How do I make shelf pin holes and hinge cup holes for cabinet parts?

Shelf pin holes

The common cabinet standard described by a tooling maker's guide is the 32 mm system: 5 mm holes, spaced 32 mm apart in a vertical row, with the first row set 37 mm from the front edge of the panel. Check your own hardware before committing.

Layout

1. Draw one circle the same diameter as the bit (5 mm bit, 5 mm circle).
2. Use Array Copy to make the column at 32 mm spacing, then copy the column for the rear row.
3. Mirror the layout for the opposite cabinet side so left and right match.

Toolpath

1. Select the circles and open the Drilling Toolpath. The official documentation says it drills the center of each selected closed vector to the Cut Depth, so the hole size comes from the bit, not the circle.
2. Tick Peck Drilling for deeper holes. The bit cuts to the Pass Depth from the tool database, then retracts either above the cut start or above the previous peck (the Retract Gap), which clears chips.
3. Run drilling before pockets and profiles. A published fab lab tutorial gives this order: drilling, pockets, inside cuts, outside cuts.

Bit choice on a router. Builders on a public CNC forum report that ordinary drill bits and downcut bits burn at router speeds because chips cannot escape. They had clean results with upcut spirals, compression bits, or a small single-flute end mill, fed aggressively enough to make chips and not dust, and never plunged deeper than the flute length. Their example ran 24,000 RPM (the router's lowest setting) at 3,000 mm per minute. Treat that as one user's setup and test yours.

Hinge cup holes

A concealed hinge cup needs a 35 mm hole. That is far larger than any router bit, so draw a 35 mm circle and cut it with the Pocket toolpath using an end mill. Depth and the distance from the hole rim to the door edge vary by hinge model. A published hardware guide stresses getting both from the hinge maker's instructions, so no single number is given here.

Pro tips

• Add a ramp to the hinge cup pocket to avoid a straight plunge.
• If you own a machine with a drill bank, see the entry on the Advanced Machining Module and its Drill Bank Toolpath.
• Cut a test hole and try a real pin and a real hinge before running a full cabinet.