Locate Shelf Pins with Ease, Accuracy
Most shelf-pin jigs are simply long boards with lots of evenly spaced holes to align the plunge-router bit. But making one means a lot of drilling. My jig attaches to the router baseplate and uses a 1/4-in.-dia. bolt as an index pin; what’s best is that you have to drill only one hole to get the same accuracy as the other methods.
First attach an auxiliary baseplate to your router. To install the index pin, drill a 1/4-in. hole through the baseplate. Locate the hole carefully because the spacing of the pin from the router bit will set the shelf-pin spacing. Next, use a 1/2-in.-dia. Forstner bit to drill an extralarge hole in the bottom of the plate for the nut. Fasten the bolt using one nut on each side of the plate.
To create the shelf-pin holes, clamp a straightedge across the workpiece. Install a 1/4-in. straight bit in the router, and set the depth according to the requirement of the pins. Next, position the index pin against the edge of the workpiece and slide the router base against the straightedge. Plunge down to drill the first hole. Slide the router over and insert the index pin into the first hole. Drill subsequent holes using the same procedure. You can make a jig for different shelf-pin spacing or for different-size pins.
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