Making Large Dowels with a Router

[@justgoballistic]

This is an excellent approach with good results. I think I can improve on the mounting system and make it a bit more streamlined. Straight forward with no wasted wood. Excellent job.

[@johnhutchinson5398]

I think you done very well with this project. It takes trial and era to become a good wood worker when you’re mostly learning on your own and getting advice from some others who’s walked the path learning. Hey dude, I’m 65 and I still learn something new with new projects and even older things I’ve learned to build. By the time I was 18 I was able to design and build my own home workshop and most everything else wood. Most of my furniture I made. I wish I could have had your setup when I was first starting out. You did a great job and learned a few things in the process. Like using a smaller washer to put as stops on the ends of your beginning dowels. Bits are very expensive as you’ve learned. Adding a small electric motor with a fast rpm will help you use both hands and it will make your dowels a lot smoother when finished. On some hardwoods I don’t even have to sand anything really but I do for the look and especially it what I’m building is being given as a gift or sold. Keep it up young man.

[@batchrocketproject4720]

Really nice demonstration of a useful jig. Thanks for posting. 💯

[@iofor]

Молодец ! Такую приспособу я сделал к токарному станку по-дереву ,правда из металла . Сейчас перевожу эту приспособу к 2D принтеру ,через CNC ардуинку с компа ... Как раз завтра буду красить этот станочек и покрою даже лаком ... ;))) Так что успехов тебе ....

[@OgreProgrammer]

Funny how people vary. I like making jigs and tools more than finished products! Great video!

[@petermarsh4993]

Hello Sir, nice demonstration of how to make a nice large dowel. If you adjust the height of one end’s spindle, you can then turn tapered shapes and end up with something that is conical rather than cylindrical. That may be useful for say tapered table legs. Cheers.

[@parillaworks]

Thanks Peter!

[@Hawthorn-nz]

That's really interesting - I didn't realise it was driven. I'm about to make some quarter rounds for a kitchen island. I might glue them together and do all 4 at once like this.

[@leswheeler2023]

I have made a jig like this, but I powered mine with a garage door opener motor. The chain and drive sprockets also come from the same unit. Means you have two hands on the router and in full control. Very easy to do! I have used this power source for many things. I get them from installers who have replaced with a new unit and would have other wise be dumped.

[@tomfoydel]

My suggestion is that you setup a foot pedal to control the drill, that way you can concentrate on the router movement. Great video

[@piousminion7822]

Add 3 wooden gears on the drive end. The center gear in line with the dowel and the other two centered on the outside edge of the top corners. Make the outer gears turn some all-thread rod, and attach nuts to your router sled. This way, you can turn the drive end with a drill set to slow and the router will move along the track in one smooth motion as the dowel turns. Easy peasy auto-dowel maker. :D

[@rea59]

Take a block of wood that just fits inside your jig and add a center pin to it. After that just put in any length of block to take up space behind it and use the drive side to set the tension, you can now make different length dowels.

[@ShaukatHakim]

You are a nice guy. Good work, i will try to make the same jig.

[@tudofeitoemcasa8479]

Thank's a lot for sharing. Its easier get a 90 degrees anule if you drill The holes while the blank is square

[@madmaxofspokane1691]

I own a book called "Router Magic" that has plans for a router lathe that I built many years ago (15+?). All the gears, chains bearings, fasteners, mdf & hardboard took weeks to track down & cost around $300. I was obsessed with the challenge. The simplest thing this could do was cut precision dowels. All the way up to the fanciest spiralled chair legs, table legs, bed posts, spiralled & pineappled post tops in any configuration you can imagine. The only limitation in design is your imagination. If you want a really satisfying challenge on an incredibly useful shop made machine. There you go.👽👽👽

[@madmaxofspokane1691]

Just checked! They actually have it on Amazon! Written 23 years ago. Router Magic

[@parillaworks]

Hi Willy, thank you for sharing! That sounds like a fun build.

[@martinstoev9984]

Really helpful! You don't have to buy duplicator. This jig is working! And you did a great job! Nice!

