A beginning wood worker should be able to get the hole spacing as close by hand as with a piece of peg-board. My experience with peg-board shows that it is not very accurate. If you cannot get the spacing close enough that any variation is not detectable with teh “necked” eye, you should take up knitting.

Rick’s comment…

Paul everything was good until you added the knitting comment…Please be advised we don’t want anyone changing hobbies, right? Ha, Ha…

So your position is to measure and mark the drilling positions then drill by hand, right? OK… Thanks again Paul.

It actually makes no difference if all the holes are spaced “EXACTLY’ the same distance. It would be sufficient to just mark off all the holes on a line scribed down the APPROXIMATE center of the pattern with a yo-yo tape measure then drill them with a spade bit. Any differences in elevation of the shelves would not be detectable with the “necked” eye as long as the bottom end of the pattern was on the same end of the piece being drilled.

Tear out is not a problem because the router pilot extends into the hole in the pattern and a pattern is not the finished piece. The pattern is just that, a pattern.

Rick’s Comment,

Great observation, Paul…

So to recap your comment Paul, your saying it doesn’t matter if the holes are exactly 2″ apart and in the center of the pattern. Why, because all holes are drilled with the same pattern so the hole position will exactly the same on each corner.

To add to Paul’s observation about the pattern, you might consider marking one edge of the pattern as the outer edge. Then by flipping the pattern one face as the left corner and one face as the right corner and keeping the marked edge on the outside edge of the cabinet sides. This will make the pattern of the hole positions exactly the same.

This technique creates a right and left handed pattern and all holes are going to be exactly positioned the same. Example, if pattern hole 3 is set at 2-1/8″ and not 2″ all four holes are going to be the same…

My only comment: The closer to the 2″ on center and the center on the pattern width the better the position of the holes will be on the cabinet sides. The naked eye will not be able to distinguish the different positions. If you are drilling by hand you have to be at the very least close on the hole positions.

Regards, Rick

One way to make the pattern with a hand drill is to take a piece of 1/8″ pegboard as long as your pattern blank and three peg holes wide. Carpet tape or tack the pegboard to the plywood with the middle line of holes aligned with a centerline marked on the plywood.

Since the spacing of the holes in the pegboard is approximately 1″ drill through every other pegboard hole to get 2″ between centers. You can use a small VIX bit (self-centering hinge screw bit) to create pilot holes, remove the pegboard and then use a 1″ spade bit to bore the holes or, if you don’t want to save the pegboard, just use the spade bit and bore through both the pegboard and the plywood letting the pilot on the spade bit center on the pegboard holes.

I prefer spade bits with a spur at the edge rather than a totally flat bit. It cuts cleaner because the spurs score the wood before the flat hits and is easier to keep straight. They also usually cut cleaner on the back side without a lot of tearout. Be sure to use a backer board to avoid tearout on the back side. You can also bore part way through from the front until you have a pilot hole on the back and then back-drill. As long as you don’t go too far in from the front you’ll get an accurate back-drilling because the spade bit will still accurately center on the pilot hole.

Comment from Rick,

Gary now we are talking, that’s a great tip on “How To” make a equidistant hole pattern using the drill press. I hope everyone can visualize the process.

Now, is there anyone else with a way to do it with the router and a drilling fixture? And is it possible to make this pattern with a portable hand drill?