Drill perfectly square bench dog holes in your work bench
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 พ.ค. 2022
- To make the most of your workbench, it needs dog holes!
Dog holes really let you appreciate that your workbench isnt just a work surface but annother super important tool in your workshop.
In this video I show you how I drilled dog holes in my work bench using a 3-4-5 triangle to get them perfectly straight and square with each other without the need for expensive alignment tools
The dog hole accessories I used can be found here
Hold down clamps - www.aliexpress.com/item/10050...
Bench dogs - www.aliexpress.com/item/10050...
Similar items from Amazon
Hold down clamps - amzn.to/3wQiIkc
Bench dogs - amzn.to/3lLq1U3 OR amzn.to/3LWBsD0
Bench dog clamps - amzn.to/3LSOMsf
Some of my tools:
Pocket hole jig - amzn.to/3DxARVG
Woodpeckers stainless steel squares - www.woodpeck.com/woodpeckers-...
Planer/Thicknesser - www.carbatec.co.nz/product/36...
Cabinet Saw - www.carbatec.co.nz/product/17...
Jig Saw - amzn.to/3j0Eom8
Circular Saw - amzn.to/3v9Nrab
Brad point bits - amzn.to/3K6rnmK and amzn.to/3x7uAie
Right angle clamps - amzn.to/3uP9zX8 - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
If you're looking at those holes thinking "Those are round not square" My meaning is that they are square to each other, sorry about the confusion 🙂
Speaking of square.. to minimise the margin of error - always measure (and in this particular case, plugging guide stems) as far away from each other as possible! The outcome of this as a standard procedure is enormous!
Kind regards
Anders
Sweden
..look ~ 12 minutes in.
Drat! You really know how to kill a jocular observation before it even is made!
I came here to find out how to drill square holes! 😅
Great video though, nice way of laying out the holes and getting them uniform! Good job
A guy named Angel Hernandez says they are square.
All I could see was your fingers so close to the blade. OMG. sooo much faith in that sawstop.
I made the dog holes in my bench using a plunge router with a 3/4-inch bit. Quick, simple, perfectly vertical holes with no fuss.
That's my plan as well. Layout is the most important first step in order to not have them interfere with under-the-top construction and/or hardware like rails, legs, vice hardware and/or guide rails/screw, etc.
If I had a bench that pretty, I’d have to build an ugly one to actually work on.
To ensure straight spade bit holes make a disk with a diameter equal to that of the spade bit. Make a hole in the disk center equal to the diameter of the spade bit shank. Put the disk on the spade bit before putting the bit into the drill. Start drilling. Let the disk fall into the hole as the spade bit drills deep enough. The disk will force the bit to drill straight. 🙂🙂
Awesome tip
Do you know of any videos to show us what you mean?
I had to laugh at the stage when the bikes came out of the shop to give you room to work. I feel seen! Solidarity, brother!
best tutorial I have seen yet! great idea and easy to follow.
TS Safety at 3 mins. Lots of good tips in this vid, but table saw at 3 minutes in has hazards, keep fingers further away from blade for when things go wrong. Saw guard and better to use push sticks than over the saw device. It only has to go wrong once and it hurts. Good vid and keep it up and keep fingers safe. thanks
Just a hint: the 96mm come from the 32mm system. If you make a cabinet and want to have adjustable shelves you usually have rows of 5mm holes with 32mm spacing and there are a lot of jigs to drill these holes.
Thank you for this info. It will be helpful! ☺
very cool,someone figured out the math to do a DIY parf jig, and you made it easy to understand, thanx, i'm gonna go make one now, i think i'm gonna cut up some aluminium strips instead of wood
smooth jazz and a kiwi accent is butter.
Hey, Mac, keep making videos. You have nice technique and it is fun to see someone who isn't using really expensive tools. I like your "garage shop" motif.