[@tharemyhopkins5873]

Great troubleshooting and experimenting! Thanks for taking us on the ride, looks like a good addition to the shop without breaking the bank. Generic comment about Dust Collection ;)

[@parillaworks]

Thanks Tharemy! The DC comment can be made about all of my videos, if I'm honest!

[@clydedecker765]

Some suggestions? Mount the tail stock screws in a sliding box that allows overall length adjustment (slots in the side with dove tail runners). Add a dust collector hole near the bottom. Add a foot switch to turn the router (mounted on a stand added to that end) on and off allowing you to use both hands if needed.

[@parillaworks]

Thanks Clyde, I always look forward to your comments. I really like the sliding tailstock idea.

[@jimyoung7090]

I checked the comments to see if anyone had already suggested a sliding tail stock. Glad it's already done. Jim Y

[@richardshort4587]

For an adjustable tail stock perhaps place rebates at intervals along the long sides and make the tail stock on a single piece of wood you just slide down into those rebates. If you have a concern about the tail stock coming out during an operation. Just make a small steel pin locking device similar to a boxer engine crankshaft turn one way the locking pins go into the side walls, the other way they both come out.

[@sizzlean9459]

You're kind of a perfectionist aren't you? Well that's nothing to complain about, very nice project, thanks for putting this video up. I'd like to see you make an attachment that could make some of those dowels into threaded wooden screws.

[@parillaworks]

In some things, yes. A threading attachment would be pretty interesting. Thanks for watching!!

[@rbwoodwork1890]

Excellent video. I would look for a used sewing machine motor to drive the dowel, then you can set the speed and also use both hands on the router. But well done!👍

[@nathanhollins9128]

I have a shoulder yoke design and was needing to have a degree of sweep on the hooks and would like the entire piece to be rounded. There are challenging bends on the piece but it's necessary because it fits over my trick scooter. I've used other materials for this project but to make it in wood is desirable.

[@ozanli_Gen6]

Thanks to the Master! - Like from AZE 🇦🇿

[@Habibulla.M]

Nice making

[@KravchenkoAudioPerth]

Next time you try sanding your rough dowels use a flat wood backer. Doing it by hand will allow a variation in the finished size. Your soft hands end up following the early and late grain fluctuations in the growth rings. They are softer and harder. I found out the hard way quite a few years ago in the late 80's when trying to sand things really evenly. A backer block is your friend. Mark Cabinetmaker for a long, long time.

[@parillaworks]

Thank you, this was probably the most helpful tip so far. I think it will also save my fingers from getting caught in the predrilled holes. Thanks!!

[@terrybrockhoff8168]

Love watching you work , you are a true professional

[@joepalooka2145]

Great jig! Two thumbs up. Nice design, far superior to most I've seen on KZbin so far. Also very safe and easy to precisely adjust the size of the dowel. This is a great example of the fundamental KISS principle that always works best (Keep It Simple, Stupid)!

[@papaike2]

The KISS moto I've used it my entire life and it's never let me down.

[@allanmclean6659]

Consider mounting the drive (drill motor) so you have both hands free...and a foot switch fr similar similar method to turn it on. Beyond that, an excellent video, very clear and descriptive. Izzy Swan has a video(s) on this also; he takes another approach though. Thanks for the clear video and "WELL DONE".

[@donesry2902]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing the experiment!!

[@aljafa04]

Very good and easy thanks 🙏

[@condor5635]

Awesome jig. Love it. Only suggest using push sticks around 0:15 hand too close to blade!

[@jefftrag1956]

Nice idea, especially if you do not have a lathe. Seems if have a lathe you could make the frame for the router that mounts on the bed of the lathe. A a lathe would spin much more exactly and at greater speed if needed. You would have two hands to work with too but the homemade jig could be rigged to be hands free too.

[@sawyerrob949]

That is exactly what I did. SR

[@simonbrace9654]

Great work.

[@bougie86]

You should use the sticky tape on your drill and take off the battery as a switch. I personally use that method and I think it's safer since you can focus on the router :). Nice videos. Thanks for upload

[@parillaworks]

Thanks. That's a good idea. I might hook up a corded drill. I just need to find a way to mount it securely.

