Nomad Shop Tricks - Mirrored Hole Template

Here's a little technique I like to use when I've got a bunch of parts that all need the same hole pattern drilled into them but they need them in opposite faces. I make up a little pattern like this that's got my drilling pattern built into it holes that pass all the way through but then I add cleats to the registration faces and in this case this is set up to register off of a corner and so we leave the corner open so no junk can get collecting in there and I can drop my pattern right on here and these holes are drilled the same size as these finishing nails just make sure it's snugged up nicely just tack these nails through the holes just enough that they leave a mark on the other side of course you could be using a drill to do this as well to mark each of these holes of the drill or having to pass through both parts I would want to do that but these all have blind holes in these particular parts and so I don't want to drill all the way through so there I got my first one done just push these nails back do the next one simple as that and then when I want to do the other side I simply remove those nails I've already done that in this case I set them up on this side and drive the nails from the opposite side so these cleats are set to pass over both faces of these patterns so I've got one pattern for drilling holes in the top sides of my longer parts here and then these ones take care of the holes in the bottom part simple as that now when I set these up on the drill press I'll set up a fence as well that aligns with the distance of these holes off the registration faces and just to make sure that everything ends up being nice and accurate and I'm not just relying on these holes to center my drills on because sometimes they can be just off by just a hair so there you go there's just a really simple trick using a very simple pattern to register off two opposite faces