PLA Printed pocket hole jig

[Dan Dubeau]

A couple years ago I designed and made this jig. It worked great, and I've used it for quite a few little projects around the house and shop. A buddy of mine was over one day when I was building something and asked to borrow it when I was done. Well over the years he asked to borrow it so many times, the last time I told him to just keep it i'll make another one. That was a few weeks ago and I totally forgot about it, so I spent some time searching everywhere this morning for it before I remembered..... Time to get the printer out (burried under a bunch of workbench junk) and get printing. Princess auto had step drills on sale so I ordered 2 a few weeks ago. They're actually porter cable branded and IMO better than the other one I gave him with the old jig lol.

First layer went down great after sitting idle for a few months. I really like this little printer.

Anyway, 4 hrs later, it's done. I should redesign it to print without supports, but I can guarantee you it's a job i'll never get around to doing lol. The first one drilled a few hundred holes at least with no issues, and I bumped up the wall thickness on this one to 4mm. If I ever break this one or get to using it more, I'll just make one from aluminum. The bushings are headed 3/8" drill jig bushings. I heat them up and push them into the holes and they melt into place. The open skeleton of this design clears chips really good, and the sight windows help line up the holes. The back face is zero clearance around the drill bit so there is little tearout. I have a pile of these quick grip clamps, so I can just grab one and strip the pad off whenever I need one.

Random test piece

Now I've got some shelves and storage to make.

 

[Darren]

Man, i need to get a 3d printer. I know nothing about them though

 

[Canadium]

Nice! Is that 100% infill?

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Man, i need to get a 3d printer. I know nothing about them though

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/400...%3B-1%40salePrice%3BCAD%3Brecommend-recommend

I got mine from amazon, but that link is an upgraded version of mine apparently. I like it because it's smaller than my Anet a8, and a lot more robust. I literally pulled this out from under a bunch of junk on my basement workbench, brought it upstairs, plugged it in and started printing. I haven't used it in months, but it's pretty rugged and the bed doesn't go out of level if you look at it wrong. They are really pretty simple, and there is a wealth of info out on the web now. IMO you really unlock their potential when you are able to design you're own stuff in cad. But a quick browse through thingiverse will probably cue up a few days worth of printing cool stuff for most first timers lol.

That roll of PLA has also been sitting out for years, so accordingly to the printing purists on some sites it will probably blow up and take out a bus full of nuns, but I've never had any trouble or noticed that much difference in practice.

Nice! Is that 100% infill?

Only 20%. I did up the wall thickness on this one to 4mm compared to the last one I printed. If it was a daily use Item I'd just just machine one, but for the odd job every now and then it's pretty durable.

Here's a link to download on thingiverse if anybody wants to print one.
https://www.thingiverse.com/dandubeau/designs

 

[deleted_user]

One of the very first things I did upon buying my 3d printer was review all of the pocket hole jigs available on thingiverse.

I will likely design my own because I have a some 3/8ID x 3/4"OD x 1" of carbide bushings I pressed into a jig I made years ago out of mdf I can scavenge. People are crazy to pay the price kreg charges for these