Doweling Jig Recommendations Please

[Mike Henderson]

Mike have you ever use a DowelMax or a Jessem jig?
The alignment is just not a problem at all, again that is the great thing about these jigs. You use a reference plate for all the holes and as long as you are using the same reference for all parts you will get a perfect aligned joint.

I have a dowel jig but not the DowelMax or Jessem. I can easily see that alignment top-to-bottom can be maintained with a jig. The jig I have will put the hole exactly in the middle of the wood (if that's what I want). The problem is how to get alignment of the holes along the edge (side-to-side). If one hole is drilled just a millimeter or two to the side of the corresponding hole in the other piece, things will not line up when you go to put the pieces together.

Let's say you use four dowels to edge join two pieces of plywood. Three of the hole pairs match up exactly, but one hole pair is off by two mm. When you go to put the two pieces of plywood together, they won't go together. You then have to drill the offending hole oversize or hammer the pieces together.

Compare that to a biscuit joiner or Domino. The alignment of the slots/mortises can be maintained from the reference surface (one face of the plywood), but the slots/mortises are wider than the biscuit or domino that goes into them. So when you go to put the two pieces of plywood together, you have some side to side slop to work with. You never have a situation where the pieces will not go together.

Also, I find the biscuit joiner or Domino a lot faster than the set-up of a dowel jig.

Mike

[mreza Salav]

I have a dowel jig but not the DowelMax or Jessem. I can easily see that alignment top-to-bottom can be maintained with a jig. The jig I have will put the hole exactly in the middle of the wood (if that's what I want). The problem is how to get alignment of the holes along the edge (side-to-side). If one hole is drilled just a millimeter or two to the side of the corresponding hole in the other piece, things will not line up when you go to put the pieces together.

Let's say you use four dowels to edge join two pieces of plywood. Three of the hole pairs match up exactly, but one hole pair is off by two mm. When you go to put the two pieces of plywood together, they won't go together. You then have to drill the offending hole oversize or hammer the pieces together.

Compare that to a biscuit joiner or Domino. The alignment of the slots/mortises can be maintained from the reference surface (one face of the plywood), but the slots/mortises are wider than the biscuit or domino that goes into them. So when you go to put the two pieces of plywood together, you have some side to side slop to work with. You never have a situation where the pieces will not go together.

Also, I find the biscuit joiner or Domino a lot faster than the set-up of a dowel jig.

Mike

to address this issue, you'd loos a pin (like a dowel) to make sure the distances of the dowels are exactly the same, you use that pin to fix one of the dowel jig holes with the holes you have
drilled. As long as your dowels are not more than 12" or so apart getting them precisely the same distance is not a problem at all.

[Bill Huber]

I have a dowel jig but not the DowelMax or Jessem. I can easily see that alignment top-to-bottom can be maintained with a jig. The jig I have will put the hole exactly in the middle of the wood (if that's what I want). The problem is how to get alignment of the holes along the edge (side-to-side). If one hole is drilled just a millimeter or two to the side of the corresponding hole in the other piece, things will not line up when you go to put the pieces together.

Let's say you use four dowels to edge join two pieces of plywood. Three of the hole pairs match up exactly, but one hole pair is off by two mm. When you go to put the two pieces of plywood together, they won't go together. You then have to drill the offending hole oversize or hammer the pieces together.

Compare that to a biscuit joiner or Domino. The alignment of the slots/mortises can be maintained from the reference surface (one face of the plywood), but the slots/mortises are wider than the biscuit or domino that goes into them. So when you go to put the two pieces of plywood together, you have some side to side slop to work with. You never have a situation where the pieces will not go together.

Also, I find the biscuit joiner or Domino a lot faster than the set-up of a dowel jig.

Mike

It is obvious that there is nothing anyone can say for you to understand that these jigs are very very accurate, these are not your normal old dowel jig. I can join two boards together with these jigs and you can not feel the joint. By using the spacer rods you can space the dowels just as accurate.
These jig are just as accurate as a Domino and cost much much less.
I just don't see why you keep coming back with the same old thing about accuracy when you have never used one.

[Mike Henderson]

It is obvious that there is nothing anyone can say for you to understand that these jigs are very very accurate, these are not your normal old dowel jig. I can join two boards together with these jigs and you can not feel the joint. By using the spacer rods you can space the dowels just as accurate.
These jig are just as accurate as a Domino and cost much much less.
I just don't see why you keep coming back with the same old thing about accuracy when you have never used one.

Actually, I never praised the Domino as being exceptionally accurate. What I said was that the Domino (or a biscuit joiner) can be very accurate to the reference surface, as can be a dowel jig.

The advantage of the Domino (or biscuit joiner) is that they don't have to be accurate in the perpendicular direction because the slot or mortise can be made wider than necessary. They only require accuracy in one dimension.

The problem with any dowel jig is that it must be accurate in two dimensions or the dowels will not line up. I'm sure that dowel jigs can be made that can be accurate in two dimensions but they may require additional equipment to get the second dimension accuracy, and may require additional time to set up for that accuracy. With the Domino or biscuit joiner, you draw a line across the two pieces where you want the biscuit/domino and push your tool into the wood at that approximate location. You can cut slots/mortises as fast as you can move the tool from one location to another - there's no setup required for each cut.

My preferences are just that - my preferences. I'm providing you with the rational behind my preferences. Your preferences may differ and you should use whatever you like.

Mike