This is a great strategy for doing this. I hated watching you reaching over the running saw blade to pick up the wood!!😢
It looked like he was inches away from adding extra digits to his calculated cuts
I especially appreciate the detail of pinning (with the upside down drill bits) your guide to your bench before marking/drilling the rest of the holes; and later with the hold downs. And the 3-4-5 trick with 2 identical guides was great!
i have seen some people use a peg board but I admire you dedication to triangles.
Great video mate. I followed the instructions in your video and achieved perfect 90 degree dog holes. Thank you for sharing
Concerning the hole spacing, if you have a bench vise, the spacing back from the vice should be less than its travel. This is the most important rule, so much so that even if you don't have a vice, you should research them thoughtfully and decide which one you would install if the day ever came.
Holes placed transversely along the bench should align with the centerline of the vice, and it's useful to have a row of holes in line with the corners of the vice. That may be a satisfactory spacing to extend all the way along, but wait.
If you have hold-downs or other devices to fit the bench holes, it's helpful for the holes to be no further apart than the reach of these fittings. If you don't have any, research them.
If you commonly work with dimensional lumber, the hole spacing could usefully take those dimensions into account. It's pretty low on the list of considerations, but might help to break a tie if you're undecided.
As you may be working narrow stock off the edge of the bench, it's a good idea to set the first holes reasonably close to the edge. If course, you can always build a bracing jig which relies on holes set back from the edge but which projects as needed beyond the edge to stabilize the piece. But this is fussy and will seldom be needed if the holes are spaced optimally to begin with.
A second and probably more important reason for setting the first row of holes close to the edge is again related to the vice. It helps to clamp narrow stock with the vice if the holes start close.
All these considerations! In mathematics we would call this an overconstrained problem. But you'll quickly hit on a "close enough" compromise, if you think about what matters most to the kind of work you do.
Helpful thoughts, thanks
Well constructed set of considerations thank you. Would you mind explaining your underpinning theory on the bench vice as it relates to hole formations?
Very good video. Loved all your tricks & techniques.
Thanks for sharing your considerations. I wouldn't have thought of them, but they are obviously smart once you heard them!
Start it with the forstner, then switch to the same size spade. That way the top/entry is clean as possible. You can also use paraffin or oil to cool the bit, just as you would on a drill press.
You can still use the brad point, but you could/should also mark the holes using a center-spring punch to prevent initial drift I see you doing that later on, but no reason not to do it for every hole, and it might be easier and quicker than actually pre-drilling to start them.
Strangely enough, when doing test holes, the spade bit gave me the tightest fit, the forstner bit had a little wiggle room in it, I might just need better forstner bits :)
I did try using my center punch but its shaft was smaller than the 4mm hole in the guide, so it was not always exactly center. Eventually I worked out that i didn't even need to pre drill, I just used the guides to directly drill the pilot holes as they centered the drill bit perfectly and I only needed to drill down 10mm
The amount of people on the internet who don't actually DO anything but love to critique those who do is astounding.
GREAT vid, Mac! 👍🏻
Happy to see folks appling ancient geometry/trigonometry to jigs. Consider using the auger bit or spade bit at a smaller diameter just to remove material, then the correct forstner bit to shape the final.hole without overheating it. .
Tamar (3x3Custom) shows an incredibly handy method for drilling dog holes in her video: "Portable & Affordable Workbench for Small Spaces"
I did successfully use the wood owl auger bit by employing a few tricks. It is the lead screw that makes it so aggressive. I mostly disabled that by drilling a large pilot hole so most of the lead screw had nothing to engage with. I also started the holes with a forstner bit to a depth of 1/4", followed that with the pilot hole and then the auger bit.
Wood owl makes a 2-flute auger that has no lead screw.
It has a very short and shallow angle brad point so it’s still a good idea to start with a Forstner. It is unbelievably sharp, fast, and cool running. The first hole I drilled really surprised me. The clean, sharp edges of the exit are the biggest surprise. One thing I didn’t like is the full length of the flute edges are just as sharp as the front. The slightest side wobble will cause an oversized diameter long after the point has gone past. I fixed that by dulling the sides of the flutes with a fine hone starting about 1/4” from the front. Don’t get near the front corners or the exit won’t be clean. Yeah, fussy considerations but it cuts so fast and clean I just love ‘em.
