larry merlau
Member
- Messages
- 18,741
- Location
- Delton, Michigan
Some of us do things one at a time and others need to do it more productive or need to maintain uniform position.. i have ten drawers that need pulls and to measure each one and drill it then do it over again is way to time consuming and a mistake waiting to happen.. so here is how i deal with things like that usually,, yup i threw in a escape clause
First i take and lay then all out in the order they will go and then decide as to where the first one needs to be, in this case i have a divider built in to look like two dressers so i need to have the pulls centered on the top one between the edge and the divider..
the rest could be positioned with a offset but in my mind that doesnt look good, so we need to use the top measurement and carry it threw the whole group..i took and found the center between the divider and edge of the drawer front. this where a centering ruler is a blessing.. can be done with normal rulers but this works better for me..
do the same thing on the vertical face of the drawer and make a mark for reference on both ends of the front, mark the center on the top and then take and make a offset mark can be what ever you want but i try to get it close to where the first hole will be and also try to have it fall on a easy dimension, like in this case i used the end of the ruler and came in at 5"
then with the ruler i took painters tape and marked the ruler with pointers to show me the right position of the drill marks and the edge offset.. then it was just a matter of taking the scratch awl and using a mallet to drop punch the position for the drill holes.. use a mallet its easier on your hands and makes it easier to see your exact position better.. once they are all marked then you can go to the drill press and have a good point for drill positioning and make your holes for all of them at once and be assured they are uniform.. one last thing i would like to emphasize on is the use of steel rulers not tape measures,, you can get into trouble fast with tape rulers, they are good in there place but the steel rulers excel in a lot of areas in woodworking.
First i take and lay then all out in the order they will go and then decide as to where the first one needs to be, in this case i have a divider built in to look like two dressers so i need to have the pulls centered on the top one between the edge and the divider..
the rest could be positioned with a offset but in my mind that doesnt look good, so we need to use the top measurement and carry it threw the whole group..i took and found the center between the divider and edge of the drawer front. this where a centering ruler is a blessing.. can be done with normal rulers but this works better for me..
do the same thing on the vertical face of the drawer and make a mark for reference on both ends of the front, mark the center on the top and then take and make a offset mark can be what ever you want but i try to get it close to where the first hole will be and also try to have it fall on a easy dimension, like in this case i used the end of the ruler and came in at 5"
then with the ruler i took painters tape and marked the ruler with pointers to show me the right position of the drill marks and the edge offset.. then it was just a matter of taking the scratch awl and using a mallet to drop punch the position for the drill holes.. use a mallet its easier on your hands and makes it easier to see your exact position better.. once they are all marked then you can go to the drill press and have a good point for drill positioning and make your holes for all of them at once and be assured they are uniform.. one last thing i would like to emphasize on is the use of steel rulers not tape measures,, you can get into trouble fast with tape rulers, they are good in there place but the steel rulers excel in a lot of areas in woodworking.