Your order will come with a return form with convenient instructions, or you may send your returns directly to Returns Department, Rockler Woodworking and Hardware, 4365 Willow Drive, Medina, MN 55340. L-joints are a little more tricky so check the next page for more steps. Having a dowel jig speeds up the process and increases the accuracy of making a dowel joint. If dowel holes are even slightly askew, the joint parts will be thrown out of alignment and not fit together. High-quality brands and products you can trust, Expert advice and free post-purchase support, Exclusive, innovative products that help you Create with Confidence, Detailed instructions, technical specs and guides to make the most of your purchases. You can drill holes in cases with an effective drill bit. Step-2: Quantity of dowels Now consider the number of dowels required for safe and sound connection. Dowel joints are a simple option that’s classic enough to require skill, yet advanced enough to work really well in many situations. The dowel stick is partly rounded and then driven through the hole in the plate. By using pieces of dowel over screws the joint becomes much stronger and can be turned into an appealing feature. Pack, We proudly stand behind all of our products. If the parts go together but tighter than you'd like, you can sometimes improve the fit by sanding the dowels slightly or widening the holes a tad. Locate the dowel holes at least 1/4 in. Another way to fit a shrunken dowel into the hole is with a shim. You can either mark the position of the joint and where to drill the holes with a ruler or you can drill a hole in one piece of timber and use a dowel jig to mark the second piece and this should be a very accurate method if done correctly. Step 1: Set your parts together, and draw lines across the joint to mark the dowel positions. It also helps him with making accurate holes and lining them up. Drill each of the dowel holes slightly deeper than one half the dowel length to create a little gap for excess glue. Items shipped directly from the manufacturer cannot be returned in store. Glue alone will make the joint plenty strong, but dowels provide perfect alignment. Alignment of holes, precision of dowels, tight joint assembly. The jig shown has interchangeable bit sleeves so you can use drill bits with diameters ranging from 1/4 in. Heat dowel pins in toaster oven at 325ºF for 30 minutes to dry and shrink them. On 3/4-in.-thick stock, use 1/4- or 5/16-in.-diameter dowels. You may need to widen the holes slightly by cleaning them out a bit more so the parts slide together easily. When it comes time to assemble a dowel joint, always clamp up the parts fully without glue first. You'll need metal dowel points to build these joints accurately. The dowel jig was created to help the designer make strong joints by connecting the pieces of wood using dowels. You're done! Then, carry out a dry fit of the joint. The edges of the holes are countersunk so that they have a sharp edge on one side of the plate. Complete the back legs. Shorten dowel pins and assemble joint again. Push the dowel centre into the holes drilled on one side of a joint, bring the mating pieces of wood into alignment, then push them together tightly. In fact, sometimes this is the very best way to bore holes for joint dowels. Then, slip dowel points into the holes. Some dowel jigs make it easy to locate mating pairs of dowel holes across a joint, but sometimes you need other strategies. They’re metal tools that guide the angle and location of drill bits in a hand-held drill as they bore into wood. When they are inserted into dowel holes in one joint part, their pointed tips will prick the mating surface to give you center marks for drilling the mating holes. It helps to have a stop collar on your drill bit to set the drilling depth, but a piece of masking tape wrapped around the bit will work, too. Cut a scrap the same length as your workpieces and mark one end with an “X.” Drill holes through the scrap using the dowel jig. It creates a strong joint and is accessible to most any woodworker. Step1: You need to calculate the size of dowel suitable and then mark where you are going to make the joint. Dovetail. There's a trick to making successful dowel joints: you need a jig that registers parts precisely. Simplicity makes it easy to underestimate the importance of getting key details correct, and it’s here where trouble sneaks in. Strong, precise, hidden and versatile, the only danger is that dowel joints seem so very simple at first glance. All Rights Reserved. Joint and plane the stock into a square the same dimension as the diameter of the dowel … Use your doweling jig to bore these holes, just as you would for an end-to-edge joint. Problem: Joint is weak, with inconsistent part alignment. Solution: Dowel pins swollen with moisture. $3.49 Then, apply glue to the ends of pieces of doweling and drive dowels through the holes with a mallet. It’s also typically made from tropical hardwoods that aren’t all that strong. 08-19-2008, 01:32 PM Hi all, I'm building a low audio/video component console out of some furniture grade plywood that I was going to face/edge with solid lumber so I can do some router work on the outside edges and corners of the cabinet and put the cabinet together with miter joints. Solution: Dowel holes too large. Dowel Joint Dowel joints are basically substitutes for mortise and tenon joints. They're a "must have" for blind-drilling situations where your doweling jig won't work. Typically sold as round aluminum buttons, the ends have a small, central spur. A plumber’s flux brush is ideal and inexpensive for this work. Carefully tap the end of the dowel-point workpiece with a rubber mallet or dead-blow to prick centerpoints for drilling the opposite dowel holes. This tool is usually fitted to a power drill. away from the workpiece edges for optimal joint strength. Then coat the wood and thread with glue, and reassemble. Make sure your workpieces have flat surfaces with square ends and edges. To avoid drilling excessively you … This kind of joinery is amongst the strongest you can make and quite simple with the right kind of drilling jig and fluted dowels. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. A drill press is the best way to drill dowel holes into the face of the other workpiece. Sliding Dovetail. The wood that was compressed to form grooves in the factory also swells in contact with glue after joint assembly, making for a stronger joint. © Copyright 2021 Baileylineroad, If you’re joining 3/4”-thick x 2 1/2”-wide cabinet door frames, for instance, 5/16” or 3/8” diameter dowel pins, 1 1/4” to 1 1/2” long are ideal. Here's the joint you'll use for building face frames or, with a little alteration, mitered picture frames. 1/4” dowels are perfect for projects involving 1/2” thick parts. Some self-center, some have clamps, and some can even drill multiple holes at the same time. I have repaired many chairs with failed joints using threaded steel rod and a good two-part epoxy like West or System 3. If the joint is a little loose, glue will usually swell the dowels and tighten it up. Joints need to slide fully together quickly after glue application since the dowel pins swell in contact with glue. It consists of a steel plate with holes of various sizes bored through it. Click here for a video lesson on how I use construction-grade lumber for fine woodworking projects and downloadable plans for using that wood. You may also return purchases to a Rockler store near you for store credit. If I had to choose just one method to connect project parts for the rest of my woodworking career, the dowel joint would probably be it. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. Locate the dowel holes at least 1/4 in. Great dowel joinery only happens when drilling dowel holes is mechanically guided in some way. Make a guide. These grooves are called “flutes” and though they obviously retain more glue along the sides of dowels during assembly, there’s more. You'll also need dowel pegs, of course, and a sharp brad-point drill bit. Starting at Non-Marring Mallet, Kreg Jig K5 Pocket Hole Master System with 675-Piece Screw Kit, January 2021 Woodworker's Journal Free Plan: Dog Feeding Station. Place holes no closer than 1 ⁄ 8" from the ends to avoid breaking out the end grain while assembling the joint. I like 1/2” diameter dowels when working with 1 1/2”-thick wood. Making an Edge Down Joint To make this joint, clamp the two pieces to be joined with the edges flush and with the face surfaces out. An appliance called a dowel plate is often used for making dowel pins, and is very useful. Doweling typically entails using a diameter of dowel that is no more than 1/2 of the width of the board. Other Tips. You don't want the dowel's length or extra glue to keep the joint from closing properly. Make Your Own Dowels: In many woodworking projects the need arises for a dowel, either to plug a screw hole or to add a detail. The jig should clamp securely to the workpiece, guide your drill bit for drilling a perfectly square hole and be easy to register accurately on your joint parts. Use metal dowel points, as to make a proper dowel joint; The best option is to use a dowel jig; Leave at least 1/2” from the edge or corner of the wooden part, when drilling holes . The tool world has a tendency to make woodworking seem more complicated than it is. Drilling holes for dowel joint Edge-to edge joints. We are proud of the quality of our products, and we stand behind them 100%. Make use of the ruler to make the joint for assessing the size of the dowel and for marking the second piece you can employ dowel jig. Step 1: Set your parts together, and draw lines across the joint to mark the dowel positions. There are lots of dowel jigs on the market, but the best I’ve used so far is designed and made in Canada. Besides being precisely sized, truly round and made of strong wood, dowel pins also have grooves compressed into their surface. If you’re looking for an alternative for pocket holes, this design is very suitable. The dowel joint is assembled in the same way that you would screw a regular joint together only pieces of dowel are glued and inserted into holes instead of screws. Make sure your workpieces have flat surfaces with square ends and edges. Glue is used in this type of joint, and the dowel pins serve as round For international returns, please click here. (If the length-plus-3" dimension is more than one-half the length of your router-table fence, clamp on a longer auxiliary fence.) Dowel rods are not only used for making joints but also to form parts of many modern pieces of furniture or projects which specify a small circular pieces of ornamentation. Remake parts and drill holes with dowel jig or drill press. This type of fastening will allow you to create a strong joint, which will able you to negate the use of screws or bolts. Solution: Dowel holes too shallow. You’ll get best results if you work glue onto the sides of each dowel hole before assembly. Remake parts and re-drill, or drill holes for next larger dowel size. The late 1600’s to the very early 1700’s, introduced a difficult to make joint into furniture … to 1/2 in. Whether you are making a simple box or an item of furniture, you will find that using a dowel joint can be useful. Whether you're building face frames, boxes or miter joints, this article will help you master two of the most common styles. When you’re working with wood that involves the edges of boards, choose a dowel diameter that’s roughly one third to one half the overall thickness of the wood, with a dowel length that’s roughly twice wood thickness. Glue the exposed dowels and joint surfaces, tap the parts together, and clamp the joints for one hour. Shims can be purchased where wood is sold. Step 2: Set the joint parts together against a clamped fence or bench dog to keep them aligned correctly. To make edge-to-edge joints, use the same technique to mark and drill mating edges. 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