Don’t risk hitting any nails though. The lead screw triple flute model is the nail chipper.
Plunge router with a rail to slide along your marked out grid is a good way to do your holes. Using it like an end mill.
super........ i am building now and wondered how to get even spaced holes..........now I can let my brain rest! thank you
Nice work! 👏👏👏👏
Very helpful!!!
Nicely done.
That was a well thought out and methodical approach.
Brilliantly simple. Thank you
Outstanding!!
Awesome video. Thanks.
First channel I found actually explaining the term MFT table….thank you! Because for a while I thought it was a type of material !
Ya mean it doesn't stand for : "Mother-Effing Table"? Who knew? :)🤣
Great job well designed and executed
Useful and informative and very well demonstrated. Great tip. thks
Thanks. Very instructional.
A very well made instructional video.👍
Outstanding
You asked about the drill bit. Your Forstner should be of higher quality. The outer edge should have cutting teeth. Nicely done
I used the Pythagorean theorem to bring out a perfectly 90° wall in the middle of my lower level outer wall. But I suppose it works for making dog holes too. 👍
As well as the fantastic tips - I can't believe the simple logic of using Pythagorus to ensure squareness with only a simple ruler never crossed my mind - I really appreciate the links to the reasonably-priced dog hole accessories accessible in NZ.
I used the drill bit and it worked just fine.
Excellent! I was thinking about doing something very similar but overly complicated. Your way is a great idea; that is how I will drill my holes. Thanks for the video.
I did mine with an auger bit and hand brace, only 4 for hold f do own, but it is surprisingly efficient
Use a router and spiral bit. Make a template to get the spacing and diameter and a Porter Cable style template guide. After the three holes in the corner are drilled, use the template and bench dogs to move the template to the next hole.
If you want dress them up use chamfer bit to clean up the edge of the hole and make it easier to put the dogs in the holes.
They look round to me!
Sorry, I was referring to them being square to each other :)
I did build an MFT top a few months ago using similar techniques. However, I did have the advantage of having a Wolfcraft Dowel Jig 4650000 which has holes at 32 mm spacing (for shelving holes) and comes with metal bushes for 5/6/8/10 mm drills. I was lucky that when it arrive a nut was missing and they had to send me an accessory kit which had spare metal bushes included. This was useful to be able to use two 6mm guide holes at the same time.
The Pythagoras method (3/4/5) is used by pretty much all home-made benchdogs
I also used a hole drilled into wood on the drill press as a guide to open out the holes to 20mm
The problem I had with this last step was that all the 20mm drills I had gave you slightly undersize holes, whereas the benchdogs were spot on 20 mm. A bit of a pain to open out the holes by hand and it did result in some small inaccuracies. I should have probably bought a better, more accurate drill.
TBH, I'm a bit surprised a standard spade drill was that accurate.
Hey Clem
That Wolfcraft Dowel Jig looks pretty handy, yet another tool to put on my very long wish list!
I was super surprised with the spade bit too, but after I did my test holes in a scrap piece of wood, it was the most snug fit for the accessories I purchased.
The 96 mm spacing is from 32 mm cabinet systems....32 x 3= ?????
woodcraft has a super plastic template for 3/4" holes using a router-about to try it out
Hey chris, great video, and it worked like a charm. Thanks save me a few $$
Awesome, i'm glad it helped :)
After using some cheap Forstner drills I bought the more expensive ones from FAMAG. What a difference! Especially the carbide tipped series is my favourite.
I don't know if you know, but it looks like you recreated the core of UJK Parfguide system 😁👍
Instead of using multiple spade bits, sharpen the bit when needed. A flat file, careful eye & hand, and bit of elbow greese and voila, good as new
Hi Kris, I think 96 chosen as it is a base 8 number. This means means it divides into more whole numbers than 100 i.e. 96 = 2x48, 3x32, 4x24, 6x16 8x12 etc.
Ahhh, I should have worked that out being a programmer, thanks for the info!
