Hole drilling jig

Recommendation points

• Device and scope
• For the assembly of cabinet furniture
• For carpentry work
• General purpose
• Self-made conductors

Quite often, it becomes necessary to drill a hole at a certain angle, at a precisely specified depth, or with a normalized offset from the edge. It is not difficult to do this in an equipped workshop, but in field work you have to use various devices.

Device and scope

There are a lot of options for drilling devices, but all of them are united by the presence of three structural elements. The first is the guide bush, which is made of steel with increased hardness, has a polished inner surface and is characterized by precise diameter tolerances. Even with a sleeve length of 10 mm, a deviation from the given direction of no more than 0.5 ° is ensured, especially if the sleeve is spaced from the surface of the workpiece at a certain distance.

The second structural element is a device for fixing the conductor on the workpiece or workpiece surface. As a rule, one or more screw clamps act as such an element, which allows the conductor to be reliably immobilized 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 a temporary point fixture. 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 the cleanliness of processing and avoid damage to surfaces adjacent to the hole, especially slippery ones.

The third structural element is a conductor positioning system along the markings or reference surfaces. The drilling area is usually invisible when using a jig, so there may be additional holes with marks on the jig body, the centers of which are exactly aligned with the axis of the drill guide. Side stops can also be used for parts with reference planes – this positioning principle is implemented in jigs for drilling ends.

For the assembly of cabinet furniture

The most famous conductor, which is massively used in the manufacture of cabinet furniture additives, is KWB Dubelprofi. This is a fairly universal device, which has an adjustable stop for drilling exactly to the center of the end face and with a certain offset from the edge, which makes the jig an excellent aid in making holes for confirmation according to a separate scheme with high alignment accuracy. There is also a revolving washer with guides of different diameters, due to which the product can be quickly reconfigured also for making connections on dowels or body ties. Particularly pleasant is the presence of a guide protrusion for visual alignment of the end and counter holes.

For the installation of cabinet furniture, there are a large number of simpler conductors. The greatest difficulty is drilling the ends of the parts: it is necessary to maintain not only centering, 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 as well as CMT656 and many other unnamed, but less efficient linear conductors in which the guides are located with fixed indents, can be used, which also greatly simplifies the implementation of additive schemes. The series of conductors and templates “Cheron” is considered especially advanced in this respect, with the use of which the assembly of furniture at confirmations is accelerated significantly. Conductors CMT333 and CMT334 are perfect for installing hinges, but this drilling technology implies the need to install 8mm threaded bushings.

For carpentry work

The most diverse list of conductors for the preparation of joinery connections. For these purposes, both single products and whole series of devices are successfully used, the use of which significantly expands the range of operations performed..

One of the most common types of conductors allows you to quickly and accurately drill for making countersunk connections on oblique screws. Examples include Wolcraft Undercover Jig, Kreg Jig Mini and Kreg Jig K Master. These devices are very different in design, some may not have standard fixing devices and require the use of quick-clamping clamps. Nevertheless, the technical performance of all conductors is at a high level..

In general, the products of brands such as Kreg, Wolcraft and CMT are complete systems for making joinery joints on dowels and minifix / rafix ties, as well as marking and drilling aligned holes, including blind holes. In the rulers you can find guides for making box connections on dovetail grooves and conductors replacing lamellar cutters.

Assistant and KWB Linemaster systems are practically independent equipment of the joiner’s workstation, greatly simplifying the marking and making of filler holes with high precision. In addition, Kreg has one-of-a-kind templates for quickly attaching drawer rails and gas struts, as well as a jig for manual drilling for installing door hinges.

General purpose

The scope of drilling jigs is not limited to joinery 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. Conductors with a V-shaped groove on the sole are practically the only tool that allows you to quickly and accurately drill into a round pipe or into a rectangular rib of a part.

The need to drill strictly perpendicular holes in concrete and brick walls often arises when making openings or the need to bypass hidden technological channels or reinforcement. In the simplest case, for these purposes, you can use the Wolcraft Tecmobil or KWB 7778 drill stands, these devices are also designed for desktop use. In the case of making holes of a significant diameter, Mechanic Distar devices, also designed for drilling with victorious crowns, help well, in the same series there are convenient dust collectors.

The most serious and highly specialized jigs are called diamond drill stands. In this segment, you can find both budget options, such as the Titan HC 1000, and expensive devices from Bosch and AGP. A distinctive feature of such jigs is the presence of a split sleeve for attaching the spindle neck of a drill or perforator, or a specialized drilling machine. Also, the conductors have a mechanical feed device, which is a mandatory requirement when using diamond core bits..

Self-made conductors

As a conclusion, it should be noted that most craftsmen do not need to spend money on fairly expensive drilling attachments. For one-time technical operations, it is not required that the jig is designed for drilling hundreds of holes, therefore, in some cases, an ordinary wooden block is sufficient, in which a number of holes of the required diameter have been made on the drilling machine, as well as drills with an extended shank.

For more technological solutions, you can use a system of a seamless pipe, perpendicular to a metal plate, and a bearing located inside it of a suitable size. This design can be supplemented with a minimum of effort by stops, screw clamps and centering holes..