Harbor freight dual doweling tool

[Rick Potter]

After reading the thread on the dual doweling machine (the one that looks like a biscuit joiner), I decided to try one. It had all the shortcomings mentioned by a creeker in that thread. The drill holes are out of line, the slide needs to be tightened to eliminate slop, and the fence needs to be shimmed straight. My first joint right out of the box was about 1/16" off of being square.

This could all be shimmed and fixed, but what stopped me cold was the 16000 RPM of the motor. As I said, I only made one practice joint, using some poplar scraps, and when I did the end grain the drill bits started smoking right away, and blued.

I am gonna take it back, and get a good doweling jig.

Rick Potter

[Phil Thien]

That is a lot of RPM's.

What kind of bits do they use? Would it be possible to replace the high-speed bit with a solid-carbide upcut spiral bit? Seeing as they're spinning the bits at router speeds, using a router bit may help.

[john bateman]

If the two drills aren't exactly on the same horizontal plane, I would think that would kill the whole deal. After all, when you plunge the thing into two mating pieces of wood, the hole made by the right bit mates with the hole made by the left bit on the other piece.

[Rick Potter]

I forgot to mention.....it looks to me like the drills both turn the same direction, rather than one being reversed, at least both drill bits have the same spiral. I wonder if more expensive units have the bits spinning different directions?

Rick Potter

[Matt Ocel]

Rick
Thanks for saving me a headache.