@@macsworkshop, Actually, as another noted, it's also the 32mm standard mounting hole spacing (or some multiple thereof) for shelves, fixtures, etc., tripled, as another standard for work bench fixtures. The "Three - Four - Five" measurement works with any linear measurement system; Millimeters, Centimeters, Inches, Yards and so forth. Contractors use it to lay out building foundations with whatever measurement system is most appropriate to them for the size and locality ["When in Rome ... "] of the project.
In my experience it does matter that the dog holes are straight. I use some for holdfasts which don't sit so well in an off-vertical hole.
I used a Brad point 20mm bit from Makita after doing the same exercise as you have done. It does a neater bottom side than the spade or Forstner bit. Better Forstner bits like the one from UJK work better but not as well as the Brad Point bit, which is faster and more effective.
Bit and brace nice holes doesn’t over heat.
A brad-point bit, somewhat like the one with the screw point but without the screw point.
An ordinary carpenter's square is a good tool for squaring off a measurement of about its own proportions, provided of course that it IS square. (If it isn't, throw it out, or cut it up for scrap metal. Sometimes rough handling will put the best of instruments out if calibration. So remember that a square or a rule is indeed a reference instrument and not simply a tool.)
It's trivial to test for square if you have a flat surface with a straight edge to use as a reference. Lay the long edge of the square against the reference edge, and draw a sharp line (A) onto the surface along the short edge of the square. Flip the square mirror-wise with its short edge as the hinge, and line up its long edge against the reference edge again. Draw a second sharp line (B) along the short edge of the square as before. If the square is perfectly accurate, the lines A and B will lie on top of each other.
You can reset a square with a welder and center punch. Don't throw out!! Welder to shrink, center pop to expand!!
There is a drill bit that will make a nice clean hole. It looks like your auger bit, it an an Owl drill bit. I have used these ad they are great. Drills a very clean hole.
I've been thinking, also, about the idea of taking some brass sleeve bearings, and putting them in as the top part of the holes. It would add considerably to the lifespan of the table, as they should keep the holes from wearing large over time, and getting "wobbly"... Def. more work, you'd have to drill the holes twice, once to insert depth for the insert, then once for the rest of the depth, but the insert itself should make a really good guide for the second part of that process...
That does sound like a cool idea!
Would be beautiful also
That has been the case with old Black & Decker Workmates (at least the one I’ve got). JFTR
Just leave them and eventually if ever the most used holes require it, you sleeve them as a repair. No point in the cost and trouble of doing that for every hole.
@@jasonplugowsky3086, There used to be a cartoon character I remember named "Practical Pig" and your thought reminded me of it. Let's face it, there are those who build things (like workbenches) to use them and then there are those who build things to look at them.
I was looking for a video that was not too much work & still produce good results. I feel that I just may have found it. Thanks for taking the time to film this video & to explain things as you go.
Really like your choice of music!!! Care to share some titles?
Thanks again,
Red
Glad you liked it :)
The music is all from www.epidemicsound.com/
The specific tracks are
Bag Mode - Dusty Decks
Morning Stretch - Timothy Infinite
Wild Birds - Marc Torch
Sunset Boulevard - baegel
Greasy - Timothy Infinite
Pick up Sticks (Instrumental Version) - Pandaraps
Luckily and Happily - baegel
3-4-5 👍😊
I had thought it might be good to make a spade bit jig by cutting out a "U" from the bottom of the spade bit holes so you insert it from the bottom and then into th drill. I think this would keep the shaft more aligned than just the tp of the bit?
I bought a router jig off eBay to do mine. I occasionally have to widen the holes because of seasonal movement
The 96mm spacing for dog holes in woodworking benches is not a strict standard but rather a common practice. This spacing is often seen in European workbenches and is somewhat standardized due to the Festool system, which uses 32mm hole spacing in their guide rails and MFT tables. The 96mm dimension is just three times the 32mm base unit. This modular system is advantageous because it's easy to calculate and offers compatibility with various clamps, jigs, and other accessories.
