Drilling Bench Dog Holes Benchtops
How to make a jig to aid in accurately drilling repeatable workbench dog holes in a benchtop for tools like holdfasts and wonder pups.
Drilling bench dog holes benchtops. Now i ll move onto making bench dog holes and holdfast holes. Mark the row of dogholes on your bench aligning the mark with the dog on your bench s vise. Clamp the guide in place along with a backer board to prevent tear out on the bottom of the bench.
Using a jig you see here does the trick. Way back when i was still in the design phase of this workbench i had originally planned to drill the dog holes in the benchtop using a spiral up cut bit and my plunge router. While you can simply drill a hole anywhere i like to space them consistently across the length of the bench.
Bench dog holes allows you to add all kinds of stops clamps and vises to your worksurface. A row or two of 3 4 dia. Since you are using the same forstner bit in all drilling operations a secure fit of the bit in the jig is guaranteed.
There are dozens of ways to drill dog holes that dead nuts plumb and i ve written about many of them during the last 17 years. My favorites use the fewest tools and jiggery not everyone has a big plunge router with massive bits or can clamp a drill press to the benchtop. I picked up the doghole bit and bushing from lee valley for my bench at it worked amazingly.
Secure the jig to work bench and carefully drill hole. Best way to drill 3 4 dog holes in my bench top. My bench has holes spaced 145 mm center to center on both the fixed top and the moving l shaped vise end.
Determine what the measurement will be between bench dog holes then drill a second hole in the jig equal to this distance. The guide bushing keeps you straight and the full sized bit clears chips well. To make a lot of consistently sized bench dog holes i setup a plunge router with an adjustable fence.
That means even long after the bench is built you can always add extra bench dog holes with nothing but a hand drill. Draw a crosshatch to locate the first hole. I even bought the bit.
I had planed to use a collar and a template similar to a shelf pin hole drilling jig just on a much larger scale. Also discussed is sele. I have a pretty quick and easy method so let s get started.
I want to drill some dog holes and am wondering the best way to do it. Then position the drilling guide s alignment marks with those on the bench. Within reason i can t see that it matters much.
