visually aligning the end and counter holes.
For installation of cabinet furniture there is large number simpler conductors. The greatest difficulty is drilling the ends of the parts: it is necessary to maintain not only alignment, but also parallelism to the main planes, otherwise swelling will occur when the fasteners are tightened. To solve this problem, conductors such as LUXTools, Wolcraft, NAREX and SMT656 and many other unnamed, but less efficient linear conductors can be used, in which the guides are located with fixed offsets, which also greatly simplifies the implementation of additive schemes. The “Cheron” series of jigs and templates is considered especially advanced in this regard, with the use of which the assembly of furniture on confirmats is accelerated significantly. The SMT333 and SMT334 jigs are excellent for installing hinges, but this drilling technology requires the installation of 8mm threaded bushings.
For carpentry work
The most diverse list of conductors for preparing carpentry joints. For these purposes, both single products and entire series of devices are successfully used, the use of which significantly expands the range of operations performed.
One of the most common types of jigs allows you to quickly and accurately drill for making countersunk connections on miter screws. Examples include the Wolcraft Undercover Jig, Kreg Jig Mini, and Kreg Jig K Master. These devices vary greatly in design; some may not have standard means of fixation and require the use of quick clamps. Nevertheless, the technical performance of all conductors is at a high level.
In general, products from brands such as Kreg, Wolcraft and CMT are complete systems for making carpentry joints on dowels and minifix/rafix ties, as well as marking and drilling combined holes, including blind ones. In the rulers you can find guides for performing box connections on dovetail grooves and jigs replacing lamella cutters.
General purpose
The scope of application of drilling jigs is not limited to carpentry and furniture assembly. Thus, the already mentioned KWB Dubelprofi and similar devices are ideal for drilling holes on flat surfaces, for example for fastening in walls. Jigs with a V-shaped groove on the sole are practically the only tool that allows you to quickly and accurately drill into round pipe or into a rectangular edge of a part.
The need for drilling is strictly perpendicular holes in concrete and brick walls often occurs when making openings or the need to bypass hidden technological channels or fittings. In the simplest case, for these purposes you can use drill stands Wolcraft Tecmobil or KWB 7778, these devices are also designed for desktop use. In the case of making holes of significant diameter, devices such as Mechanic Distar, designed also for drilling with pobedit bits, are very helpful; in the same series there are convenient dust collector casings.
The most serious and highly specialized conductors are called racks for diamond drilling. In this segment you can find: budget options, such as Titan NS 1000, as well as expensive devices from Bosch and AGP. Distinctive feature such jigs - the presence of a split coupling for attaching the spindle neck of a drill or hammer drill, or a specialized drilling machine. The jigs also have a mechanical feed device, which is a mandatory requirement when using diamond bits.
Independent production of conductors
As a conclusion, it should be noted that most craftsmen do not have to spend money on quite expensive drilling devices. For one-time technical operations, it is not required that the jig be designed to drill hundreds of holes, therefore, in some cases, an ordinary wooden block in which drilling machine a number of holes were made required diameter, as well as drills with an extended shank.
For more technologically advanced solutions, you can use a system of a seamless pipe, perpendicularly mounted on a metal plate, and a bearing located inside it suitable size. This design can be supplemented with stops, screw clamps and centering holes with minimal effort.
A jig for drilling holes greatly facilitates the work of furniture makers and other specialists who, due to their line of work, have to make precise holes in wood, chipboard, MDF, metal and other materials.
What kind of conductors are there and whether this device can be made with your own hands are the main questions that the article is devoted to.
Basic information about conductors
Conductors – simple devices, a kind of templates that have been successfully used in mechanical engineering for a long time.
They allow you to make a hole in the right place and at a strictly defined angle. The scope of application of jigs is very wide, from drilling machines to diamond drilling installations.
Today, every furniture maker has in his arsenal a set of these tools that allow him to assemble furniture cabinets, install fittings and perform other operations.
Conductors are needed in construction (for example, to make holes in the wall of a building) and various industries.
As a rule, only overhead models are used here, which are made from lightweight materials to facilitate the work of the master.
Furniture conductor may be of factory origin or made by hand.
Many craftsmen have such a trained eye and precise hand that it is not at all difficult for them to drill holes at the desired angle without additional devices. However, this requires enormous experience and, perhaps, talent.
