Join my mailing list and I will notify you when I update these pages...         The Doweling Jig V2 is here! After introducing the first version of my template doweling jig (for 3/8" dowels), I immediately set to work on a model for 1/4" dowels. Along the way, I had a bit of an epiphany:  Instead of scaling the size of the dowels to the joint, we should instead scale the quantity of dowels. You see, those expensive and heavy aluminum and steel models are constrained by the cost and weight of those raw materials, as well as the cost to machine them. By abandoning those same constraints, I can produce an economical jig that is every bit as precise, but allows the user to drill up to twenty-one (21!) holes without having to reposition the jig. And using more dowels allows us to position them nearer the perimeter of the joint, yielding a stronger result. This new approach also means we need only stock one diameter (1/4") of dowels in maybe one or two lengths for all our joinery requirements. Take a look at the picture to the right and you'll see just a small sample of the joints made by my V2 jig.  From front to back: two holes (1x2 pattern) in 3/4" thick by 1" wide stock.  Could have just as easily done this in 1/2" thick stock nine holes (a 3x3 pattern) in 1-1/2" square stock three holes (a 1x3 pattern) in 3/4" by 1-1/2" stock twelve holes! (a 2x6 pattern) in 1-1/4" x 3-1/4" stock (a "dressed" or jointed/planed 2x4) Imagine being able to standardize on 1/4" dowels for every joint! Larger joints don't use larger dowels, they use MORE dowels Keep just one or two lengths of 1/4" dowel pins to cover all your doweling needs Dedicate a few 1/4" drill bits and stop collars you'll rarely find yourself fiddling with setup And imagine a jig so easy to use I can show you how in just a few pics...   Using the V2, an example joint   #1.  The assembled jig, and some sample setup blocks The jig is comprised of a plastic template held to a wood fence with screws. The template is made from nearly indestructible PETG plastic, cut on a fairly heavily modified CNC router that can hold the tolerances I need. The two setup blocks I've pictured here are for 1/2", 1", and 1-1/2" stock, and 3/4", 1-1/4", and 1-3/4" stock.  They're used to quickly and precisely set the fence on the jig. You make these setup blocks yourself, I don't supply them.  They're simply scraps of lumber cut to the width required to set the jig's fence where you need it.  I'll provide some more details down below.       2.  Setting the fence I'm going to make a test joint in 3/4" thick stock, so I picked the setup block that says 3/4" on it.  I place the jig's fence on the block, loosen the screws, slide the template all the way down to my bench, then snug the screws.  That is it, my jig is now set. I told you this would be simple.     3.  Compare measurements, top Don't believe this is precise enough?  Get your caliper out and check the edge of the template to the fence both top and bottom.  If your setup block has parallel edges, your jig is going to be ready to use.  Note that I didn't fiddle with this at all and my measurements are within .0005" (five ten-thousandths), as accurate as my caliper can measure.  I'd have been just as happy with a couple of thousandths.     4. Compare measurements, bottom Here you can see me duplicating the measurement I took above, and my result (.0005 off).     5.  Marking-up I have a couple pieces of 3/4" x 1-1/2" pine here, and I'm going to make a test joint.  I've laid them on my work surface and marked the face with three lines (representing my dowels), and the edges I'd like to keep aligned are each marked with an "x."     6. Clamping the jig I've clamped my jig to the first workpiece. The jig's fence always faces the side of your stock on which you've drawn your lines representing the dowels. The edge of the template aligns with the edge of the stock you marked with the "x."  I typically use the drill bushing block or a small scrap of wood to align the template edge to the stock edge, though I'm not showing that aspect here because it would require more hands than I have. The clamp pictured here is not included, I'm using a clamp I got with a Kreg pocket-hole jig, but you can use whatever you have that works.     7.  Drilling holes I'm ready to start drilling holes.  I move my drill bushing block from the first to the second to the third hole, drilling each with my drill.       8.  See the holes? Here is a pic showing the three holes having been drilled.     9.  Again I'm about to repeat the same process in the mating workpiece.  I've aligned the template's edge with the edge of the 2nd workpiece marked with an "x." All clamped-up and ready to drill, you'll need to forgive me for not including pictures of me actually drilling this set of holes.     10.  Test fit Alright, the moment of truth, you can see I've placed three 1/4" dowel pins into my holes, and I'm about to push the workpieces together for the first time.     11.  Test fitting. The moment of truth.  We've fitted the dowels, pushing the joint together, how will the fit be?     12. Piston fit! The pictures tells the story, we've got a piston fit with perfect alignment of the face, and edge.  Some glue, some clamping pressure, and I could get away without even having to do any sanding of that joint if it weren't for the pencil marks. I've used most high-end jigs on the market, it doesn't get any better than this!   And remember... ...there are THREE rows of holes, this jig can do what other doweling jigs cannot do without a great deal of fooling around (if at all)... Working on a tool stand made from two-by-four material?  