Features of application in the furniture industry
Conductors and templates are needed when assembling furniture. These things will prevent you from having a common problem that occurs during drilling—the drill hitting the part at the wrong angle. Correcting such an error will take an extremely long time, in some cases it will even be impossible.
A jig for making holes will not only allow you to correctly orient the working tool, but will also prevent it from straying from the desired trajectory.
In the furniture industry, jigs and templates are used in the following cases:
- in mass production;
- when assembling structures, when it is necessary to make holes for fasteners in the parts being connected. In this case, a jig for drilling holes for dowels or confirmat is suitable;
- a jig for drilling holes at an angle is used both in such cases and when working with thin boards, for example, MDF or chipboard.
When using such a device, the assembly process will be much easier and faster; you will be able to make the necessary holes regardless of how far they should be located from the edge of the part and how wide it is.
When assembling furniture yourself, you often have to connect parts end-to-end using dowels. Holes for dowels are best made using a special jig. The peculiarity of dowels is that despite the fact that such fasteners, although outdated, are still relevant in furniture production.
The difficulty in their use lies in the fact that the axes of the holes that are made in the parts when connecting must have a right angle with each other. Accordingly, they must be placed strictly perpendicular to each other. It is difficult to do this without a special device. Therefore, if you want to achieve high quality performance, it is recommended to buy a dowel jig.
Drilling at an angle
When manufacturing various parts and products, sometimes it becomes necessary to drill holes at angles. In this case, the accuracy must be maximum. It is difficult to achieve this without the use of special devices for the following reasons.
- Axial rotation of the tool is accompanied by increased friction on the cutting edges. It tends to move the drill to the side. This is especially noticeable when starting to drill holes at right or other angles. The situation is aggravated by the curvature of the workpiece or workpiece. Naking does not always help.
- It is very difficult to maintain the exact direction. When drilling holes at angles other than 90°, this is almost impossible.
- While drilling holes, the drill bit may move to the side. This occurs under the influence of a force arising from uneven friction on the surface.
- The difficulty increases to the maximum level when it is necessary to drill a large diameter hole at an angle.
The use of various devices helps reduce the influence of the above negative factors. To drill holes at angles, attachments and jigs are used (depending on the design features, they can be called overlays and templates), as well as improvised means.
Other uses
Hole jigs are used not only in furniture production. Quite often they are used when you need to make a hole in a pipe or other cylindrical part. Thanks to them, you can make a high-quality hole even in a pipe with a small diameter.
Such devices are universal and easy to use, so they are also used in the following industries:
- mechanical engineering - drilling holes in different-sized workpieces based on different materials;
- construction - drilling holes in building structures;
- home communications - as already mentioned, pipe drilling and more.
Modern drilling jigs can be of different sizes and have different operating principles. Some of them are complex, so they are easier to buy. And some modifications can be made independently, especially since some serial furniture models, especially those with universal purposes, are expensive.
Benefits of use
Essentially, such a jig acts as a template for making holes so that they are made as accurately as possible. They can be used for those holes whose axis is perpendicular to the surface of the workpiece, as well as for working at an angle.
This tool is an excellent alternative to sketches and manual measurements. You can place the drill strictly at the desired angle in relation to the workpiece and will not allow any deviation. The result will be especially noticeable when it comes to making deep holes.
If you use such a high-quality device for working with chipboard, then it should have the following characteristics:
- facilitate quick assembly of furniture without the need to use complex tools;
- make it possible to make several holes simultaneously without manual marking;
- significantly improve the quality of work with the drill.
Conductors are made from different materials; there are models based on plastic or organic glass. However, the best option is considered to be made of steel , which has such advantages as:
- minimal likelihood of deformation;
- the drill is directed as clearly as possible;
- no heating during operation.
Very often, overhead models based on lightweight materials that are easy to manipulate are used as furniture jigs. Many people use factory or homemade tools.
And the most qualified and experienced craftsmen no longer use a jig, since they can easily make a hole in structures on their own as accurately as possible. But not everyone can do this.
The key advantage of such a device is that the work can be performed as accurately and efficiently as possible, even by a person who does not have the proper experience. You don't have to do markings and complex preliminary calculations. You will save a lot of time and produce furniture much faster.
Homemade conductors
First of all, it should be noted that the simplest models of jigs are very inexpensive, so making a template for dowels with your own hands is not always advisable. In addition, you need to take into account that models for confirmations are the easiest to make. Options for dowels have a more complex design.
