How to remove a slice from a dowel?
Aftonwood
| Posted in Jigs, Fixtures, Tips & Tricks on
I’m looking for suggestions on how to remove a quarter section from the length of an 8′ dowel, one and 5/16 inches in diameter. What kind of jig or fixture would allow me to run the dowel along the tablesaw (ripping) without allowing the dowel to rotate?
The attachment shows how the dowel will be used.
Thanks for your suggestions.
Jerry
Replies
Lay a piece of double-faced carpet tape near the edge of a straight piece of scrap, nearly the same length as your dowel, at least 3/4" thick, and at least 2" wide. Lay the dowel on the tape so the edge of the dowel is flush with the edge of the scrap. Set your blade height to half the diameter of the dowel. Set the scrap-dowel fixture on edge against your fence. Set your ripping fence so the blade edge is aligned with the center of the dowel. Using the scrap as a push-block, make the first cut. Then release the dowel, rotate it 90 degress and repeat the operation.
Hope this helps.
John,Sounds like a great method for cutting the dowel - I'll try it later today.
Thanks,
Jerry
This is one of the tasks that the Grrripper is tailor made for. For an 8' length, however, you'd need two of the darn things, which would be an expensive solution in the short run. If you cut a lot of narrow parts on a TS they're a great safety investment.
Jim
If it were me I think I'd be inclined to cove the square stock instead of messin with the dowel. Safer all the way around and I'd bet there woule be very little difference in the strength of the joint.
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
That's smart. I'd never thought of that one. Tom"Notice that at no time do my fingers leave my hand"
"I'd be inclined to cove square stock"
I think you meant round-over, not cove. But that would work. However, IME, the roundover bits is a tough way to get a round dowel. They end up not so round.
I'd probably just end tack an 8' straight board to one side of the dowel, and run that against the fence as a guide, running the dowel over a dado blade.
Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA
I think Bob was referring to putting a cove cut on the shelf recieving the dowel. As far as the roundover bit I agree with you.
"I think Bob was referring to putting a cove cut on the shelf "
Ahhh! The light comes on!
Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA
Mike,
That was precisely what I was thinking.
I was in the woodshop and I took out a 3' piece of ¾" dowel and a similar length of cherry that I had placed them side by each as they say in Canada; trying to imagine connecting the two together per the OPs original post.
Nope not me.
I could just see myself trying to notch out the dowel and it just happened that I had a cove bit in the router table. LIGHTBULB ON! Cut the cove in the flat stock; mebbe sand with a stick cut to a ¾" bullnose and Bobs your Uncle!. Then glue the dowel to flat stock. Could even countersink a few screws thru the dowel into the flat stock if necessary, covering with plug and sanding flush.
MORE BETTER SAFE FOR MOI,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Edited 3/27/2008 11:16 am ET by KiddervilleAcres
For a dowel that small, how about using a 45° V-bit on the router table. Make a guide from a block of wood with a hole drilled vertically for the bit and a crossing one for the dowel. To prevent the dowel from rolling on its way through, setup a little block on the outfeed side.
You could do this with a rabbetting bit as well which would be an easier set up. If this is of interest and you want a picture, let me know and I'll make one.
Dave,I agree with your router jig idea. I think it's easier and safer. The same jig you suggest might be adapted to a table saw. Attach the jig to the saw fence and run the blade up through the jig to meet the dowel. Slide the fence and raise/lower the blade to adjust to the center of the dowel. Use a block on the outfeed side to keep the dowel from turning.oldfredEdited to say it would be preferable to use dado blades that would cut the full width at once. Edited 3/26/2008 2:30 pm ET by oldfred Edited 3/26/2008 2:32 pm ET by oldfred
Edited 3/26/2008 5:24 pm ET by oldfred
Dave,If it isn't too much work I'll take you up on your offer of a picture. Thanks,
Jerry
Jerry, I didn't spend much time on this drawing. I hope it makes sense. I drew the block with the hole in it as two pieces but this was to make it faster to take apart for the drawing. I think you could do just as well with a block with a hole bored in it or you could even make a pair of opposing vee blocks.
