table leg drilling jig

I make small tables, trays, and such, in my one-man company in Montana. When I see a design that makes me wonder "Could I built that?" I may go for it. I also make chairs and cradles for dolls (though there are no dolls in my shop).

Jigs interest me. Now, I want a jig to hold table legs at an angle for drilling. Most such jigs online tilt back to front but the length of a leg demands a jig that tilts sideways, and tall enough for the leg to clear the edge of the drill table. Suggestions will be appreciated.

Hi Sourdough - welcome to HomemadeTools.net :welcome:

I'm going to move this discussion into our Tools in Progress subforum, so you can get some ideas from your jig.

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Originally Posted by Jon

Hi Sourdough - welcome to HomemadeTools.net :welcome:

I'm going to move this discussion into our Tools in Progress subforum, so you can get some ideas from your jig.

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Hi Sourdough, Interesting question, just here are to may options. Basically legs and the table are two pieces joined together and you can make justifications on both sides. It would be helpful to post some pictures of your work and than we could give you appropriate advices. Sorry for this additional effort on you, but it has no sense to invent something that will not fit your expectations. From anther side, here in this forum were posted several solutions for drilling the things under the angle. Keep in mind your solution also depend on the tools you have.
Cheers Robert

This has been the challenge for all Chair and stool builders for thousands of years. I'm sure the technique you're looking for is common to Windsor chairs. Find a book that answers your question.the only suggestion I can make is to build two triangles for both angles, set them on board and sight them as you drill. Or have some one else them with you. That or use a drill press, angling the base for one angle and a shim for the other.

Hi Sourdough and welcome to the forum. I need more information before I could offer any thoughts or advice. Also as asked an idea of what tools are on hand to work with. There should be several solutions and ways to get this done.

That is an interesting question... I generally build my pieces with primarily straight and square joints and lines in a Scandinavian style with all the corners rounded and smooth... I know the problem you are having and also suggest using your drill press with a slanting jig and shims, or angle the drill press table to account for your secondary angle... This problem is exactly why I build the type and style of furniture that I do... For me it is way too time consuming to have to set up these sort of jigs just to get the legs set on a chair or table, especially as I am not a fan of the style in the first place... I wish you luck though, and commend you for your commitment to your craft....

Welcome to the forum Sourdough! You pose a great question. I concur with the others. Pictures and a list of tools you have access to would be a great starting point.

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Originally Posted by Sourdough

I make small tables, trays, and such, in my one-man company in Montana. When I see a design that makes me wonder "Could I built that?" I may go for it. I also make chairs and cradles for dolls (though there are no dolls in my shop).

Jigs interest me. Now, I want a jig to hold table legs at an angle for drilling. Most such jigs online tilt back to front but the length of a leg demands a jig that tilts sideways, and tall enough for the leg to clear the edge of the drill table. Suggestions will be appreciated.

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Hi I'm glad Jon brought this to my attention. From the detail in your post i am not too sure what your intention is. do you need to be able to bore a socket at various angles or elase a fixed angle is the hole in two Planes?

For such work I prefer the olde worlde way....... drill brace loaded with the relevant bit and a as I call it incidence block basically a single or two plates made of plywood cut at the relevant angles centred and mounted on a 2 x 1 drilled with a hole large enough to clear your bit........ This means no drill table as in drill press just elbow grease and a workbench!!!! I tend to make these as I go and scrap them send me a pm with contact details and i'll try to assist with some drawings....... ps cnc sketchup whats that and how? i'm more protractor and compass scrap paper merchant but be glad to help if I can

Use two tilting drill press vises to establish the required compound angles then drill a through hole in a block of wood. Clamp said block to the chair seat and use an electric drill or brace and bit to drill the hole into the chair seat.

If you don't have two DP vises, cut an angled block on the table saw and use it to tilt the tilt vise for the first angle.

Hey Sourdough, I understand your problem had the same issue years ago when I was still furniture restorations. Think ball and socket,I built my jig out of 1/2 pipe and scrap ironwood for ball and hard maple for socket. Drill rod threaded with platform to clamp piece to will leave it to your imagination to design as you please. But I can go into detail if you have trouble. I turned ball on lathe but can buy all parts you need at Home Depot. Woodcravers also have something similar for in the round work.
Wish I still had the one I made,guess just have to make another one better this time. Good luck

Mr. Sourdough.
Welcome Sir, you have come to the right place!
We all love our jigs. Sometimes designing and building the jig is more fun and challenging than the project it's intended for. Everyone here brings years of knowledge to the table. I'm sure there is a creative solution(s) to help you reach your end goal. With that said, I have to agree with the other members that more info is needed in order to help you. I'm willing to help out in any way I can.