[@hendrikusoostindie6274]

it is a good thing to let people see that things can go wrong. And how to deal with it. great job . blessings from Belgium..

[@bg73]

This is brilliant. Add an adjustable stop for the router to prevent you hitting the nut again. Maybe also dust collection somehow?

[@1striperon]

About 12 years old, I asked my farmer Dad what it takes to be a good woodworker. He said, "I haven't done it, so I can only observe. What I think it takes is getting good at making small pieces of wood out of large pieces of wood."

[@johannesisager5634]

I think its opposite tho. When you can make big pieces of wood out of small ones, your doing pretty good

[@grumblycurmudgeon]

Isn't that the quintessential approach to carving an elephant? You start with a block of marble (or as the case may be, whatever flavor of hardwood you prefer), and remove all the parts that aren't an elephant? In my opinion, there are three things that make an amazing woodworker (which, incidentally, are the same things required to be a fine artist, a painter, a sculpter, etc. and an engineer): 1. The ability to set something up with precision, be it cutting a straight line, or milling a certain thickness, or a carving a curve: one must prepare the stock and the tools alike and ensure they are as close to tolerance as it's feasible to achieve with the materials they have to hand. For the important parts of the piece, milling, cutting, sanding, finishing, whatever: if your setup took less time than the execution? You wanna really look at that process (assuming you're not batching out 100 of something, of course). 2. Patience. The HARDEST part of any of those skills listed is simply not rushing or taking shortcuts. It's easy to cut a piece of wood. It's HARD to cut 300 exactly the same. Often times we'll change feed rate, get a bit over-ambitious with a router plunge etc. just because we're NOT robots and feeding 2400 linear board feet through a saw it as tedious as it is nerve-wracking. 3. Willingness to fail. You will screw up. A lot. More often than not, you're the ONLY ONE who'll ever see said screw-up in the final piece. But you'll know. Beyond that, though, ever have to make a tricky cut or route a complex profile or shape into a piece you've already got 50+ hours in? Or in a piece of wood that costs more than your table saw? Ever screw THAT up? It's terrifying doing what we do sometimes. Sucking it up and doing it anyway is the only way through, but it never gets easier. I failed to notice the grain switch back on itself once while doing a simple roundover... on an $1100 spalted Roman Olive slab. Bit caught and ripped a 5" GOUGE (that can never be filled or color-matched due to the spalting) in one of the final, pre-finishing steps of a piece. I've had long-term relationship breakups that made me cry less. And the terror never goes away, never gets easier. But what else can you do? S'not like we're gonna quit working wood, amiright? Set up right. Go slow. Be brave. Manage those three and you got this.

[@mauropulisic4979]

Es el torno mas ingenioso que e visto y con materiales simples y economicos de conseguir, muy bueno tu desarrollo y trabajo...

[@manmis007]

Grt. .....crative use of router. .....

[@hassanal-mosawi6049]

Thanks for sharing that, well said and done!

[@ryantaylor4654]

One tip that might be useful to reduce tearout: get a tube large enough to hold your stock piece. Put your stock in the tube and then fill the tube with mineral oil. Let it sit for few days-a week to let the mineral oil soak into the wood. Remove the wood and make your cuts on your jig to turn it into a dowel The idea comes from Kings Fine woodworking in a video they did on how to make wooden screws without tearout.

[@jonhallthatsall]

Great video, I am very glad I found this channel last year. This is great content and I liked hearing about your thoughts on bit selection the most. Thanks again!

[@andrzejbajorek768]

.

[@crafts_avenue]

pretty good work.

[@kennethbailey2616]

Great video

[@Sly_Wolf_1]

Great jig, great video. 👍 Thanks for taking the time to record, edit, produce and upload. Enough to make me subscribe 👍

[@exequielarcelobos4679]

Muy buena idea, excelente dispositivo o plantilla para hacer palos redondos.. Felicitaciones 👍🏽 y Gracias por compartir tus conocimientos y experiencias... Saludos Cordiales desde La Rioja-Argentina

[@arthurchenoweth7897]

Complicated rigged lathe

[@ramirod2029]

Argentina. Wow es in paso bastante largo. A donde estamos nostros. Que estamos in el estado de Massachusetts an La nueva Inglaterra we los Estados Unidos. A que the dedicas mi Hermano latinoamericano?