With the help of the tool that this article is devoted to, even a novice furniture maker will be able to make precise holes for dowels and assemble cabinet furniture without complicated preliminary calculations and markings. This reduces labor intensity and, therefore, the cost of work and speeds up the process.
Before you buy or make a conductor, you need to decide on the types and purpose.
Overhead jigs are so named because they are placed on the workpiece to be worked with. They are either fixed to the part or simply held by hand.
Using overhead tools, for example, holes are made in MDF boards.
Rotary jigs are necessary if you need holes on the surface of the cylinder. Inclined, vertical and horizontal rotation axes allow you to drill holes at different angles.
Unified jigs are especially in demand in small batch production, where it is necessary to drill many holes in similar parts of various sizes.
This is possible thanks to the ability to retool the tool under different size details.
The scope of application of tiltable conductors is the need to make holes in several planes.
The sliding jig does not need to be fixed on the surface of the machine - it is adjusted to the specific surface in which a hole needs to be drilled.
It is more convenient to work with fixed models, but sliding models provide the master with a certain freedom of action when working on a single-spindle drilling machine, especially if several holes are needed on one surface.
Something about the scope
The jig for drilling holes is included in the list necessary tools for furniture assembly. One of the difficulties when making any holes is that the drill may enter the material being drilled at the wrong angle.
It can take a lot of effort and time to correct the situation, and not all errors can be corrected.
The jig serves not only as a template, thanks to which the master understands where to drill, but also guides the drill and prevents it from deviating from the given direction.
First of all, the tool is necessary for specialists who produce furniture, but during assembly it is not so uncommon when a finished furniture set does not have the necessary holes, for example, for dowels.
The jig is indispensable for drilling thin boards, such as chipboard, for making holes at an angle and many other operations.
Accurate, simple, quick assembly furniture always involves this tool. With its help, you can make a hole at any distance from the edge of the part, regardless of its width.
One of the operations in which you cannot do without a conductor is the installation of dowels.
By and large, dowels are a thing of the past, in modern furniture production already use other types of fasteners for connection various parts cabinet furniture. However, connections using dowels are still quite widely used.
The main difficulty in assembling them lies precisely in the accuracy of the location of the holes, and in a strictly perpendicular direction, so that the parts can be connected at an angle of 90°.
If even one hole is in the wrong place or at the wrong angle, this will lead to errors that are quite difficult to correct. Special tool called a doweling jig.
Furniture is a common, but not the only area of application for drilling tools. The second important area is drilling pipes and other cylindrical blanks. Conductors allow you to drill even small-diameter pipes.
If collected various types templates for drilling on the same workbench, it turns out that they are very different in appearance and sizes.
Some are easier to buy factory-made, especially if making tools is not your hobby, others can be made with your own hands without much difficulty.
Multifunctional conductors from famous manufacturers They’re not cheap – by assembling them yourself, you can save a lot of money.
Conductors of our own production
The simplest tools are inexpensive, so many craftsmen find it easier to buy them. However, there are enthusiasts for whom instrument making is of some interest.
In addition, with your own hands you can make a truly durable tool that will faithfully serve for many years.
Another reason to make your own tool is if you need a template for custom holes.
There are a large number of drawings and video instructions on the Internet for making jigs for drilling with your own hands.
For this you need a set of tools:
- drill;
- corner grinding machine(Bulgarian);
- standard set of locksmith tools;
- welding machine - not necessary in all cases, but for making the most complex tools with your own hands, it may be required.
Another argument in favor self-production conductors - every master will probably have necessary preparations for their manufacture: wooden blocks, pieces of reinforcement, metal plates.
The template jig for accurately marking and drilling holes along it is so simple that even a novice craftsman can make it.
Take reinforcement with a square cross-section of 10 x 10 mm (or larger) - required length need to be cut with a hacksaw or grinder.
It is advisable to prepare the sections using a file and sandpaper. This is the basis of the future conductor.
Now you need to mark the holes. One of them should be located at a distance of 8 mm from the edge of the jig - at this distance is the central part of the chipboard board.
Furniture standards dictate the pitch between the holes - it is 32 mm. According to this marking it is necessary to drill holes with a diameter of 5 mm.
