Kreg Jig - Rare Earth Magnet Mod

Brent Dowell

Administrator
Staff member
Messages
16,542
Location
Reno NV
Hmmm, Thought I would post this in the Tips section, but no rights to do a new thread there. Anyway...

So, I was using my Kreg R3 Pocket Hole Jig a bit lately.
r3.jpg
It had a neat little plastic thing that attached to the vice grip type clamp that made it quick and easy to put the tool on a board, drill the pockets, then move to the next. The problem is the plastic thingy broke, and it didn't stay on the clamp anymore.

So I got to thinking. A rare earth magnet embedded in the pocket hole jig would be even better. Easier to attach and less prone to breaking.

So that's what I did. I drilled a little 3/4" recess into the jig, scratched up the magnet a bit, and used some epoxy to glue the magnet to the jig. Quick, easy, and better than before! :thumb:

Jig with Broken plastic thingy...
attachment.php


Magnet Glued into jig.
attachment.php


Magnet holding jig to clamp!
attachment.php
 

Attachments

  • kreg_1.jpg
    kreg_1.jpg
    86.5 KB · Views: 610
  • kreg_2.jpg
    kreg_2.jpg
    94.5 KB · Views: 610
  • kreg_3.jpg
    kreg_3.jpg
    90.2 KB · Views: 607
I liked the R3 so much, when Woodcraft had a special on the master kit the other day, I picked that up. It really is quite a handy little item...
 
Be careful with this because rare earth magnets are quite fragile. I don't know about compression stress as you are applying here, but they do break quite easily in a shear situation.

Jim
 
I actually used a forstner bit to drill a slight recess so that the magnet is just barely below the level of the jig just for that very reason :thumb:
 
Top