A Jig for Drilling Cabinet Doors

Today I made a drilling jig, not a dance; rather, a tool, from some inexpensive hardwood that I picked up from the hardware store.  Before April and I started our kitchen remodeling project, we removed the original door knobs from everything.  We HATE knobs.  Knobs will reach out, grab a pocket on cargo pants, and rip the pant leg right off.  Everyoe in our family has had at least one item of clothing ripped by snagging a knob while we walked by.

We LOVE handles because they pose virtually no clothing hazard and they look really great.  There are a couple of challenges installing handles.  First, there are twice as many holes to drill.  Second, the holes need to be exactly as far apart as the corresponding holes in the handles the screws attach them to.  Third, the holes need to be aligned with each other.  I suspect so many kitchen cabinets do not have handles on the cabinets because they are so much harder than knobs to install.

Over the past two months I've thought a lot about how I would install the handles on the doors.  I knew I couldnt eye-ball each hole.  The question I kept asking myself was, 'How do I drill two holes in exactly the same spot on every door, and how do I mirror the holes on opposite sides?'

The answer to my question was to build a jig.  My first design was an utter flop.  In fact I asked my son-in-law Zach to help me with this.  I gave  him exact instructions and he followed them exactly.  The problem was that my original design was vulnerable to drill-bit deviation, a deflection of the drill bit.  It was also too big and impossible to build with the tools I had on hand.

My son-in-law did an awesome job, my design was flawed.  A week later I came up with a jig design that reduced the effects of bit flex, would put the holes in exactly the same place every time and would mirror the holes by flipping the jig over.  I'm happy to report the jig worked flawlessly and is pictured above.

The jig works by placing it over the corner in the door where the handle will go then drilling through the jig's holes into the door.  I secured the jig with a clamp.  I also placed a piece of wood behind the door to reduce splintering when the drill bit pass out the back of the door.

Here I'm drilling the holes in an upper cabinet door that opens on the left (hinges on right).  I've positioned the jig so the holes will be in the lower left corner of the door.  I can mirror these holes on a door that opens on the right by flipping the jig over.  Nifty eh?

It took me an hour to create the jig; however, once the jig was created I was able to drill all the door handle holes in just a few mintues.