The jig is almost ready for use, but if you equip it with a stop, it will be much more convenient to assemble the furniture.
It is made from a metal plate 1 mm thick and 25 mm wide. The workpiece for the stop must be bent at a right angle and secured in a clamp together with a ready-made part made of reinforcement.
Now you need to make holes for the threads and fasten the two parts together with bolts.
The furniture jig can be equipped with half plastic bottle so that drilling holes is not so dusty. From the same plastic bottle you can build a small tray for collecting chips.
This is the simplest jig for drilling holes, which will make assembling cabinet furniture much easier.
With it, you don’t have to worry that the drill may go into chipboard board crooked or drill through it.
When manufacturing cabinet furniture, there is a need to be able to accurately and quickly drill into the end of parts. As a rule, this need is due to the use of euroscrews (confirmats), in which holes with diameters of 4.5-5.0 mm (depending on the density of the plate) are drilled into the end of the parts to a depth of 35-55 mm (depending on the length of the euroscrews).
Of course, there are special drilling and attachment machines for such purposes, but they are not readily available to private furniture makers or small organizations due to their high price, plus the machines are not convenient due to exclusively stationary use. To simplify the work of a furniture maker, conductors were invented - small devices for precision drilling with a conventional hand-held electric drill. Today there are several manufacturers on the market; by paying quite a price, you can buy a ready-made conductor. In this article we'll talk about how you can make a good homemade conductor from available and easily accessible material in a couple of hours.We use ball bearings to guide the drill bushings. The bearings are made of durable steel and will last a long time. In order for the drill to be well oriented in the jig, two bearings are used for each working distance (the bearings are located coaxially one under the other).
To make a conductor (for three working fixed distances) we will need:
- A piece of MDF board 16mm thick.
- A piece of MDF board 10mm thick.
- Six pieces (a pair for each working distance) of any ball bearings with internal diameter 5.0 mm, outer diameter no more than 16 mm. The height of the bearing should be as small as possible and no more than 8mm.
- A dozen 4x25 mm self-tapping screws.
- PVA glue, “Superglue”.
- Furniture footer with internal thread M6 (see photo).
- Screw M6x50. Nut M6. Grover washer 6mm.
Manufacturing of the conductor body.
First, you need to make the case itself. There is no need to particularly explain anything about the body, everything is elementary. Cross section housing - the letter “P” with one end (closed) wall. This wall will be used as a stop and will set the zero point, the starting point for drilling. When drilling, the stop is pressed against the end of the part. Main dimensions:
- The external size of the conductor is arbitrary.
- The upper part, in which the bearings will be seated, is made of 16mm MDF, the remaining parts are made of 10mm MDF.
- The distance between the two sidewalls (where the workpiece will be placed) is equal to16.5 mm, whatcorresponds to the actual thickness of the slab plus a small gap for ease of installation and removal of the jig.
- The distances between the centers of the bearings and the stop: 50, 70, 100 mm are the most common in furniture practice.
To assemble the body, it is necessary to accurately cut all four parts (top, two sides and one end), it is recommended to take measurements with a caliper. Next, holes are marked and drilled for the screws that will fasten all the parts together. The housing is assembled using PVA glue.
The distance between the side walls of the conductor is 16.5 mm (for laminated chipboard with a nominal thickness of 16 mm).
Bearing seating.
After the glue has dried, we proceed to marking and punching the holes for the bearings. We try to perform this operation very accurately! To drill holes for the bearings, we will need a drill mounted in a rack. Execute precision drilling It is very difficult to do by hand, but with some skill it is possible. We mark the centers of the bearings with a pencil and punch them. Using the core, we drill three through holes with a diameter of 2 mm. We clamp a feather drill (punch) into the drill chuck; the diameter of the punch should be equal to the outer diameter of the bearings. We drill two blind (non-through) holes for each bearing on each side of the previously drilled through hole. The depth of drilling with a hammer (the penetration depth of the central tenon is not taken into account) should be approximately 1 mm greater than the height of the bearing. As a result, we should get six mounting holes (three on each side) for the bearings. You can try inserting the bearings into seats, the bearings should fit freely, but without noticeable play. After fitting, you need to lubricate the outside of each bearing with glue and seat it in its place until it stops. If “Superglue” is used (it quickly absorbs and dries), then this operation is performed using a rubber mallet.
