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Introduction

Sometimes what appears to be the easiest job end up the most troublesome. For instance, drilling for drawer (and door) pulls. It almost essential to use some kind of jig to drill for drawer pulls to get them aligned perfectly and placed symmetrically on the drawer front. You can use any of a variety of shop-built and purchased jigs to drill for drawer pulls, but my method works great and only requires a drill press, a fence with two flip-up stop blocks, and a drill bit.

The Process

I use my Shopsmith drill press, the Shopsmith fence, and a Fasttrack DP fence with two flip stops for this procedure. The procedure is as follows:

1. Position the fence so that the drill bit centered over the drawer horizontal center. I always put the bottom of the drawer front against the fence.
2. Determine the distance for the outside hole in relation to the side of the drawer front and position the stops to that amount, left and right of the drill bit.
3. Flip up the right stop and move the drawer front against the left stop and drill the hole.
4. Flip up the left stop and move the drawer front against the right stop and drill the hole.
5. Repeat Steps 3 and 4 for all drawer fronts.
6. Move the stops out (away from the drill bit) either 2-1/2" or 3" (depending on the drawer pull hole spacing).
7. Repeat Steps 3 and 4 for all drawer fronts.

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