[@exequielarcelobos4679]

@@ramirod2029 Estoy empezando a dedicarme a la carpintería... Tus vídeos son de mucha ayuda para personas que recién empezamos en el oficio 😊

[@ramirod2029]

@@exequielarcelobos4679 Que irramientas tienes? Estas bien equipado? O solamente tienes un cerrucho y in martillo?

[@exequielarcelobos4679]

@@ramirod2029 Hola! Tengo algunas herramientas eléctricas , de mano y unas de banco q contrui yo mismo por ejemplo adapte a una mesa una sierra circular de mano y a un taladro manual construi un dispositivo para que funcione como uno de banco... Con esas herramientas me doy mañas para trabajar

[@sapelesteve]

Nice idea & jig. Based on the comments, I think that you will be able to fine tune it & get exactly what you want. Great job thus far...............

[@romulusclay6697]

Bravo, you are one of my favorite channels, Excellent designs and execution

[@parillaworks]

Thank you!

[@luderickwong]

Yes, you can drill it after the process, use a piece of angle iron as v block, you can center the hole using a drill press. And, if you look back in the footage, the wooden base of the router do have a small gap with the runway, it will cause the router to shake and off center. Fill that gap with a piece of metal, such as beer can and you will be a happy man.

[@ramirod2029]

Dude to keep bad mouthing your idea. But i think its awesome. I needed an idea just like this one. Now I'm wicked excited to try it.

[@parillaworks]

Thank you! Good luck with it. I need to do some more experimenting with the speed of the bit and the spindle; hopefully I can get a smoother finish. Also, the other day I built the second tailstock. It slides anywhere in the jig and can be clamped into place which makes it very adjustable.

[@esencix]

What did you use in the router wall to make the drive screw to spin on ? great video

[@shaines]

Very cool

[@DMC888]

Not sure if anyone has suggested this, but maybe try plunging your router bit to the side of the dowel. That way a cheap straight router bit will cut way better than anything coming in from above.

[@zenbooter]

I love this tool. Repeat, repeat.

[@foziljonpulatov826]

Отличная идея спасибо за видио

[@mouse6196]

Love the idea...I'm making one. I'll try to add dust collection. Thanks for the video

[@parillaworks]

Thanks. Yup, I need to add some DC too.

[@edheide7229]

You have some good ideas that I can use, I like building my own tools. Thanks for sharing.

[@umbalaba]

Really nice! If you made the box deeper, you could add an angled bottom to the box and a vacuum outtake, which would add dust extraction to the jig.

[@jimflammer9370]

Great Job!

[@johndowning2231]

Back in the ‘80s, I bought a “Woodchuck” tool that has a horizontal feed for a router which allowed me to make dowels. I am sure the company is now out of business, long ago.

[@IsaKocoglu]

Interesting concept.

[@НиколайБелоконь-п2н]

👍 очень полезная приспособа.Красава👍

[@yurycz8933]

Good idea.

[@phi9249]

This is one worth building. Thank you.

[@btdga]

Try a "dish cutting bit". They have a flat bottom and radius corners. I think you'll get better results. I don't see how you can avoid tear out on pre-drilled holes. To drill perpendicular holes in round stock: 1. make a "V" cradle to hold the stock and center it under the bit on the drill press. 2. drill the first hole. 3. insert a dowel into the first hole and turn the stock so that the dowel is parallel to the drill press table. 4. drill the next hole.

[@parillaworks]

Love the dish/bowl/tray bit idea. Surprisingly, I didn't get any tearout on the edges of the pre-drilled holes. I was expecting at least some but they were really clean.

[@carycleland9506]

That’s a great idea.

[@CCSandSonsWorkshop]

Super smart and elegant solution. Nice work!

[@dtriniboss]

You should mount (strap, U-bolt) the drill on a platform along side the drive end of the jig to free your hands for better control, plunge and lateral movement of the router. To keep the drill on include a trigger control.

[@MrArcher0]

You put an offset sled with a bolt from the side for sizing your dowels that way your bit doesn’t matter because the adjustment is from the side. Way more precise also.

