I'm making pocket holes to connect wood together with a jig, the Kreg 720. The 720 works by moving at an angle (which I'm trying to measure) to ensure the hole is drilled higher on thicker pieces. The jig makes a hole like this at a 15 degree angle. [![enter image description here][1]][1] The 720 works like this: [![enter image description here][2]][2] I'm trying to calculate the length of the drill bit which I can set with a stop. The 720 has stops included for common wood, but I like to be exact and I need to understand the geometry of how the 720 works. I zeroed out an angle meter and found that the case is 57 degrees, but I took some measurements at the top and bottom and through taking the tangent, figured out that the sliding block moves closer to 58 degrees. | | s | d | | --------------- | -------- | --- | | high point (mm) | 43.9 | 54 | | low | 10.1 | 0 | | accuracy | 0.1 | 0.1 | | $\Delta$ | 33.8 | 54 | | $\theta$ | 57.95648 | | But! I wanted to make sure that the drilling jig block moved at 57 degrees, so I used my caliper to measure the board thickness block at the bottom and the top. That gave me these measurements. [![enter image description here][4]][4] Per this geometry: [![enter image description here][5]][5] From this I'm trying to find $D$ the length of the shaft of the pilot screw given $t_{\text{min}}$, the minimum thickness, $t_b$ the thickness of the board for pocket holes, $t_T$ the thickness of the board you are screwing into, $\theta$, the angle of the jig, and $s$, the length of the shaft of the screw. [1]: https://i.sstatic.net/bUICZ.png [2]: https://i.sstatic.net/JQByp.gif [3]: https://i.sstatic.net/uPlF2.png [4]: https://i.sstatic.net/gjLSI.png [5]: https://i.sstatic.net/wsdtF.png