I was cleaning my shop - or, as my wife puts it, "Moving the same old c**p from here to there", when I found this jig I'd made years ago.
This was in the days before YouTube, and I was installing a handrail down the foyer stairs when I realized that I needed to drill the holes under the angled handrail. Having never done this before and, given the length, I wasn't sure about trying to drill them on the drill press so
I thought about how to do this and came up with this little jig.
I had the newel post in place at the bottom, the rosette attached at the top and the handrail cut and screwed in place,
- laid out the spindle locations on the treads going down the stairs, and transferred the location to the underside of the railing using a plumb bob.
- the jig was clamped to the bottom of the handrail, the angle lock loosened, the guide rails adjusted until they were plumb and the angle lock tightened.
- I'd marked the center of the hole on the jig so lined that up with the location of the spindle and then drilled the hole. Did this for the whole length of the handrail - had to reverse the jig when I got to the newel post as the jig was too long so needed to replumb the guide.
When that was all done, I took the handrail out and then installed the spindles - dowel screws into the treads and then the spindle screwed onto them - and then dropped the handrail over the spindles and reattached the ends of the handrail. Surprisingly, it all went together.
I thought I'd thrown that little jig out years ago - maybe my wife is right about my shop - would be interesting to look it up on YouTube and see how it should have been done.
This was in the days before YouTube, and I was installing a handrail down the foyer stairs when I realized that I needed to drill the holes under the angled handrail. Having never done this before and, given the length, I wasn't sure about trying to drill them on the drill press so
I thought about how to do this and came up with this little jig.
I had the newel post in place at the bottom, the rosette attached at the top and the handrail cut and screwed in place,
- laid out the spindle locations on the treads going down the stairs, and transferred the location to the underside of the railing using a plumb bob.
- the jig was clamped to the bottom of the handrail, the angle lock loosened, the guide rails adjusted until they were plumb and the angle lock tightened.
- I'd marked the center of the hole on the jig so lined that up with the location of the spindle and then drilled the hole. Did this for the whole length of the handrail - had to reverse the jig when I got to the newel post as the jig was too long so needed to replumb the guide.
When that was all done, I took the handrail out and then installed the spindles - dowel screws into the treads and then the spindle screwed onto them - and then dropped the handrail over the spindles and reattached the ends of the handrail. Surprisingly, it all went together.
I thought I'd thrown that little jig out years ago - maybe my wife is right about my shop - would be interesting to look it up on YouTube and see how it should have been done.
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