The square piece to the left of the bit would prevent the dowel from turning.
View Image
Wow! I'm amazed and impressed with all of the responses to my question. This is such a fantastic community - knowledgeable, innovative, willing to share ideas, and even taking a bunch of time to create 3D pictures (Thanks Dave Richards).When I posted the problem I was hoping to get one or two good suggestions. Instead I received more than half a dozen. Two of them turned the question upside down (1.instead of notching the dowel, cove the square piece that it intersects, and 2.instead of starting with a dowel, start with square stock, make a notch and then round the remaining corners) and several others reminded me that as soon as I begin to cut the notch I will have a flat surface that can be used to stop any rolling of the dowel (obvious now that I have heard/seen the solution but my neurons weren't firing that way this morning) and several other posts offered excellent ideas on how to eliminate the rolling (a sled, double faced tape). There were even a few witty remarks thrown in just for good measure.Thank you one and all. My problem has now changed from how can I do this, to, which one of these many excellent methods do I want to use? I'll solve that one in the morning!
Jerry
Jerry,I agree with Dave on this one. Just use a block on the outfeed side of the router that will support the dowel. The block is the same shape as the material that the router bit removes from the dowel. Think of it as the outfeed table of a joiner, except that the outfeed "table" (on your router table) has two references instead of one. The outfeed surface is flush with the cutter.You'll have to feed the first couple of inches very carefully until the stock is referencing on the outfeed block securely. The drawing attached is what I'm trying to describe, it's just another way to do it. It is an end view of the operation.On a side note: One of my favorite things about woodworking is the multitude of ways to reach an end.Personally, I'd stay away from the table saw approach, unless I've got a tight zero clearance insert installed.hope it helps...-Kevin-If you didn't learn something new today, you're not looking hard enough!
Cut the notch with a table saw in a square piece of stock then round the three corners off with a rounding bit on a router table with a fence. Easy, safe, and you won't have to use a closet rod for the dowel.
John White
It'll never fly, too simple and efficient. To do this properly one must spend time with the 3D modeling program more time building jigs, some money for special push sticks and use at least two pieces of stationary machinery.
The method you suggest although time honored, fast and gives the best result is far too free of the BS and expense the hair pulling and teeth gnashing to have the necessary cachet for truly fine woodworking."There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters."
-- Daniel Webster
The faults are obvious now that you point them out. John W.
"It'll never fly, too simple and efficient."
After I snarled at your reply I had to admit that you may be right. But I'm so simple that I misread the dowel measurement to be 5/16" rather than one and 5/16. Figured, for one that small, a jig would be safer. Besides half the fun is in making Rube Goldberg jigs.You've no doubt heard about how NASA spent millions of dollars trying to come up with a pen that the astronauts could write with in the anti-gravity condition of outer space. Then someone suggested using a pencil.
I was hoping for a laugh rather than a snarl! I'm as guilty as any at getting caught up in the fun of designing and making jigs of all sorts.
Sometimes it's good to remember that when someone asks the time they don't necessarily want to know how to build a clock!"There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters."
-- Daniel Webster
Kinda figured that.
But no one gets away with just the time when they ask me....
John , Just curious as to how you would support sqare stock as you route off the corners?
On a router table with a fence you would just sit the square blank on the table and take off the first edge just like making any molding, then rotate the blank and take off the second and third square corners.John W.
I have never done this , off the top of my head I would say Mill two strips of ply , One being 1-5/16" x 8ft the other the same plus the thickness of the ply. Form an L shape with the two pieces creating a 1-5/16" equal inside corner.
Lay your dowel into the corner and fasten at each end from the outside with a small screw. Now the dowel will be trapped and won't rotate. One pass with dado cutter should do it. Someone else here might know another way? hope this helped, One more note you can do it with a regular blade and befor you remove it from the jig raise blade slightly and make two more passes to create a spline groove, then route a equal groove on the mating piece . Using a spline joint will make it easier to fasten.
Thomas Love
Edited 3/26/2008 4:08 pm ET by gofigure57
Edited 3/26/2008 4:23 pm ET by gofigure57
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