[@parillaworks]

I see. Something like metal lathe carriage, that would work well if I could build it reliably.

[@dptp9lf]

on the 90 degree issue of the holes... was you stock milled at a perfect 90 degrees, cus that should make the holes 90 degrees?

[@Mr1geos]

Great video! Great jig! Many thanks!

[@tomsdreamshopworx]

Very cool! It’s fun thinking through the process.

[@scud69er]

Great video and an awesome jig.

[@nurdinamin5901]

Good capital good job

[@ralphgardner6284]

Nice stop action on assembly. Dust collection as simple as a shop vac port in the side of the frame would help. Also, I’d be looking for a way to turn the drive without hanging on to the drill. Not sure how many rpm you need to do the job, I’d expect not too much. Possible strap the drill to the side of the cabinet and rig up a simple belt drive on wooden pulleys cut with a hole saw. In my case, I’d be trying to use an old smaller sized electric appliance motor w/o too many rpm. But heck... guess you could do it with a rope wrapped around a wooden disk and a return spring, and work it like a treadle. Or just use the drill. Haha

[@parillaworks]

Thanks for the comment Ralph! I'm going to try to mount a drill next to the jig so I can focus on the router.

[@crappo8459]

Nicely done clean workmanship

[@jorgereyna7622]

What a nice idea Genius

[@6BlackWings]

What does this method buy you over just using a round-over bit?

[@parillaworks]

There’s a few reasons. Large roundover bits can be expensive and possibly single-use if only needed once. Also, this method allows you to do any diameter you want in any increment. You can sneak up on the perfect fit if your dowel needs to fit into a hole/mortise. A roundover bit may give you a nice dowel but it might not match a hole you drill.

[@berndheiden7630]

If you just make a couple of holes in the side of your jig you can place and fix a plate similar to your tailstock end of the box inside the jig and adjust the working length of your part!

[@parillaworks]

Yup, I did something similar. I made an additional tailstock and all I needed to do was clamp it in place. Worked pretty well on the first try.

[@timothyrobinson8640]

@@parillaworks You could make a tailstock plate and house it in a series of dadoes inside your jig box serving to index the jig for whatever size stock you want to end up with.

[@furthernorthfab]

Thanks for sharing and the tips. I was planning a credenza with round legs. Now I know how I’ll make those round legs 👍

[@mandolinistry3207]

I'm having a really hard time getting a clean dowel this way. I find the threaded rod assembly tends to wobble a bit. I even remade the end plates using smaller holes, using a 11/32 bit so a 3/8 rod would be snug and it still wobbles. Any thoughts on how to correct this?

[@Zach8264]

Since your bit is flat across the cutting face, take the guesswork out of measuring the dowels and get more precise results. Measure from the center of the hole where the drive is to the top of the jig. Then make graduation marks from the top to the bottom for thickness of the dowel, offsetting by what you will need for sanding/error. Then just use the top of the jig as your zero reference and you can now make repeatable cuts without first making a dowel.

[@ypaulbrown]

Get some Teflon or Delrin tape for the ways of the jig. Will make moving the saddle real easy.

[@parillaworks]

Thanks Paul! Great suggestion.

[@timothyrobinson8640]

A small leaf spring on the inside surface of one of the router plate fence portions would hold the sled tight against the opposing fence part.

[@whirled_peas]

I wonder if a handheld planer would perhaps suit this better than a router? Depth of cut would be trickier to set up but if some solution was found for that, you'd have a better quality of cut and likely wouldn't need to sand. Tearout on the holes would be reduced since the angle of attack would always be with the grain. A router bit will be cutting cross grain 50% of the time and 25% of the time against the grain. You could drill and tap some holes into the infeed section of a hand planer to attach to your slider component. Would still be usable as a normal portable planer afterwards. Perhaps a combination would make sense, a router to rough the shape out and a separate planer slider to finish it.

[@dtriniboss]

A planer is not normally subjected to forces parallel to the blade's edge.