To independently create such a device, you need drawings that are easy to find in open sources. There are also instructions in different forms. They describe the creation of various types and variants of templates for dowels: with one and several holes, from different materials, etc. The starting materials can be represented by improvised raw materials such as wooden blocks, fragments of reinforcement and plates, etc. So, a square one will do reinforcement 10x10 mm. In addition, you will need plumbing tools and equipment such as a drill and grinder. To create more complex jigs, a welding machine is required.
Creating a template for dowels yourself involves several stages. At the first stage, the reinforcement is cut into fragments, the length of which is determined by the dimensions of the product. Next, holes are made for drilling, for which you need to know their parameters. They have a diameter of 5 mm and are 8 mm from the edge of the jig and 32 mm from each other. To increase ease of use, it is possible to equip it with a stop. It can be a plate bent at a right angle and fixed to the product. The parts are fixed using a clamp and fastened with threaded connections. In addition, sometimes homemade conductors are equipped with trays for chips in the form of fragments of plastic bottles.
Classification of tools
Before you buy a ready-made conductor or make it yourself, you need to decide what problems you will solve with its help and only then you need to select the appropriate option in terms of design and functions.
There are a number of categories of devices that differ in their design and functional features. Here are some of them:
- overhead - such devices are applied to a part that can be processed, then it is attached to it or simply fixed manually. With their help, holes are made in various flat parts, MDF boards or chipboard;
- rotary - these templates are used when processing cylindrical parts. They are equipped with horizontal and vertical axes of rotation, so holes can be made at different angles;
- universal - such devices are suitable for small serial furniture manufacturers, where sometimes quick readjustment of the equipment used is required, they have all the functions necessary for this;
- tiltable - used when the technological procedure is carried out in several planes at once;
- sliding - such conductors do not need to be attached. Simply attach them to the surface area of the workpiece where you want to make a hole;
- fixed - they are more convenient to use, but they limit freedom of action, which is very critical when working with machines where there is only one spindle.
Design features and types
A jig, in essence, is a template for drilling holes, allowing you to make them as accurately as possible. It is used both to create holes, the axis of which is perpendicular to the surface of the part, and for drilling at an angle.
Due to their versatility and simplicity, drilling jigs are widely used in various fields. In particular, in the mechanical engineering industry they have long been used to successfully drill holes in workpieces of various configurations and made of different materials. You cannot work without a conductor in furniture production, where such a device is actively used when assembling furniture, installing accessories on it and performing a number of other technological operations. Construction is another area where conductors are widely used. They are used, in particular, to drill holes in building structures. Conductors are also needed for drilling pipes and solving other tasks.
Even a simple device in the form of a strip with a stop greatly facilitates and speeds up the process of making holes of the same type
As furniture jigs, overhead models made of lightweight materials are most often used to make them more convenient to manipulate. You can purchase such devices prefabricated or make a furniture jig with your own hands. Qualified furniture makers may not use a jig to accurately and accurately drill holes in furniture structural elements, but to do this they must have extensive experience in their field.
The most significant advantage of the jig is that with its help, even a person who is not highly qualified can perform high-quality and accurate drilling of both a hole perpendicular to the surface of the part and an inclined hole. The use of jigs eliminates the need for complex preliminary calculations and marking the locations of future holes, which reduces the labor intensity of assembling a furniture structure and allows such work to be completed in a shorter period of time. Even a novice specialist can understand the use of a jig for drilling for dowels and solving other technological problems.
An overhead jig with a turret head is suitable for drilling standard holes for dowels of any size
Before purchasing or making your own homemade jig, determine what tasks you need to use it for, and based on this data, select its type and design.
Among the jigs for drilling holes, a number of categories can be distinguished by type of design and functionality.
Overhead
These jigs are so called because they are placed on the workpiece and secured to it or simply fixed by hand. Using jigs of this type, in particular, they drill holes in chipboard, MDF boards and other flat parts.
Rotary
Such templates can be used to make holes on cylindrical parts. Conductors of this type are equipped with vertical and horizontal axes of rotation, which makes it possible to make holes at different angles with their help.
Universal
These are devices that are especially relevant for small batch production, where the ability to quickly change over the equipment used is important. This type of conductor is endowed with just such functions.
This universal jig is designed for drilling holes for minifix, confirmat, rafix and door hinges.
Tiltable These
devices for drilling holes are required in cases where such a technological operation has to be performed in several planes.
Sliding and pinning
The sliding jig, in full accordance with its name, does not require fastening: it is simply applied to the area of the surface of the part where the hole needs to be drilled. Fixed jig devices, although more convenient, somewhat limit the freedom of action of the specialist, which is especially critical when performing drilling work on machines equipped with only one spindle.
