I’m trying to build a custom bookcase for my wife, has anyone every tackled something like this?
1/4" or 5mm end mill depending on your shelf clips, not too hard, just take a piece of scrap and adjust your settings.
1/4" Jenny bit? Thats the one I have laying around. Since Im cutting all the way through the material I wanted to make sure I could get a clean cut on both sides.
Downcut bit. Cuts clean on both sides. Just make sure the first plunge is at least .250 or greater
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If you’re using Vectric, and your holes are 5mm or 1/4", you can use a 1/8" end mill and an inside profile cut with a spiral ramp. It takes a little longer, but you probably have the bit on hand. I’ve used this with multiple sizes of holes, and it works as long as the bit is smaller than the hole diameter and doesn’t leave a substantial amount of material inside the hole.
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I use a brad point bit, leaves perfectly clean holes.
Pat
Any particular brand you find works the best?
I have a mini Jenny, probably would work with that one.
Get the el cheapo shelf pin jig like the one from kreg. Way way faster, easier and no time wasted trying to program cad/cam.
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Ha I actually think CAD would be easier for me as i do that for a living.
Hey Auntjemimma, hey Doconefall, hey Pat, hey Michael, hey Mrd, hey all,
If you design and build a new piece of furniture, and many specimens of them, you would do the holes with the CNC, here I think I would use a
A CNC router/spindle runs usually much faster than a hand power drill so I think what Michael said applies:
But I agree with @Doconefall in that in some situations, using a jig (like the Kreg Shelf Pin Jig) can be handy. You would use that when you retrofit such holes on an existing piece of furniture.
As someone who worked exclusively with hand tools for a very long time, I always marked such holes with my 12-inch incra rule (an extremely useful tool!),
and drill them with my japanese Star-M No. 4 power drill auger bit
with using the extremely useful and
by using my Schröder (Wuppertal) 2-speed hand drill
(my specimen is 70 years old, looks much older than on this image 
)
Maybe you know slow food, then you imagine what is slow woodworking – very healthy !
Nearly as healthy as doing a zen meditation while your robot (=the cnc machine) does the work
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If you’re good at CAD would it be possible to make you’re own jig?
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Don’t straight plunge with a downcut. The chips are pushed down into the hole with no where to go, and the hole tends to get blown out and enlarged to more than the desired diameter.
Most drill bits aren’t rated for even the slowest speed on the Makita, but some are: Drills – IDC Woodcraft
One option is to use a downcut bit of a smaller diameter than the hole, and use a boring toolpath the helix into the holes.
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Thats why i thought the Jenny bit might work well, it has a small section at the tip thats an upcut.
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I use Fusion 360 free personal use version. There is a menu for drilling. I use full retract strategy with a regular drilling bit and slowest speed on the Makita router.
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