Jim M wrote:
Hi Everyone,
Just curious about what you all think about this thing:
http://www.dowelwizard.com/ Would you want one for your shop? Why or why not?
Thanks,
Jim
That self centering system does look pretty quick and easy, but I don't like how it only has two holes.
I picked up one of these a few years ago, and it works great. It's built like a tank, very solid, and as an added bonus, it's "Made in USA". I paid $72 at the local Woodcraft store out here..
http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/821330 ... fgod5-0P8gIt's a self centering jig, but I'm sure it could be offset via some shims...
The threaded part doesn't spin freely, so it takes a few seconds to get it opened up to the right size, but, once it's there, it only takes a turn or two to lock and release it.
One thing I didn't like about it was this; ... even though it has 4 holes, it only has two inserts for each size. When I wanted to buy two more of the biggest inserts, they wanted me to buy a whole set of six (two of each size). I forget the price, but it wasn't cheap! ...and they didn't have it in stock anyway, so I passed on it. I wanted them "that day".
I built a big door with that jig. There was 32 dowels, so that means 64 holes. 64 holes means moving the inserts back and forth about a million times, and it took quite a while to get all those holes drilled. But, at least they were all perfect, and the door went together nicely.
If I had a drill press, everything would've gone much faster...