Shop Made Jigs.

Shelf pin jig.

I was constructing a printer stand for a friend's office and wanted several adjustable shelves. That was the driving force for my shelf pin jig

I took a three foot piece of oak wood three fourths inch thick and one inch wide. and with a forstner bit drilled holes3/8 inch deep on one inch centers. I made one indexing mark near one end.

The next step was to use a ¼ inch stop collar and the ¼ inch bit and drilled ¼ inch holes through the center of all of the ½ inch pockets. I did not fasten the stop collar but just set it in each of the pockets to keep the ¼ inch bit aligned. By placing the stop collar in each of the holes it was easy to place it under my drillpress to drill the through quarter inch holes.

To use the jig I secured it to the sides of the cabinet indexing from the top and aligned it with the edge. By placing the stop collar in each of the pockets I could easily drill the shelf pin holes.

I did use my drill press so the depth of the pin holes would be consistent and not exit through the other side of the cabinet. If I were to use a hand drill I would use a second stop collar secured to the bit.

By always indexing from the top the shelves would be in perfect alignment, even if one of the ½ inch pockets were not exactly one inch on center.