Big Horn 19138 1/4 Inch Shelf Pin Bit Self-Centering Drill Bit

Yep. First test hole and the drill bit fell out. Backed out the Allen set screw a little to get the bit back in and the whole thing blew apart. Luckily the assorted spring and washers landed on the bench rather than in the perennial saw dust pile on the floor. I urge that you examine the placement of the components, even though it really only goes back together only one way, just in case it does blow apart.Its not rocket science to reassemble it but annoying none the less. Suggestion... Remove C-clip from barrel, assemble holder and drill bit to preferred depth locking down the set screw and THEN install spring and washer over barrel, then compress spring and retainer washer to the "step", which will help hold the spring back (sorta) until you get the C-clip back on. THe clip is a tight fit. Best done in a place where if it pops apart you can find the pieces.I could tell the Allen socket was going to strip out of the set screw as I was tightening it in order to securely hold the drill bit in place. I suggest grinding a ¾" long flat on the drill bit shank for the set screw to set in. Also first chance get a good hardened Grade 6 or 8 Allen set screw at your local hardware store to replace the anemic one that comes with this tool.If you strip out the hex the extractor to remove the set screw will cost more than the tool it self. Unless that is you already own a extractor set. If you don't ....Well you needed a set in the shop anyways in case you have to fix the wash machine.. I tell my wife that a lot. I think she is on to me when she smiled at me funny about the surface planer.Other than that, it works. The bit is not the sharpest bit in the drawer so it will overheat if your into oak or harder and forcing it. It doesn't appear to be a "high speed" drill bit so use lower speeds.. Although it seems happy enough in pine, birch, or popular but it does clog and binds easy in solid soft stringy woods, because it doesn't chip but rather "screws" but it clears easy enough. A good brad point Erwin bit (with a home ground flat in the shank), about 2-4 big box bucks, would make this a good tool. Most of us don't have the means nor ability to grind a chipper relief into such a small drill bit.

I have had several of these shelf pin jig bits. This one has a couple of positives and one big, but fixable, negative. The bad news first: when I first started using it, the bit fell apart. I tightened the allen screw and after a few holes it fell apart again. This time small parts scattered on the floor and the spring launched itself across my shop.Once I collected all the parts, thinking how lucky I was to have swept the floor the day before, i took a closer look at the bit to determine why it was coming apart. The problem is that there was no flat on the shank of the drill bit.So I ground a flat, reassembled it, and proceeded to drill a few hundred shelf pin holes. Not only did the bit perform flawlessly, but the guide spun freely, reducing wear on the jig, and the chips cleared better than in previous ones i have owned.

May not be the case with every sample, but the one I got drilled holes that were too large for my standards: pins tilted and a 17/64" bit was a loose fit. I would have returned it but I had already been waiting two weeks for delivery due to an Amazon mistake so I was able to replace the drill bit from my boxes and drill the size holes I like. Inexpensive yes, but next time I'll pay the extra for a Vix bit (my 5mm Vix has been drilling proper size holes for at least ten years). I wrote Big Horn an email and I will follow up this review if they have an appropriate response.Bighorn was quick to respond and suggest the probable cause of the oversize hole -brad point ground off center. They sent a complete replacement at no charge and this one drills perfectly sized holes. A lengthy process, but Bighorn does care about customer satisfaction.

I bought this as recommend to go with the rockler jig. I got maybe 20 holes drilled and the center drill bit stuck in the hole. Pulled it out and saw the set screw to tighten it in to the housing. 1) if you loosen the set screw, have the spring held it's under tension. 2) the shaft to the drill bit is cylindrical. There is no key notch on the bit for the set screw to bite on. I put the bit back in and tighten the set screw but can not go more than 5 holes without it coming out again. This was supposed to make for a fun project building shelves very frustrating.

Set screw came out that locks everything in. Finally got it back together set screw landed on my bench lucky day for me.

Falls apart to easy

I bought this to use with Woodhaven 781 Shelf Pin Jig. It seems like it would work o.k. but I needed it to drill a hole 1/2 inch deep to fit the adjustable pegs I bought. I could not get it to drill deep enough, the bit isn't long enough to set that deep. I ended up taking it apart and using only the base that centers it in the jig and using a drill stop on a 1/4 inch drill to set the depth. Drilled 225 holes in a shelf and worked great. Relatively inexpensive and did the job, sort of. If you need a shallow hole it would work great. I can not comment on the durability of the entire tool because of the way I used it. I did use it a few times as a whole unit when I first got it to try it out and it worked fine. Hope this helps.

I used the drill bit in my 6 year old Ryobi Cordless 18v drill. Tried in router and in RotoZip on test pieces and didn't like the results because of the speed the drill guide had, it burned the plastic jig surface. I found that if I used the highest speed with the Ryobi after positioning the bit in the jig the results were quite clean. Had to reset the drill to get a full 3/8" depth for the 1/4" pins but beyond that it worked fine. Did have some problem with debris build up but developed a technique to clear after every two or three holes and spent several hours drilling over 1K holes in panels for custom closet.

It just works great