[@whirled_peas]

@@dtriniboss Relative to the speed the dowel would be moving I don't think the lateral movement would be relevant. Most planers are around 13-15k rpm, the dowel will be doing maybe 10rpm. Assuming a similar enough radius between dowel and planer cutterhead, and that the planer RPM being maybe half under load, the vector between the blade and the work would be 700x1, blade edge moves 700 units per the dowel's surface moving 1 unit laterally. Much less than what would occur with freehand planing!

[@jbb5470]

Nice video and a cleaver solution

[@jeffforbes3772]

Enjoyed the video and the explanations along the way. Good job!

[@heyitsthatdude17]

Maybe add some kind of stop on the ends for the sled, to make sure you never go far enough to hit the mounts. Also adding DC seems like a good upgrade, just a hold in part of the sled that angles down for a shop vac to plug into or something.

[@parillaworks]

The WWGOA video suggested stops. I didn't add them because if am making a shorter dowel, the stops won't engage before the I'm near the hardware. I'll try to think of another idea. And you're right about DC, I'll add that, too.

[@heyitsthatdude17]

@@parillaworks Love your work John. I made a small apothecary chest as a gift for my Mom based largely on your designs. Keep it up.

[@ginoasci]

my two cents: add weight to the router or router base to minimize vibration. slow the drill rpm and travel speed as you push the router assembly to give the cutter more time to cut. a larger diameter cutter should give you a better cut as long as everything is stable and on track with little to no vibration. of course the good quality bearing and a tight grip to keep the work piece running true is a must. but a really flat rail system, a heavy router with a sharp but combination will give the best results to lessen the sanding. if your goal is to make dowels with specific diameters, this sure is a great way to go for anyone. i like it. ok it was more than two cents.

[@parillaworks]

Ha, I appreciate the extra cents! All good points and something I will take into account if I re-engineer this jig! Thanks!

[@TomChaton]

Interesting idea. I can see a bit of lateral movement in the sled which would affect the diameter of the finished piece. Do you think you might get a better finish with a round nose router bit?

[@parillaworks]

Thanks Tom. I think a round nose bit or a dish bit would help. My only concern with a round nose is that there isn't much contact with the material and it's only from the center of the bit which isn't moving terribly fast. But I could be overthinking it.

[@TomChaton]

@@parillaworks Good point. I guess it's a trade off between speed and finish. If you offset the router to the side slightly it might work, but then gauging the depth would be difficult. Perhaps resigning yourself to a bit of sanding isn't the worst thing in the world. After all, a love of sanding is why we do woodwork, right?

[@aaddershaheen2962]

Thank you so much

[@justincast10]

Think using a round over bit would be better?

[@parillaworks]

It would be if you have a router table and the right size bit. But you can’t really dial in an exact size with a roundover bit. Also, very large roundover bits can be very expensive.

[@nisam1966]

I like building my own tools this is Great im going to fix it

[@karimjaidane1468]

bravo

my friend . very nice. thank you so much.. be happy.. bravo

[@kmonnier]

Awesome!

[@dstarr3]

Tree is round Cut down tree to make square parts Cut up square parts to make them round again EFFICIENT

[@CCSandSonsWorkshop]

This cracked me up, thanks Dave.

[@xawerytrabka8813]

Dave it was "Absolut of the Absoluts" :)

[@electrorganix]

that is why it is called woodworking, duh. :)

[@markphelps9856]

Wait until the episode on toothpicks!

[@JuguemosconSentido]

we need to have fun! ahaha

[@johnbredemere299]

enjoyed the video - thanks for sharing.

[@MrArcher0]

Cut a square piece of material the same as the diameter of the dowel. Screw it to the end of the dowel. This allows you to index the dowel every 90 deg. Easy Peasy Lemon Squeeze

[@parillaworks]

I just did that yesterday! It worked great. I’ll probably post a video about it next week.

[@natelarge]

Great info. Very detailed/

[@chinsawjosh]

Only a suggestion fix the drill/motor in place and lock the trigger down. You will get less movement of the drive pin and both hands on the router. O and scrap wood under the Forster bit when drilling they last longer.

[@Mike_Regan]

Rather than tube bushings, you might consider roller bearings. Less friction an wear.

[@brianterrill9587]

Now to make these 12 feet long!