Do a 2x7 pattern.  Or if you "dress" the lumber first (down to 1-1/4" x 3-1/4"), do a 2x6 instead. 1" square stock?  2x2. Thin/narrow stock?  You can do a 1x2 in 1/2" thick x 1" wide material. The nice one-by-four stock you can get at the home center?  That would be a 1x7 pattern. This V2 jig is built for flexibility.     Notes Assembly... The unit arrives as three pieces.  Assembly is straightforward: Remove the two screws/washers from the fence, place the template on top of the fence, and replace the screws and washers.  Orient the side of the fence with the sandpaper grip TOWARDS the holes in the template. These are machine screws threaded into wood, watch the first turn or so to make sure you catch the existing threads. The template may have some plastic chips still hanging onto it.  The amount of static generated while machining plastics is something to behold. Yes, the holes in the fence are slightly off-center, this is by design and allows the jig to be used with thinner stock (allows the fence to get closer to the template's holes). Adjust the fence/template for the stock you are going to use (see spacer block example above), and tighten the screws with a 4mm Allen wrench (not included). Setup blocks The fastest and most fool-proof method of setting the fence is to use setup blocks.  Setup blocks are merely scraps of wood (I use scraps of 2x4 material that are 6" long) cut to the appropriate width. So what is the appropriate width?  That depends on the thickness of your stock, and where you'd like the holes.  For the purposes of this exercise, I'm going to assume you want your holes centered in your stock. Find your stock thickness in the table below, and follow it across to the setup block width.  Use a block of that width to set your fence and you will achieve the hole pattern in the final two columns. Stock Thickness Setup Block Width Pattern 1/2" 1-3/4" Single row of dowels 5/8" 1-13/16" 3/4" 1-7/8" 1" 1-3/4" Double row of dowels 1-1/8" 1-13/16" 1-1/4" 1-7/8" 1-1/2" 1-3/4" Triple row of dowels 1-5/8" 1-13/16" 1-3/4" 1-7/8" Aligning your workpieces Get everything laid-out properly and mark your pieces, do not skip this step as it is easy to lose your orientation when moving pieces/drilling holes. Also, your workpieces should come nicely together when performing the initial layout and marketing.  If ends and edges of your workpieces are not square, fix that now. Do holes need to be perfectly centered in the stock? Absolutely not!  The jig references off one face and one edge of your workpiece.  If you want your holes to be off-center and almost to the edge of your stock, go for it. In fact, my first doweling jig was one of those self-centering gadgets you can still buy today (some of them at about 2x the cost of my V2).  And although it was supposed to center the holes, it never really did.  They were a little off-center and the row of holes were always a little less than parallel to the edge of the stock, too.  It was very frustrating. I know some say "this is woodworking, it is close enough."  Well I once needed to make eight large brackets from 1x4 material and the joints were all off enough that significant sanding was required.  This added quite a bit of time and frustration to the project.  Mostly for my wife, because I made her do all the sanding. If holes needn't be centered, why are we discussing it? Because it is so easy to do, why not? And yet there are reasons why you may not always want your holes centered.  Maybe one face of your board has a groove or other detail that would interfere with centered dowels.  So offset your holes in that case by being creative w/ the setup blocks.  It doesn't matter, you can center or not center. Clamping the jig The jig usually needs to be clamped so the edge of the plastic template is aligned with the edge of your workpiece.  I typically just use the drill bushing block as an alignment aid.  With the block held against the edge of the workpiece, the template is slid up to the block, and the jig is clamped. One important point is to align the edge of the plastic template with the edge of your workpiece.  Don't use the edge of the wood fence for alignment, use the template edge. Quick clamps like the one pictured above work great.  Small F-type clamps are fine, too. And yes there are times when you'll want to make Tee-type joints.  In those cases, you'll be aligning the edge of the template with a pencil or knife mark in your material. Adjusting the bushing, if necessary The drill bushing is pressed into a hole in the plywood block, and isn't fastened with any sort of adhesive.  It can slide in the block with enough pressure.  To minimize tear-out, make sure the bushing is flush with the bottom of the template. You can do this by simply resting the template on a scrap of wood on your bench, placing the bushing block in one of the holes, and tapping the top of the bushing with a wood mallet (or use a block of wood and a hammer) until the bushing is touching the scrap of wood on which the template is resting. Drilling holes Give your bit a chance to drill the hole, let the bit cut, don't be a mad-man. Drill bits I'm using brad-point bits with this jig, they work great with the precision drill bushings I'm using.  I've been using a lot of soft woods like fir, and I think the brad-points work best in these types of wood. Stop collars I'm using a fairly conventional stop collar as can be seen in the pics above.  I've previously used plastic tubing, to make adjusting depths faster.  With little need to adjust, the steel collars are working fine for me.  