How to make a Blum drilling jig for Blum Tandem plus Blumotion drawer glide locking mechanisms.
I created a Blum drilling jig so I could drill all the holes for the drawer glide locking mechanisms more quickly. I got tired of measuring each side of each drawer. I lazily tried using a paper template but it didn’t hold up. So I moved my drawer parts aside and spend a half hour making a jig that I can use every time I make drawers from here on out. Shoulda’ done this a couple years ago!
Blum Drilling Jig for Drawer Glide Locking Mechanisms
To use Blum drawer glides, you have to notch out and drill holes in the sides of the drawer back. Check out these posts for related tutorials.
How to Build a Drawer for Blum Drawer Glides
Installing Drawers using Blum Drawer Glides
I’ve been using a ruler to measure but a jig will make the task 100 times faster. The size isn’t really important because the hole is placed in the bottom left corner of each drawer. A 6×6 jig would probably work. The top is open so it will accommodate tall drawers.
Blum Drilling Jig Base
I used 1/2″ plywood for my jig because I build my drawers out of 1/2″ material.
- One piece is 10×20″
- Two strips are 1 1/2″ wide by at least 10″ long
Glue the strips onto the base on the left side and bottom left.
Use a square to make sure these strips are square. It doesn’t matter if your base isn’t square as long as the strips create a square corner. Let the glue dry before you move on.
Next you’ll attach a small scrap of wood onto the bottom left corner.
I used a 4×6″ piece of 1/4″ plywood.
Draw lines on this piece to mark the location of the 1 1/2″ strips because those will be the outside edges of the “inside of the jig”. Meaning when you slide a drawer piece into the jig, it will stop when it hits that strip on the left.
You will reference off of the lines you just drew as the outside when you measure up and over for your hole location.
Blum Drilling Jig – Hole Location
NOTE: The location will be different depending on which drawer glides you are using. Blum Glides for 3/4″ material are different than those for 1/2″-5/8″ material. Make sure you customize your template based on the Blum glides you are using.
Below is the drilling location for the 1/2″-5/8″ material glides and locking mechanisms I use.
- 7mm over and 24mm up is easier to find on a metric ruler.
Use a brad point drill bit to center your drill bit exactly in the center of your mark and use 1/4″ diameter drill bit. Slide a piece of 1/2″ plywood into the jig before you drill the initial hole to give you a clean cut.
I drill the hole all the way through the drawer piece. So once I drill the left side, I flip the drawer back over and drill the right side.
When building a batch of drawers, I clamp down my Blum drilling jig. Then I slide in and drill drawer piece after drawer piece after drawer piece…
And I have perfectly placed holes for my locking mechanisms every time.
Check out these posts for related Blum tutorials.
ERic says
So you drill the hole all the way through?