Beginner problem: Drilling out the plastic of the Kreg jig

[Danny McDaniel]

Hey all. I finally got my jig, moved into a new house and have got a long list of stuff I want to make. So, I thought time for a trial run. 

Problem is, the drill started drilling out the plastic of the jig (see photo) and then just stopped. My first guess is that the drill's battery is flat so I'm recharging it now. But, what am I doing wrong that the drill is taking out the plastic of the jig?

I'm a complete beginner, so just clamping it all up was a challenge.

[Ken Darga]

Danny,

Have you contacted Kreg's customer service?

800-447-8638?

I'd discuss the matter with them.

I see 47 reviews, since your post, and no response.

[KregRep]

Hi Danny. As Ken said, your best bet for a technical such as this, is to please contact the Kreg Technical Support Team by calling 800-447-8638 or emailing [e-mail]. If you decide to email them, please be sure to attach the same photos you did here. Thanks!

KregRep

[Danny McDaniel]

Thank you. I will email tech support. 

[Jay Boutwell]

Danny you are not doing anything wrong,  It is the alignment of the steel bushing in the jig body.  Sometimes the plastic is not perfectly aligned with the bushings.  Drilling down through the full length will take care of it.  You might then want to check out the alignment of the body with the angle of the final hole drilled in a sample of wood.   Easy way is to bore a couple pocket holes into a piece of scrap that is 3/4" thick with the drill bit stop set correctly for 3/4" material.  Then take a 1 1/4" pocket hole and screw the screw through the wood.  It should exit the bottom of the scrap wood  in the center of the scrap wood.

Something else that you might want to check is to be certain that the drill motor you are using is tight with out excess bearing movement and that the drill chuck if properly gripping the bit centered so that there is no wobble of the bit at the boring end of the bit.  Easy way to do this is to chuck up the bit and then holding the drill up in front of you and looking at the bit see if there is any wobble in the end of the bit.  Roll the bit on a flat surface to be certain that the bit is not crooked is also not a bad idea.

[Danny McDaniel]

Thanks, Jay. I will follow your suggestions and report back. 

Jay Boutwell said:

Danny you are not doing anything wrong,  It is the alignment of the steel bushing in the jig body.  Sometimes the plastic is not perfectly aligned with the bushings.  Drilling down through the full length will take care of it.  You might then want to check out the alignment of the body with the angle of the final hole drilled in a sample of wood.   Easy way is to bore a couple pocket holes into a piece of scrap that is 3/4" thick with the drill bit stop set correctly for 3/4" material.  Then take a 1 1/4" pocket hole and screw the screw through the wood.  It should exit the bottom of the scrap wood  in the center of the scrap wood.

Something else that you might want to check is to be certain that the drill motor you are using is tight with out excess bearing movement and that the drill chuck if properly gripping the bit centered so that there is no wobble of the bit at the boring end of the bit.  Easy way to do this is to chuck up the bit and then holding the drill up in front of you and looking at the bit see if there is any wobble in the end of the bit.  Roll the bit on a flat surface to be certain that the bit is not crooked is also not a bad idea.

[Danny McDaniel]

Problem solved.

So, here is what I did.

• Made sure I had a fully charged drill
• Got some wood that is 3/4" thick ( thanks, Jay!)
• Ensured that the drill bit was centred in the chuck and tight
• Tried again: Win! It worked! 

BUT!

• While the 9V cordless drill was the  "little engine that could" after a full charge up, it struggled a bit towards the end;
• A fully charged 18V cordless, was MUCH better. It worked like it was born to it :)

• The 9V, having tried it a second time, still took out a bit of plastic from the jig. 

• The 18V ( used after the 9V driller), took no visible plastic out. 

I'd say that the 18V drill also made a slightly neater looking pocket hole than the 9V drill. 

From now on, I'll stick with the 18V drill to do this work. 

A check of the alignment of the body of the jig shows that all is well: the 11/4" screw came out in the centre. See attached photo.   Thanks, Jay, for this tip. It was a valuable exercise!

P.S: the 9V drill was perfect for screwing in though :)

[Jay Boutwell]

Excellent Danny, I am pleased that it took care of your problem and now you can get on with enjoying the jig.  I have confidence in in Kreg Tools however like everything else there is an occasional faulty one that slips past everyone.  Many of the jigs will leave a small amount of shaving and it is very noticeable due to the bright blue color.  The real test of all of them for accuracy is just like I advised you.  In time the holes in the body will clean up and become polished and will do nothing  to harm the accuracy of the jig.  As long as the steel barrels stay tight you will have a great preforming jig for many thousands of holes.

 The length of time the jig will last is unknown to me however I have the k-4 and use it extensively in the field and on projects were I can not use my stationary jig.  My stationary jig is the K-2 which is all metal and I have used it for over 25 years in a cabinet shop boring unknown number of several thousands of hole in every type material form ply woods to the hardest of hardwoods and of course the soft woods, like pine, cedar and alder and others.  The K-4 has drilled several thousand holes in varied angles and conditions and bores as good today as the day I bought it.  The K-2 is my favorite and although it is meant for 3/4" wood I have bored several hundred thousand holes and can not wear the thing out.   Since we are talking jigs here I am fortunate enough to have the new pocket hole machine (Kreg Foreman) and can tell you that it is worth every penny if you are looking to bore a large amount of holes such as building cabinets and such.  So save up your pennies as it is worth many times more money that the selling price.

In drilling holes I might add it is a good choice you made by using a more powerful drill motor as it helps in the speed and the quality of the holes drilled.  The reason is more rpm's of the bit mean smaller chips and a finer cut on the walls of the hole.  I use a corded drill on most holes that I drill in my shop due to the learning curve of how fast it cuts and amount you allow the drill to feed into the hole.  Always let the bit do the cutting and do not push down with excessive pressure to increase the speed of the cut.  Happy jigging and looking forward to seeing some of your projects.