There are a lot of cabinet hardware jigs out there. I’ve used quite a few. Most of them work fine for standard 3″ (maybe up to 4 or 5″) pulls for door handles. And they leave a lot to be desired when drilling holes on wide surfaces, like drawer fronts. What if you have longer door pulls, like I did on my linen cabinet? And what if you don’t want to have to measure the center of every single drawer front to correctly place that old hardware jig? I found the True Position Cabinet Hardware Jig a couple years ago. Since then, I haven’t found a cabinet hardware scenario that it couldn’t handle. (affiliate link)
True Position Cabinet Hardware Jig
This jig is pricey at $189 for the core unit. But it is built to last, right here in the USA.
The rulers have both standard and metric readings.
Made of durable lightweight aluminum “with case hardened steel bushings”. (The bushings are the holes that guide the drill bits. So they outer shell is reinforced with hardened steel. To keep the bushings in ship shape through years of use. That’s the goal anyway.)
The core unit includes: T-Square with center bushing, two sliding drill guides, one sliding end stop, the sliding top stop, and a 5mm drill bit. (All in a cardboard case w/ handle.)
Shelf Pin Drilling Jig
With the core unit, you can center the jig on any drawer front up to 16″ in width.
You can purchase extensions that extend the width to 30″. In addition to giving you more cabinet hardware drilling possibilities, the extensions turn the cabinet hardware jig into a shelf pin drilling jig.
I mostly use it for cabinet hardware even with the extensions. (Probably because I forget I have it as a shelf pin drilling option.)
How to use it
There are multiple ways to use the jig, with and without the extensions.
1. Measure and mark the center (width) on every drawer front.
Lock the sliding drill guides in place so once you find your mark (in the center bushing), you’re ready to drill. This works great when you’re using the same hardware for multiple drawer fronts that are different sizes.
2. Use one sliding drill guide with the end stop and one extension arm.
Position the drill guide and the extension arm so one of the holes line up where you want it. I tape off the other holes near by — so I don’t accidentally drill the wrong one. This is useful for really wide drawer fronts where you’re installing knobs near the outside like I did with my craft room Map Drawers.
I used basically this same method for my linen cabinet door hardware. I used the center bushing and one hole in an extension arm.
3. Another option for the same “wide drawer front” situation is to use one drill guide with the end stop. Drill the hole on one side of the drawer front. Then flip the jig over and use on the opposite side.
4. This method uses both extensions and a special stop that I whipped up in my workshop. I like this method over option two where the T-square is positioned near one side of a wide drawer front. Because this allows the T-square to be more centered on the drawer front, it feels more stable.
With my special stop, I can set up the jig and quickly drill multiple drawer fronts without having to measure each drawer front to find center. I used a T-track bolt and knob to secure my scrap wood L “stop” to the jig. (affiliate link)
The shop made stop can be positioned anywhere on the extension arms, making this method the most effective and stable. Boom!
You’re welcome for coming up with that brilliant idea, True Position. I expect royalties on all sales after you manufacture and start selling your version of my “extension arm stop”. 😀
Without the stop, if you use both extensions, you still have to measure to find center on all drawer fronts. That is wasted time, in my opinion. NOT wasting time or dealing with “fiddle factor” is the whole purpose of a very expensive jig like this. The simple addition of the “extension arm stop” takes care of that problem.
Even though I had to devise my own attachment to make this jig reach it’s full potential, it’s still a worthy jig for cabinet installers. Is it worth the grand total of $299 for the jig and extension kit? (affiliate link)
Only you can say. The answer probably depends on how often you need to drill multiple, uniform, perfectly placed and spaced holes for cabinet hardware as quickly as possible.
For me, the answer is yes…which is why I purchased all the shiz…
And I use it all the time.