Pocket Hole Jig Workstation

I recently upgraded my pocket hole jig from the small clamp on unit. I was looking at the k4 vs. the k5 and while the k5 had more features to it, it all seemed like stuff I could fix. The storage the k5 offers was nice, but I'd still need to find a place to store screws, plugs, and dust attachments. The extension wings seemed flimsy too, I wanted something sturdy. I really liked the clamp being on the front of the k5 rather than the back, but I figured that was something I could live with. So I saved $40, bought the k4, and made a workstation for the whole thing using some scrap 3/4" thick material I had laying around my shop.

Kreg K4 system

assorted scraps (3/4" thick birch plywood and 3/4" thick 1x12 leftover from a closet remodel)

screws and glue

I looked around online to get some ideas, and I came up with 2 things I for sure wanted the workstation to have:

1. Handles to make picking it up and putting it away easier, since I was planning on storing it under my workbench.
2. A base wider than the drawer to allow me to clamp it to my workbench.

I started by figuring out how wide to make the drawer to hold all the screws and other stuff. I laid out the boxes I had alongside the drill and driver bits for the jig to get an idea of how big the drawer would need to be. Then I added about 4 inches to it to take into account dividers and drawer sides made of 3/4" material. I made the top of the drawer box about 20 inches across, and used a longer piece of scrap I had for the bottom to leave overhang on both sides for clamping.

I fastened the whole thing together with pocket screws, naturally. I used the jig to make the jig lol.

I didn't want to put a back on the drawer box because it would be dead space and add weight, so I took a thin piece of scrap and glued it along the top of the drawer box at the very back so when I slide the drawer in it will hit that and not go sliding out the back.

I just tried to center the jig as best I could along both axes and then I screwed it on to the top of the box I had just completed.

I did this in steps where I measured one thing based on the dimensions of the box and then added parts to it. I did this drawer out of 1/2" thick plywood to cut down on size and weight.

1. First, I cut a piece of plywood for the bottom the same size as the exposed bottom of the drawer box.
2. Then, I put that piece in and measured up along the sides to get the height of the sides. I subtracted about 1/2" from that for clearance on the drawer as it slides.
3. I used those to make a back for the drawer that was as long as the bottom piece but as tall as the side pieces.

Naturally, I assembled the drawer with pocket screws. I had never used pocket screws on 1/2" thick material. Don't plan on ever doing it again either!

To do this, I just arranged stuff in the half assembled drawer and cut some dividers out of 3/4" scrap and moved it all around until I liked it. Then I glued the dividers in place and clamped them down. I also drilled pocket holes along the front edges of the box to attach the drawer front. I could have just put a scrap front on and then attached the front by screwing it on through the back like you would normally do for drawer fronts, but I just didn't want to. Call me lazy.

It turns out (by luck? by design? probably design...) that the jig itself sits exactly 1" up off the table. Since I was using 3/4" thick material for the top, I needed to add 1/4" to it in order to bring the wings flush with the jig. I had some scrap 1/4" thick hardboard that I cut into (somewhat) similarly shaped pieces to use as a sub base. I glued and clamped them down, two right next to the jig and two near the ends of the drawer box top (since I think the side of the drawer was about 1/32 too tall which might not have made a difference but would have bothered me).

I knew I wanted the two wings on the top to stick out further than the wings on the bottom. I didn't really have any reason other than I thought it would look better that way. I just took my tape measure and measured from the edge of the jig to the edge of the drawer box, added two inches to get me to the edge of the bottom wings, and then added 1 inch plus enough to get me to the nearest half-inch (just to make measuring easier).

Once I had those cut out, I wanted to add handles. I used a forstner bit to cut two holes on the end of each one and used my jigsaw to connect them, then sanded them down to look nicer.

I centered each wing on one side of the jig and screwed them down to the sub base.

To make a drawer front, I just put the drawer in, measured the dimensions that would cover the front of the drawer box completely and cut a piece of 3/4" thick plywood to that size. Then I used the pocket holes from the step before to attach the front to the drawer.

To make the drawer slide easier, I sanded the inside of the box and the bottom of the drawer, then rubbed on some paste wax. Now it glides real smooth. I didn't put a pull on the drawer, I just grab the sides to pull it out. I was thinking about putting a little latch to keep the drawer from sliding out but it hasn't been a problem so I'm leaving it alone.

This thing works great, it has a lot of room to support long things you are putting pocket holes in. The K4 jig by itself is not very easy to use if you're working with anything wider than about 10 inches; this thing supports more than a foot on each side. It clamps down to my table and it's easy to bring up and put away. Plus, it's not very heavy. Definitely worth saving $40!