Anti-debris bench dog plugs

[Craig Richmond]

Has anyone made bench dog plugs to keep debris out of the holes? I am unable to put the holes all the way through and need something that can plug the hole, be easily removed and sit just below the surface.

[Jerry Miner]

Like a tampon?

[Kent A Bathurst]

Like a tampon?

And there goes a mouthful of good I.P.A. all over the monitor.................

[Craig Richmond]

Good one, lol.
I just hate to blow it out with air all the time.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

LOL! Not what I expected when I opened this thread!

[Stephen Musial]

Now you can take your workbench horseback riding, swimming and...

The only think that comes to mind would be a 3/4" dowel (assuming you have 3/4" dogs) that are well waxed (and wax the holes). Put them in the hole and cut them flush. Then when you want to pull them, drive a screw into them and pull them out. I was thinking a threaded insert in the dowel and and T-handle threaded on the end but the inserts will fill up with sawdust so the screw would probably be the easiest.

[Craig Richmond]

That is what I was thinking. I would hollow out part of the dowel and put a carriage type bolt throught it with a locknut. The bolt would be long enough to move back and fourth about an inch. This way it would sit in the hole but you could pull the bolt up and remove the dowel. It would also sit just low enough so the top is still smoth.

[Stan Krupowies]

Or a dowel with a screw driven flush and then grab it with a magnet to pull it out. Or possibly epoxy small rare earth in the ends of the dowels and use something metal to pull them.

[Pat Barry]

I would just get some foam rubber, cut it to rough size and shove it in the holes.
Something like this for example (HD)

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[John Lanciani]

If you're feeling especially flush you could visit our friends at Lee Valley and pick up as many of these as you have dog holes; http://www.leevalley.com/US/Wood/pag...56&cat=1,41637

[Craig Richmond]

All good ideas, thanks guys.

[Peter Stahl]

if you have 20 mm holes these plugs would work. https://benchdogs.co.uk/products/mft...tainless-steel At the bottom of the page there's a video on how to use them. I've never used them but I saw them on a MDF table in a youtube short by the Woodbutcher.

[Jim Becker]

Check out the pop-up dogs that 3x3Custom (Tamar) did for her recent bench project. The videos are on YouTube. It was very creative and used a type of push to open cabinet stop. And inexpensive. A really good solution for closed dog holes as long as they have some depth to them.

[Jimmy Harris]

They make a 3/4" foam rope that might work. Cut off sections and stuff it in there. The just use a drywall screw to pull it out.

You could make a slightly undersized dowel so that it drops in loosely (but not too loose) and epoxy a magnet to the top, that way you could pull it out with anything steel. Or go the opposite route and put a steel screw into it and pull it out with a strong magnet.

I have a similar situation with my old bench that I'm replacing. Eventually, I just decided to let them fill with dust and then hit them with a vacuum at the end of the day. Just leave a little gap on the edge when you place the vacuum down so air and get in there, and they do a pretty good job of clearing out without having to fish stuff out by hand. Sometimes, if I'm in a hurry and need a hole and don't want to mess with the vacuum, I'll just cup my hand behind the hole and blow really hard and that usually clears it out. It also usually kicks shavings and dust up into my mouth...

[Bill Dufour]

Like a tampon?

Spelled Tampion. Good enough for a 16 inch battleship gun. Should survive in a home shop.
BillD