I just drilled my 1st pocket holes & not so good?

[phillip Dare]

HI all,

I would like some help with this problem.

I have a dining table with loose legs. Top rail around table is 40 x 90mmand joins on the leg with a face of 100mm.

I used the spacer supplied in my K4 M/S pack and added another spacer measuring 18mm as per the instructions to the base of the hole guide. I then clamped it onto the face of the job to be drilled.  I am drilling through 40mm which joins to another 40mm timber. 

I set the collar at 2" as per the guide. 

When I drilled the screw in it did not grab fully and seemed to slip. 

Q. Did I drill too deep or because the wood is Cedar, should I use less tension on the drill (ie. clutch).

[Ken Kortch]

Assuming the screw did poke through the other side of the receiving material ...

I would guess that when inserting the screw you applied too much torque and stripped the screw hole.  You've essentially drilled a hole there.

I would think you can fix it by removing the screw, jamming glue-coated wooden toothpicks or similar into the receiving material hole (NOTE the pocket hole!), letting it set up, and then retry with MUCH less torque.

Make sure you're using a course-thread screw rather than a fine-thread screw.

[phillip Dare]

Thanks ken,

I had a feeling I used too much torque.

I am still puzzled about measuring the depth on the guide. Do I measure from the tip of the drill or from the start of the wider part of the drill?.

[james wilhelm]

Phillip, set your drill bit with the wide part on the mark , not the tip , hope this helps , JIM !!

[KregRep]

Place the step bit in the setup gauge on the jig base, aligning the step shoulder with the dimension mark that matches the thickness of your workpiece. Slide the stop collar onto the end of the bit and position it against the end of the stop-collar recess. Tighten the stop-collar set screw with the hex wrench.

[Alex Brolly]

Very good reply to your initial question and dilemma Phillip.

[phillip Dare]

Thanks to all for your responses.