Conductor on top. Distances between bearing centers and stop.
Making an adjustable stop.
To be able to drill at any arbitrary distance from the stop (not only 50, 70, 100 mm), it is necessary to supplement the jig with a simple adjustable stop - a long screw. We drill a through hole in the center of the end stop with a diameter 0.5 mm smaller than the outer diameter of the furniture fitting (see photo). Screw in the foot. We screw a long screw into the foot, not forgetting to first screw the nut onto the screw and put on the Grover washer. Now, by changing the screw screw depth, you can set any drilling distance from 0 to 100 mm.
Furniture footwear. To screw the fitting into the conductor body you will need a hex wrench.
The adjusting screw of the jig is screwed into the furniture fitting.
Conductor. Side view.
Conductor. View from the inside.
Drilling a hole in the end of the chipboard using self-made conductor.
Drill overhang. Drilling can be done to this maximum depth.The length of the drill used and the depth of its attachment in the drill chuck must be selected taking into account the thickness of the jig (that is, almost the total height of the two bearings).
If desired, the surface of the jig can be sanded with fine sandpaper, primed and painted (for example, with spray enamel). Practice has shown that the accuracy of drilling with a jig is no worse than +/-0.5mm and largely depends on how much actual thickness was made (slabslaminated chipboard) differs from the calculated thickness. In any case, an error of a maximum of half a millimeter is not critical for end drilling in the manufacture of cabinet furniture.
When working with hand drill, sometimes it is difficult to maintain the specified direction of the hole. Conductors are also used if it is necessary to make a series of similar holes according to a template. For example, during carpentry work. In this case, the master does not waste time marking the tree, and is guaranteed to get the same result.
The jig is indispensable when drilling holes in pipes. But the main application is to pass holes at a given angle.
Let's consider various options this useful device:
Jig for perpendicular drilling of holes
A simple furniture jig for drilling holes when assembling metal furniture. Details in the video material
Purpose - to obtain passes in thick workpieces, strictly at an angle of 90°. It is a set of bushings in a single body, or a bracket with replaceable working attachments.
By installing the device above the drilling point, you can start working without pre-punching. The drill accurately hits the center of the sleeve and does not deviate from the axis.
Important! The only problem is that the tool must be held on the workpiece, especially at the beginning of work. Otherwise, vibration may cause it to shift.
You can make such a drilling jig with your own hands. Thick textolite or solid wood is used. Ideal option— the use of extruder bushings for drawing wire. Worn bushings can be found at the factory. 
The extruder nozzles are made of alloy steel, with the addition of pobedit. The service life is practically inexhaustible.
Conductor for cylindrical blanks or pipes
Making a hole in a sloping surface is almost impossible. It is especially difficult to start the process - the tip of the drill jumps off the specified point. The device will fix the direction and allow you to perform the work with high accuracy. 
By adjusting the length of the fixing bolts, you can drill a hole tangentially to the center. If you don’t have such a tool at hand, you can make it from scrap materials. For example, from a block of hard wood and a strip of plywood. 
To prevent the guides from being broken so quickly by the sharp edges of the drill, they can be reinforced with sleeves made of tubes of different diameters.
Furniture jig - simple mechanical device, which serves to speed up and simplify actions when drilling holes. The use of this device allows you to create technological holes without pre-applied markings and do this with perfect accuracy, as well as a adjusted slope. The device is indispensable during assembly. furniture designs, during carpentry work. For use in everyday life and in small-scale production, it is very easy to make a furniture jig with your own hands.
In essence, a furniture jig is an ordinary template with holes of the required diameter. The working part of the device is a rectangular block made of hard material with holes located according to the required markings. For convenience, it can be equipped with adjusting and locking mechanisms. Based on the simplicity of the design, you can quickly make stencils for furniture with your own hands using available materials.
The jig ensures the desired direction of the drill at an angle of 90 degrees to the surface, eliminating the possibility of deviation. This is especially important when working with narrow parts of furniture, such as the ends of walls or doors. Without this device, it is quite difficult to maintain the required angle, which can lead to defects, because even a slight deviation in the direction of the mounting hole can make it impossible to assemble individual elements into a single structure.
