Hi all,

I am in the final stages of refacing my cabinets. Now I am attempting
to install new cabinet pulls/handles. Problem is no matter how much I
seem to measure I can't seem to get the holes to line up properly.
Some of this has to do with how straight (or NOT straight) the holes I
drill end up being since I am using a handheld drill. I do not have
access to a drill press. I know that building a jig would be a great
help also (haven't really gotten that far yet).

My main concern is the fact that it is very hard to drill a perfectly
straight hole with a handheld drill. Since I don't have access to a
drill press which would probably help this problem, does anyone have
any advice as to what is the best way to get the best results with a
handheld drill? Are there attachments or special bits I can buy?

Keep in mind that I am a complete novice at this woodworking business!
I'm fairly handy but this project seems to call for a level accuracy
that I had not previously had to deal with...

Thanks!

Brian

Anything you can suggest would be great!

Let me let you in on my secret. Drill the holes a bit over sized so that
there you can wiggle the screw. Over sized holes do not need to be
perfectly spaced for the two screw pulls and do not have to be at a perfect
90 degree angle form the surface. This has worked for me on the past 3 or 4
hundred pulls that I have installed.

Brian wrote:

I am in the final stages of refacing my cabinets. Now I am
attempting to install new cabinet pulls/handles. Problem is
no matter how much I seem to measure I can't seem to get the
holes to line up properly. Some of this has to do with how
straight (or NOT straight) the holes I drill end up being
since I am using a handheld drill. I do not have access to a
drill press. I know that building a jig would be a great help
also (haven't really gotten that far yet).

Brian...

It's time to get that far now. A piece of plywood with two strips
of wood to position it repeatably at a corner of the panels to be
drilled is sufficient.

Lay out the holes on piece of paper and fit that paper into the
right angle formed by the two wood strips and transfer the hole
locations through the paper to the plywood rectangle.

Carefully drill the plywood from the side with the wood strips.
Test your new jig on a piece of scrap. If the result is what you
want, then use this jig to drill for the pulls from the face
side of the drawers/doors.

If it's not what you wanted, try again until you /are/ satisfied.

Note that with this job, hole placement is more important than
hole straightness. If the holes are properly placed on the face
of the cabinet, the handles will line up properly.

--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto, Iowa USA

"Brian" wrote in message
om...



Tiplett #1: Lowes/Ace/Home Despot has little plastic jigs hanging in these
aisle. They'll allow you to put some marks in the right spot for the
handles.

Tiplett #2: Use a nail to dimple the mark where you want to drill. This will
keep the bit from wandering.

Tiplett #3: Zip over to Wal-Mart and buy some inexpensive, yet new ("sharp")
bits. Black n' Decker bits are considered disposalable, IMHO.

Tiplett #3: Find an inexpensive Try Square or square - stand it upright so
you can "sight" align the drill bit perpendicular to the stock. You'll find
(for longer bits) that using the square as a visual cue allows you to drill
holes that a "pretty straight".

Tiplett #4: Find a small block (cube) of wood - at least an inch in
width/depth/length. Carefully, with practice drill a straight hole (the
same diameter as the screws for the handle) through that block of wood.
You've now made a guide for your drill bit. The guide should do a
reasonable job of keeping the bit straight, and will a little ingenuity, you
can use it as a depth stop too.

I missed the original post. The jig below works very well. Drill the
holes 3/16" with a brad point bit (to keep it from wandering) or center
punch the holes. Several hundred kitchens done this way.

--
Alan Bierbaum

Web Site: http://www.calanb.com
Current project: http://home.comcast.net/~cabierbaum/

"Morris Dovey" wrote in message
...
Brian wrote:

I am in the final stages of refacing my cabinets. Now I am
attempting to install new cabinet pulls/handles. Problem is
no matter how much I seem to measure I can't seem to get the
holes to line up properly. Some of this has to do with how
straight (or NOT straight) the holes I drill end up being
since I am using a handheld drill. I do not have access to a
drill press. I know that building a jig would be a great help
also (haven't really gotten that far yet).

Brian...

It's time to get that far now. A piece of plywood with two strips
of wood to position it repeatably at a corner of the panels to be
drilled is sufficient.

Lay out the holes on piece of paper and fit that paper into the
right angle formed by the two wood strips and transfer the hole
locations through the paper to the plywood rectangle.

Carefully drill the plywood from the side with the wood strips.
Test your new jig on a piece of scrap. If the result is what you
want, then use this jig to drill for the pulls from the face
side of the drawers/doors.

If it's not what you wanted, try again until you /are/ satisfied.

Note that with this job, hole placement is more important than
hole straightness. If the holes are properly placed on the face
of the cabinet, the handles will line up properly.

--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto, Iowa USA

"patrick conroy" wrote in message
...

Whoops - forgot the obligatory:


"Tiplett (R)" is a registered trademark of UA100 Inc. Any unathorized use,
reproduction, or *******ization of "Tiplett (R)" is forbidden without the
expressed, written consent of UA100, Inc.

When I first started I did that. I forgot to mention that I do use a jig
along with the over sized drill bit.

Leon wrote:
Let me let you in on my secret. Drill the holes a bit over sized so that
there you can wiggle the screw. Over sized holes do not need to be
perfectly spaced for the two screw pulls and do not have to be at a perfect
90 degree angle form the surface. This has worked for me on the past 3 or 4
hundred pulls that I have installed.



Tip: To mark the holes I have a couple of screws to fit the pull that
have the head cut off and the outer tip turned to a point. I screw these
in the pull and use the pull itself to mark the two holes at once. I
made the points by chucking the screws in a drill and used a file.

--

Gerald Ross, Cochran, GA
To reply add the numerals "13" before the "at"
............................................
People will die this year that never
died before.




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(Brian) wrote in message . com...
Hi all,

I am in the final stages of refacing my cabinets. Now I am attempting
to install new cabinet pulls/handles. Problem is no matter how much I
seem to measure I can't seem to get the holes to line up properly.
Some of this has to do with how straight (or NOT straight) the holes I
drill end up being since I am using a handheld drill. I do not have
access to a drill press. I know that building a jig would be a great
help also (haven't really gotten that far yet).

My main concern is the fact that it is very hard to drill a perfectly
straight hole with a handheld drill. Since I don't have access to a
drill press which would probably help this problem, does anyone have
any advice as to what is the best way to get the best results with a
handheld drill? Are there attachments or special bits I can buy?

Keep in mind that I am a complete novice at this woodworking business!
I'm fairly handy but this project seems to call for a level accuracy
that I had not previously had to deal with...

Thanks!

Brian

Anything you can suggest would be great!

Drill guide, think "Plunge router base for a drill":

http://tinyurl.com/5x9ku

Not a precision instrument by any means, but once you get it locked in
at 90 degrees, it does the trick.

Or, use a plunge router and a spiral bit. More set up time, but it
would go in at 90.