Chat soon,
Brian

~"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." -Thomas Edison
~"Some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence

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Originally Posted by Sourdough

I make small tables, trays, and such, in my one-man company in Montana. When I see a design that makes me wonder "Could I built that?" I may go for it. I also make chairs and cradles for dolls (though there are no dolls in my shop).

Jigs interest me. Now, I want a jig to hold table legs at an angle for drilling. Most such jigs online tilt back to front but the length of a leg demands a jig that tilts sideways, and tall enough for the leg to clear the edge of the drill table. Suggestions will be appreciated.

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sorry table legs is something that i have never done.

Hello Sourdough ... Welcome.

I have a drill press I modified so that the table would rotate between two opposing surfaces. So it has a basic position between 0 degrees and 180 degrees. As I built it I realized that adding various positions or lock in points would allow you to create highly repeatable angle setups with nothing but a stock wood table and fence. I have presets at 10, 35, 45, 90 on my current setup. I can lock in any angle in seconds and the repetitive accuracy is well within .005.

I'm just wondering if you think such a setup would help you.



http://www.homemadetools.net/forum/r...ss-table-11850

Attachment 14187
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Attachment 14186

These show making a vertical table hung over the side of the horizontal drill press table...and a vertical fence is added on the vertical table thus giving drilling access to the end of the workpiece.

These show 90deg end drilling, but you can fix a vertical fence at an angle or make a variable angle vertical fence on the jig. If you have a benchtop drill press, then the key to this is that the drill head gets rotated on the post, past the base of the drill press so there is vertical space for clamping the long workpiece. (So the drill bit is not centered over the drill press base.)

The second jig shown is end-drilling a short piece, but for a long piece, you'll need to move the drill press base near the edge of your cabinet or table and swing the drill head over. Then the drill press table is moved around so the drill bit is positioned correctly.

If you have a full height drill press, then you just need to move the drill press table over so the bit is positioned over the workpiece after it is clamped to your vertical support.

If you need compound drilling angles, then clamp one of these jigs to a tilting base like you have seen before.

Depending on what type of work you do, production or not, I would build a jig for a certain length of leg that can be easily clamped to the jig or held in place. Then build the jig to easily and quickly mount to the table with some bolts in t-slots. Unfortunately, I do not know what kind of drill press you have or if your table can easily tilt left or right. This would also depend if your drilling the end grain or side grain of the piece. Have you ever thought about just drilling in a large block of wood with the size of the drill bit and the correct angle, then just using a hand drill? This might be easier and faster than mocking something up on a drill press.

Hope this helps, Christian.

This works for square or round stools or small tables. Sketch should give an idea, adjustable in 5 degree increments angling out. Set angle at block desired adjust drill stop for depth required. Drill and stop not shown, jig size can vary. Attachment 14200

Attachment 14201 Another view in case it's not clear.

As a follow up to my previous post, I recalled this crude jig I used to drill 45 angles in some bench legs.

A jig repeats a task that accounts for many things, position, depth, angle, etc... You appear to be focused on the repetition of the angle. Without photos and more description is this the sort of function you have in mind?

The assumption is that you have a wood working table on a appropriately sized drill that allows you to consistently mount and remount this jig. I find it easy to keep one drilled prototype to help when reapplying a jig after removal.

Anyhow, hope that makes sense. Here is a photo. I used the table saw to achieve the correct angles in the jig. A accurate chop saw would also work. Attachment 14205

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Originally Posted by Sourdough

I make small tables, trays, and such, in my one-man company in Montana. When I see a design that makes me wonder "Could I built that?" I may go for it. I also make chairs and cradles for dolls (though there are no dolls in my shop).

Jigs interest me. Now, I want a jig to hold table legs at an angle for drilling. Most such jigs online tilt back to front but the length of a leg demands a jig that tilts sideways, and tall enough for the leg to clear the edge of the drill table. Suggestions will be appreciated.

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Sourdough, good question. Maybe not alot of help here, but I would agree with some that more information I believe would be needed to see what it is you are trying to do. Using a drill press with a tilting jig seems to be better then trying to tilt the drill press table, at least for me. But depending on the length of the leg and the location of the drilling may bring up issues. More details would help.