Pick a 32 mm, 1 in, or 1¼ in pitch. Type the cabinet opening height and where the first hole sits. The calculator fills centers at start + n × pitch while they stay inside the keep-out at the far end. Front-edge setback is a drill-press note (37 mm / 1½ in typical), not part of the height math. Layout only — not a hinge catalog.
Use it when drilling rows of shelf-pin holes in cabinet sides or a bookcase. Enter the pitch, the length of the side and how far the first and last holes sit from the ends, and it lists every hole position so you can mark a strip of hardboard as a drilling template.
A 32 mm pitch matches European system hardware and commercial jigs; 1 in or 1¼ in suits hand-marked layouts. Drill both sides of a cabinet from the same template and reference edge so the shelves sit level.
A shelf-pin row is an arithmetic sequence. The first center sits at the inset you type. Every next center adds one pitch. Stop before a center would land inside the keep-out at the far end, or when you hit a max-hole cap.
Pitch p = 32 mm, 1 in, or 1.25 in
From the bottom: centern = start + n × p while centern ≤ opening − margin and n = 0, 1, 2, …
From the top: distance from top dn = start + n × p while dn ≤ opening − margin; then center from bottom = opening − dn
Last-hole clearance = opening − last_center (from the bottom) or last_center (if you started from the top, clearance at the bottom)
Setback from the front edge is independent of that height math. On a 32 mm cabinet the front row of 5 mm holes is typically 37 mm from the front edge of the gable; a second row sits the same distance from the back. Imperial shops often use 1½ in off the front and a ¼ in bit. This page does not space the two rows for you — it only reports the setback you typed as a drill-press reminder.
The 32 mm system also wants the first hole on a 32 mm module (32, 64, 96…) so 32 mm hardware, line-boring jigs, and adjacent cabinets agree. Nothing here forces that; if you type 70 mm as a start, you get 70, 102, 134…. That is on you.
| System | Opening | Start | Margin | First centers | Count |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 32 mm | 800 mm | 64 mm from bottom | 64 mm | 64, 96, 128 … 736 | 22 |
| 32 mm | 800 mm | 32 mm from bottom | 32 mm | 32, 64, … 768 | 24 |
| 1 in | 30.5 in | 2 in from bottom | 2 in | 2, 3, … 28 | 27 |
| 1.25 in | 30 in | 2.5 in from bottom | 2.5 in | 2.5, 3.75, … 27.5 | 21 |
The 800 mm / 64 mm row: last legal center is 800 − 64 = 736 mm. (736 − 64) / 32 = 21, so n runs 0 through 21, 22 holes, last clearance 64 mm. Each of those figures can be reproduced in the calculator above. The default example is that 32 mm / 800 mm / 64 mm case.
Common shop starts are 32 mm or 64 mm up from the bottom of the opening (and the same down from the top if you want a symmetric keep-out). Line-boring jigs and Euro hardware expect the holes on a 32 mm module. Measure from the finished opening, not from the underside of the top panel unless that is the opening.
5 mm for the 32 mm system, ¼ in for most imperial pins. Front-row center is typically 37 mm from the front edge on a Euro gable, 1½ in on an imperial face-frame or plywood box. A second row the same distance from the back keeps a wide shelf from tipping. Depth is usually a hair over the pin length — do not blow through a ½ in gable.
Yes, if you want the shelf level. Run the same centers from the bottom on left and right. If you start from the top on one gable and the bottom on the other, the holes will not match unless the opening is an exact number of pitches plus two insets.
Fill (max = 0) uses every pitch that still clears the far keep-out. Cap the count when you only want a short adjustable band — a microwave shelf that moves 4 in, not a full pantry. The list is truncated from the start end you picked.
If start, pitch, and the jig’s first index agree, yes. If your jig is indexed from the front of the case or from a fence you set at 37 mm, that is the setback, not the height. This calculator does not know your jig’s dead length or whether you skipped the bottom index.