Bill Huber
08-03-2009, 9:51 PM
I did a mod on the DowelMax a little while back because my fingers got tired of tightening an and untightening the clamp screws.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=116680&highlight=dowelmax
Well I didn't like the looks of them, they worked good but it just didn't look very good...
So here is mod 2.5.
I ordered some 5/16 x 18 brass rod and 2 black phenolic knobs with brass inserts from SmallParts.com.
I wanted to keep the stock knobs and screws if I ever wanted to put them back for some reason.
With a 5/64th allen wrench remove the clamp plates from the clamp screws. Remove the clamp screws and cut 2 brass rods to that length. File and clean up the ends after cutting and make sure that one end of the rod is flat.
Mark the center of the rod and drill a hole 3/4" deep with a #36 drill bit. Now tape the hole with a 6-32 tape. You DO NOT want to tape the full 3/4", I started out at about 5/16" and then tested it to see that the screw for the clamp plates would tighten down but would still not hold the clamp plate ridged. I just did a test and then tapped a little bit more and so on until I got it just right.
Put the clamp plates back on, screw the clamp screws in and then screw on the knob. I use red Loctite to hold the knobs on and it has held them all weekend while doing a bunch of dowels.
Now it looks a lot better an they work very well.
124521
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=116680&highlight=dowelmax
Well I didn't like the looks of them, they worked good but it just didn't look very good...
So here is mod 2.5.
I ordered some 5/16 x 18 brass rod and 2 black phenolic knobs with brass inserts from SmallParts.com.
I wanted to keep the stock knobs and screws if I ever wanted to put them back for some reason.
With a 5/64th allen wrench remove the clamp plates from the clamp screws. Remove the clamp screws and cut 2 brass rods to that length. File and clean up the ends after cutting and make sure that one end of the rod is flat.
Mark the center of the rod and drill a hole 3/4" deep with a #36 drill bit. Now tape the hole with a 6-32 tape. You DO NOT want to tape the full 3/4", I started out at about 5/16" and then tested it to see that the screw for the clamp plates would tighten down but would still not hold the clamp plate ridged. I just did a test and then tapped a little bit more and so on until I got it just right.
Put the clamp plates back on, screw the clamp screws in and then screw on the knob. I use red Loctite to hold the knobs on and it has held them all weekend while doing a bunch of dowels.
Now it looks a lot better an they work very well.
124521