You can find 1/4" brad-point bits for a couple of bucks, there is little reason not to dedicate a few to the jig's use. Testing joints It is a good idea to have a collection of a few looser-fitting dowels available for testing joints.  Some dowels can be so snug that you need a channel-grip pliers to remove them (and that is without glue!).  My test dowels aren't loose, they just aren't so tight that I cannot get them back out with my fingers. Once you sort some dowels to find a few looser ones, mark the ends with a colored marker so you can find them easily enough. I make 1-2 test joints before starting any project, and I test the joints of my project before assembly.  This saves filling the swear jar. Dowels:  Spirals vs. flutes Here is a chart with your four primary options in selecting dowel pins: Type Intended use Comments Unfluted dowel rods Typically 36" and 48" lengths found at your hardware store.  Most of the inexpensive stuff is poplar.  You can also find oak fairly easily.  Take a scrap with some holes drilled in it, to make sure the dowels you purchase aren't too undersized.* Spiral fluted Hardwood projects Intended (by manufacturers) for hardwood projects, but I use them wherever they fit well. Straight fluted uncompressed Man-made materials Believe it or not, these are intended for use on man-made materials (MDF, plywood, particle board).  I've used them for hardwood just fine.  Again, fit is the most important factor. Straight fluted compressed These expand very slightly when moistened with glue.  They can be a little easier to insert into holes and grab a little better than uncompressed fluted dowels. *Take care if using unfluted dowel rods, they can cause a problem called hydraulic lock.  The flutes in precut dowel pins are intended to give glue at the bottom of the hole somewhere to go, so the dowel can be inserted fully.  It is possible to use unfluted dowels but in that case you want to make sure you spread the glue on the walls of the hole very thoroughly, and that you don't leave puddles of glue at the bottom of the hole. Furthermore, the edges of fluted dowel pins are chamfered.  This allows joints to come together more easily. Dowels are all too tight? You can cook them in the oven, or hammer them through a dowel sizer to reduce their size slightly. Applying glue I use 1/8" dowels to apply glue.  Squirt glue into the hole, then use the 1/8" dowel to make sure the walls of the hole are covered.  I use a Stanley mallet with plastic head to tap the dowels into the holes if they're too snug once the glue is in the hole.  Don't go crazy with the mallet, you don't want to mushroom the ends of the dowels with the thing. If inserting dowels forces glue out of the holes, an acid brush will allow you to apply that glue to the exposed ends of those dowels. FWIW, this is the method prescribed by James Krenov in one of his books.  Yes, James Krenov was a dowel-head. Clamping Be ready with your clamps, they may be required to pull the joints closed.  I use white PVA glue (just Elmer's white glue) for my dowels because it seems to give me longer open times.  Determine your assembly steps before applying the first drop of glue.  If you can, assemble your project in smaller steps to save frustration from large/complex glue/clamp-ups. Hey, this thing is plastic, is it durable? Sure is, I've whipped them at the ground repeatedly and the PETG is crazy tough stuff. Remember that the drill bit never touches the plastic, only the drill bushing does.  So there is no wear/tear on the template. The fact that they're plastic and light-weight and relatively inexpensive makes them quite a joy to use compared to the heavy aluminum jigs I have (yes, I still have those, I only use them for comparison purposes).  You can knock one of my jigs off the bench, pick it up, and start using it again.  I dare you to do that with a $200 doweling jig.  I double dare you.   The Thien Doweling Jig V2 includes the precision-machined PETG template, fence, screws, and drill bushing.  The user will need to supply a 1/4" drill bit, stop collar, clamp, and 4mm Allen wrench (to tighten the screws). Includes a 100% satisfaction guarantee, return it for a full refund if you aren't completely satisfied.  I will replace defective components for as long as I'm able to produce them.   Ordering Thien Doweling Jig V2 includes the precision-machined PETG template, fence, screws, drill bushing, and shipping*.  The user will need to supply a 1/4" drill bit, stop collar, clamp, and 4mm Allen wrench (to tighten the screws). Includes a 100% satisfaction guarantee, return it for a full refund if you aren't completely satisfied.  I will replace defective components for as long as I'm able to produce them. *Shipping within the U.S., let me know if you need one shipped elsewhere and we can figure it out. $50.00   Thien V2 Doweling Jig versus the competition (a work in progress) Product Type Positions (Standard) Price (as of 11/25/18) Origin Benchdog 3/8" Doweling Jig (Rockler) Face/Center Two (2) 3/8" holes $19.99 China Dowel-it Centering Six (6) holes, 3/16 to 1/2" $74.99 USA Dowelmax Classic Face/Edge Five (5) 3/8" holes $249 +$65 for 1/4" China Dowelmax Junior Face/Edge Five (5) 3/8" holes $109 +$65 for 1/4" China JessEm Doweling Jig Face/Edge Five (5) 3/8" holes $129.99 +$70 for 1/4" and 1/2" Canada Task Premium Doweling Jig Centering Four (4) but only two bushings each 1/4", 5/16", 3/8" $72.78, but have to buy additional bushings to drill four holes of same size USA Thien V2 Doweling Jig Face/Edge Twenty-one (21!) 1/4" holes $50 USA       --Phil phil@cgallery.com This page has been viewed 9066 times. A product of Computer Gallery of Milwaukee, Inc.