TIL the hard way about pocket hole jig calibration

Honestly I almost ruined a whole kitchen cabinet set last Wednesday because I didn't check my pocket hole jig alignment. I was building upper cabinets for a client in Nashville and everything looked fine until I started clamping the face frames together. The screw holes were off by like 2 millimeters and the joints looked terrible. I spent 3 hours disassembling and re-drilling all 12 cabinet doors I had already put together. Turns out I bumped my Kreg jig off my bench when I dropped a piece of plywood on it two weeks ago and never recalibrated. Now I check the alignment on a scrap piece before every big job no matter what. Has anyone else had a jig get knocked out of whack and not notice until it's too late?

2 comments

2 Comments

juliawalker10d ago

That alignment square Joel mentioned is definitely worth having around.

joelthomas11d ago

Man that's rough, I feel your pain. I always run a couple test holes in scrap before starting any real project now because I learned the same way you did after my jig took a hit and threw everything off. Get yourself a small alignment square and check it before each job, it takes like thirty seconds and saves you from that exact nightmare.