For a perfect fit of furniture elements to each other also great value has precision location of holes for fasteners. Those who make furniture with their own hands are often faced with the need to create a number of identical holes at a certain distance from each other. To make the work easier, make it faster, it’s easier not to mark up every time, but to use a template.
With the help of a conductor you can work with different furniture materials: wood, chipboard, MDF.
Selecting a model for production
Conductors industrial production There are highly specialized and universal. Templates of the first type are used to perform certain operations on typical parts. Universal devices suitable for working with different materials and objects of various configurations.
By design features And functionality conductors are divided into the following types:
- overhead - when used, they are applied to the surface in the desired area, fixed with clamps or held by hand. Used for drilling holes in flat parts;
- rotary - the working part moves both vertically and horizontal planes. Used when working with elements of complex geometric shapes and to create holes, the axis of which must be located at an angle;
- tipping - used to create holes in perpendicular planes.
A marking jig is used to mark the locations for drilling holes. It is much thinner and lighter.
The conductor device can be specially created for a certain type of fastener: dowels, confirmations, screws, corners. There are devices to simplify the process of installing fittings.
According to the type of fixation, furniture jigs can be sliding or fixed. The former can be moved freely over the surface if necessary, while the latter are rigidly fixed in the right place. The presence of an adjustment mechanism will help to combine the device with different types of workpieces.
For large furniture manufacturers, the availability of a variety of additional accessories plays a decisive role, since they significantly reduce time costs. In this case, the cost of the tools does not matter much. A completely different approach to purchasing the necessary equipment those who have small production for the manufacture of furniture or from independent craftsmen who produce certain types of furniture. In this case, making furniture templates with your own hands turns out to be much cheaper and more practical. Choice the necessary options, the complexity of the device is determined not only by production needs, but also by the skill and experience of furniture manufacturers.
Overhead
Turning
Universal
Materials and tools
To manufacture a device, you must first decide on the tasks that it will perform. Accordingly, they are selected required material, from which it will be made with your own hands furniture template. The most durable, reliable and “long-lasting” is considered to be a metal conductor. To create a furniture jig for drilling with your own hands, it is permissible to use wood, plywood, textolite, and plexiglass. This is due to lower labor costs and cheaper materials. All this is important, especially if you are going to make several different templates yourself.
To make a conductor, a piece of reinforcement, a block or a plate is suitable - something that can probably be found in any garage or home workshop. To make a simple marking device, you can take a regular school ruler - wooden, plastic or metal.
Of decisive importance in the manufacture of the jig is the accurate calculation of the location of the holes on the workpiece. You can take ready-made diagram or make it yourself. The latter option is preferable, since the dimensions in the drawings must correspond to the tasks being solved.
Tools you will need:
- drill;
- grinder or jigsaw;
- a set of locksmith tools;
- clamps;
- vice.
When manufacturing a jig, you will need perfectly accurate drilling of guide holes and hardening of the finished device
Drawing of a homemade conductor for drilling holes for confirmations
Manufacturing stages
Let's consider the process of creating a metal conductor device for confirmations. This fastener is most often used when assembling furniture:
- from a metal bar square section(10x10 mm) using a grinder, cut a piece of the required length. The ends of the resulting segment are leveled and cleared of burrs using a file. Corners and edges can be rounded for ease and safety of use;
- The hole locations are marked on the workpiece. Their centers should be located at a distance of 8 mm from the side edge (thickness chipboard sheet– 16 mm). There should be 32 mm from the end and between the holes, in accordance with the generally accepted system of furniture fastenings. For marking, you can use a carpenter's angle or caliper. It is better to make marks on the part using a sharp metal object - an awl or a large needle. You can use a core and a hammer to make holes for the initial installation of the drill. When drilling holes, it is important to prevent the drill from moving and make them strictly perpendicular to the surface of the workpiece;
- use a drill with a diameter of 5 mm to make holes;
- to create a stop you need to cut a piece of the required length from a metal plate (1x25 mm);
- sand the edges with sandpaper;
- bend the workpiece at a right angle, holding it in a vice. Fold the parts, aligning them coaxially;
- fasten the parts in this position using a clamp;
- From the side of the plate along the length of the device and at the end, drill holes corresponding to the size of the screw. Cut threads and fasten parts;
- Cut off the excess thrust plate and process the edges.
Video