That said, the spacing can vary depending on the specific requirements of your projects or your personal preferences. Some people choose to customize the layout of their dog holes to better suit the types of tasks they frequently perform.
In essence, there's no one-size-fits-all answer, but 96mm has become a common practice for its modular benefits.
Get a peg board pin nail it to table. Drill every 4th-5th hole on peg board. Eazy-peazy
US Standard shelf pin hole spacing is 1.25 inch or 31,75mm. Europe lay in ruins at the end of WW2. No tools no wood, everything came from the US. So the DIN shelf pin Standard became 32mm, rounding up to 32 mm was the best way to avoid fractions, 1.25 or 32 mm very little difference.
Use WOOD OWL bits they are superb
Great video, but that's a lot of holes, so keep those very handy measuring pieces and go for the half and need more? drill some more, but good explanation thanks for sharing.
👍👍👍
Love this build but when I do mine, I will make a 3- 4 foot long spade hole template. Won’t have to move it as much as you did.
Thanks again
Most "Euro Cabinet" shelf pin guides have 32mm spacing between holes. Every 3rd hole is 96mm! No measuring. It's the Euro cabinet standard. And even the lowly Kreg shelf pin guide uses that spacing.
In the imperial they say to place your dog holes 3 and 3/4 inches apart, which is about 96 mm.
Jesus, that unsteady hand near the table saw blade (@3:10)!!!!
My heart stopped for a second too
Hi. I found dog holes of 20mm and 19 mm... Please i don't know if i have to drill a 20mm hole for a 19 tool, to have a small tolerance, or the hole should be equal to tool one
For a better performance of the auger drill bit, people could try a slower drilling speed. When I still was in plumbing, I used auger drills all the time to drill straight and aligned transport holes through beams where necessary and appropriate. I always used jigs custom to the location, height of the beams, width of the pipe track.
Of course, I encountered situations in which a normal electrical drill became a burden, for being the extension of the axis of drill bit.
I tried several different angled contraptions, machines or additions to machines, until I found the Makita DA4031. With that powerful machine drilling these holes became an absolute piece of cake. Also, because this machine has a choice setting between high speed, low torque and slower speed, high torque. The latter setting allows for excellent holes to be drilled with the auger.
Since then, when I use an auger drill in my regular drill, I choose to select the similar setting. Which produces much nicer holes. Depending on the kind of wood it may also be helpful to drill from two sides. In my humble opinion, that is also applicable to the speed drill.
Overall, the lower speed setting is what a lot of people forego. I think this is because in the perception the auger is considered as similar to more everyday drill bits.
However, if we look at the history, augers originally were used at even lower speeds, to produce excellent holes with the simplest of hand drills. Where our modern day regular drill bits always required a higher speed, even in hand drill machines. They always needed either a single or double gear.
Hey Vincent
Don't get me wrong, Augers have their place and I have used them a lot, especially for drilling holes for power cables in framing, however for this particular application I found they were too aggressive and would often chip the top of the wood if I wasn't super careful, and yea, as you say If you go too fast it gets even worse
@@macsworkshop That sounds more like (a) the auger needed some sharpening and (b) it was running too fast.
TBH I generally use my augers with a hand brace, not a power drill. I did all the 3/4" dog holes on my bench that way. I needed to resharpen the auger once part way through, but it gave very crisp entrance holes.
Mentioning drill speed is a good point. Very high speeds can overheat drill bits very quickly and just ploughing on doing multiple holes will ruin even the best quality bit.. Take your time ! Wind back the revs ! Remember, you are making a tool that will serve you for years to come and save you A LOT OF TIME IN THE LONG RUN ..
If you go with 20mm holes you have more options on things you can use. If you know of anyone with a 3d printer have them make you up reducers. they are 20mm od & 3/4"ID. Now you can use. any size dogs or accessories in the 20mm holes
1:30 you only need 3 points to locate anything. A machinist friend told me that. The 4th dog on the side or bottom is redundant.
