Pocket Hole Jig w/ sleeve bearings (openscad)

thingiverse

I made some modifications to the original design by Spoonless at https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1489845. I set the pocket hole angle to 18 degrees. I'm still unsure about the ideal angle, however. I added measurements on top of the jig so that when you're drilling into a board of a given thickness, you can align the line for that thickness with the edge of the board. I also added a penetration depth parameter, which allows you to set how much of the board's thickness you want to drill through. The default setting is 60%, so if you use the measurement lines on top of the jig, your screw will come out 60% of the way down the board's thickness. However, I'm still unsure about the ideal penetration setting for achieving the best joints. You can further customize things in the OpenSCAD file. You can uncomment the section that visualizes the drill bit when it's inside the jig. This is useful for ensuring you have the right length sleeve bearing and that your drill bit is long enough. I use a 3/8" pocket hole drill bit. Here's the depth stop I'm using on my drill bit: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2783491. I used oil-embedded bronze sleeve bearings from McMaster-Carr in this jig at https://www.mcmaster.com/catalog/125/1232. The specifications for these bearings are as follows: Inner Diameter = 3/8" Outer Diameter = 1/2" Length = 7/8" or 1" The fit is fairly tight, so I just pressed them in. When using the pocket hole jig, I first set the depth stop collar on my drill bit so that the bit comes 1/8" of an inch from penetrating out of the board. You can see this shown here: https://www.woodmagazine.com/woodworking-tips/techniques/joinery/pocket-hole. I have a picture attached that shows me aligning the drill bit next to the board – I should have pulled the bit back a little so that the tip of the bit is at least 1/8" away from the edge of the board. Print Settings: I printed in PLA with a 0.2mm layer height, but I'm not sure what infill percentage I used. It was probably around 20-25%. The length sleeve bearing you want will depend on the penetration setting and angle that you set. You basically want the longest possible length that doesn't peak out of the bottom of the jig. To visualize this, you can uncomment the section in the code that says "uncomment below to visualize drill bit" and play with different lengths of drill bits. I would recommend printing a single hole jig first to ensure the bearing fits. This may vary depending on your printer. I have attached a single hole jig STL, but the OpenSCAD file gives you freedom to tweak everything if it doesn't work.