how to make a wonder dog???

Bill Lantry

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Hey, folks,

The bench taking form in my shop has no tail vise (I'm way too cheap to blow $200 on a chain-driven dual handle veritas vise). What it will have is 3/4 holes every 8". This is because I was planning on using some of them old-fangled blacksmith special hold-downs. But for clamping, I was thinking dogs made out of 3/4 dowels and a couple wonderdogs:


05g1001s3.jpg

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=31129&cat=1,41637

but they're $30 bucks a pop, and I'd need at least two. Maybe four. dang!

So I'm thinking to myself: I've got a tap and die set, what the heck? How hard could it be? ;)

What would I really need? A 3/4" bar, either metal or wood, to slip into the dog hole. A rod I could thread, to go through the bar (heck, a hex bolt would be fine... I could get it close by hand, and tighten it with a socket wrench). a way to stick a piece of wood onto the end, so that it turns freely, but can take some pressure. Et viola, life is good, right?

It seems so simple, someone must have tried it. What am I missing? There must be some reason why no-one does this... ;)

Thanks,

Bill
 
With the picture you have and some creative juices and a tool or two you could make a set pretty easily. 3/4" rod for the dog. Metal better but Birch Dowel might do if you don't get carried away. Drill a hole and tap threads to fit a piece of all thread. 1/4" or 3/8" The block could be a simple piece of hardwood with a hole stop drilled to match the threaded rod.

Tightening the dog is the problem. A flip joint (for lack of better term, I made up that phrase) similar to the pictured one could be hack sawn, filed, drilled, & pinned. or a hack sawn slot for a screwdriver might work as well.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b136/hickoryknee/dog.jpg
Another idea that woks as well is a set of wedges, made from scrap wood.
 
...but they're $30 bucks a pop, and I'd need at least two. Maybe four. dang!

Snippage of one possible way to make them oneself...

It seems so simple, someone must have tried it. What am I missing? There must be some reason why no-one does this... ;)
Well, I think you would only "need" two at most. And for $30 bucks a pop I wouldn't bother to make them myself.

The solution of dogs, scrap widths of wood and a wedge works fine.

Rarely do I use more than one of the Wonder Dogs. The odd time I use two I could most likely use something else.

Take care, Mike
 
Jay,

Thanks. I can't get there. Is this the general idea?

http://www.angelfire.com/music2/construct/bnchthmb.html

dual pipe clamps for the end vise?

Thought of that, even shopped for the clamps, but couldn't find any with a travel of more than a couple inches...

I must be missing something...

Thanks,

Bill
In reading at that site, it looks like the pipe clamp vise uses the quick release tabs on the pipe clamps (via a pair of foot pedals) to slide the outer clamp jaw into rough position, then the threaded clamping part to snug up the last fraction of an inch. Looks pretty ingenious...I wonder if it works?
 
Those old fashioned, blacksmith type, 'whack 'em in' hold downs do a good job and are inexpensive. Maybe that's why they have remained popular for centuries. I have a couple and find very handy. They are simple. I like simple. ;)
 
Gentlemen,

It looks like, with your help, I've solved the wonder dog problem. The key phrase was "with a little creativity, you could..." ;)

So I spent most of saturday morning staring at the "new-fangled workbench" article someone mentioned. The pipe clamp vises were cool. And I looked at some other sites, also making tail vises out of pipe clamps, in a different way. But the new-fangled bench would have required a complete redesign on the top. And the others would have required a redesign of the base. I stared and stared.

Then, because it always helps me to do something else when I'm thinking about something (don't ask me why, it just works that way) I did some shop rearrangement I'd been meaning to get to. Moved a cabinet, got the trashcan section of the dust collection up off the floor. Because of the complete chaos of my existence, I always find stuff that's gone missing. What I found on saturday afternoon was an old 6" bench vise. I'd had it installed before, but it fell off the 2x8 I had it screwed to.

019907331766_3.jpg


When that happened, I'd said "oh well.. 14 bucks... someday I'll build a real bench" and tossed it on the pile of stuff to save. So on saturday, I picked it up and looked at it. I looked at the screw on it... it was longer than any pipe clamp screw. A good five inches of travel. Bingo!

So I climbed into the truck and headed for the despot to get it's twin. Mortised em both into the end of the bench saturday evening. The bench has three rows of dog holes, and the center of each vise is exactly on the corresponding outside row. Had a bunch of other stuff to do yesterday, but I did find time to joint, plane, cut and miter the four pieces I need for the apron. Now I just need to figure out a way to mortise the apron pieces so the back jaws of those two vises, and the front vise, are captured inside the apron. Router table with stops, I know, but the front apron piece is 7 feet long, and I've yet to figure out how to make a stop in mid-air... ;)

While I was at the despot, I went looking for a 3/4 solid metal rod. No luck. I *did* find a 1 inch oak dowel. Hmmm. I could cut that to 3", and sand it down so the bottom 2" fit into a 3/4 dog hole. ok. But there's no way that's going to take a thread, and keep it. Then I found something I'll call barrel pins... essentially a 3/8" rod, 3/4 inch long, pre-drilled and tapped for 1/4 20 threads. Whoa! Bob's your uncle. Left the store with a couple feet of threaded rod to match. The plan is to drill the dog get that pin through, redrill the dog for the threaded rod, epoxy a nut on to one end so I can turn it, and a piece of oak dowel to the other so I don't mar the workpiece. I know, the 1/4 rod is not strong enouch to give me real clamping pressure, and I'll just end up with dogs and wedges anyway, and besides now I have a makeshift tail vise, so what's the point? The point is that people are always telling me how stubborn I am, and I'm just trying to prove them right! ;)

Thanks,

Bill
 
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