That makes sense now that you point it out, good to know, thanks
Wow ! I hate spade bits, only use them for holes in rough work like studding. I have never had an auger bit run in too fast, they’re more likely to baulk at a knot ! Nice bench though.
They look perfectly round to me...
I'm gonna try using my benchtop drill press to drill my dog holes
Did he ever mentioned the bit size for the hole itself?
2:29 I don't know what brand that forstner bit is, but it's probably crap. You do NOT want to cheap out when buying forstner bits.
I initially bought the cheapest ones I could find in my local area (I live in the boonies in Denmark, so that would be from Biltema and Harald Nyborg), and they were not worth the steel they were made from.
I ended up buying a 5-piece set from Bosch (metric, part no. 2608577022), and I have not regretted dishing out the about US$ 65 I gave for them.
You usually get what you pay for.
Yea, they aren't wonderful, I just bought what I could afford at the time. A tip I heard recently is to buy a cheap set and then replace the ones you most use with good quality ones.
I will check out the bosch ones you suggest and add them to my to-buy list :)
Now come from the other end with a tail vise so you can clamp wide or long pieces.
I would have thought maybe making a template on say a piece of timber or mdf scrap
Yea, but my work bench came with square dog holes, and I don't see any accessory clamps for square holes. What to do?
If the auger drill was not producing a neat hole, you had a poor quality auger drill (of which there are many).
Key to a good auger drill is the geometry of the spur, rake and the speed of the feeder tip. The spur needs to be super sharp, and needs to protrude sufficiently ahead of the rake. I have seen quite a few auger drills with insufficient protrusion of the spur relative to the rake and where the speed of the feeder tip was too high/aggressive, pulling the drill too fast into the wood such that the rake tries to clear wood fibres that hadn't been separated yet from the main piece by the spur. That gives very ragged holes. High quality proper sharpened auger drills give very clean holes; they were the drill of choice for many centuries for manually drilling deep holes.
"It got really hot after half a hole". Is it possible to drill half a hole?
Irwin Speedbor MAX bits
You made this wAaaay to complex for basic project.
How do you like that Harvey table saw?
I’m pretty happy with it, I do t have much to compare it against but I also don’t have anything to complain about 😄
Have u tried an overdrive bit?
I haven't but someone mentioned them in an earlier comment and I'm keen to get my hands on some!
To increase accuracy, clamp a fence to your drill press, and use a set of verniers to move your material along the fence the desired difference. No marking out, well maybe the first hole.
Thanks, I'm planning to build a drill press table with a fence and stops in the future, so many projects and not enough time!
Good video! Here's a drill press tip: when drilling a series of holes in piece in a straight line, clamp a short stick to the table to act as a fence. Push the work against it and line up your mark with the drill. Slide the work along the fence to the next mark and drill. All the holes will be perfectly in line.
Wow, crazy woodpeckers makes a kit to use a router with. Hole Boring Jig
SKU: HBJ-19) Another option is Mk.II Parf Guide Drilling System. With the need for vertical holes perfect and dimensions. I would be nervous using that bit.
There are a number of CNC cut template boards floating around as well.
Why dont you start in the midle of the length and extend holes to the rigth and left. That will reduce excessive scatter at both the extremities.
I used the Wood Owl and it did tend to heat up, but it made such a clean hole, I wouldn't dare switch. But I also can't imagine drilling that many holes in my bench. It was hard to cut that tree down and fit it all together. Seems a waste to dog out so much hard earned material lol
If they are actually the same size, you might start with the forstner bit then switch to the spade bit to finish the hole. Easiest if you have two drills able to do the job, and extra trouble either way, but that way the top is probably going to look very good.
One other thing is to run a couple long ones down the length of the bench -- maybe 2-3 rows is all, not the full set you have on the far end. That can be useful when dealing with very long, or oversized boards... Suppose you were making a bench that was 5' x 3' (yes, I'm American. :-D)... it might be good to have a way to lock down both ends.
If you want 3/4” holes 19 mm works. 20mm does not.
Don’t ask how I know.
Fun Fact: The area of a 3-4-5 triangle is 6.