Dowel Pin Machine?

[Darrin Davis]

I've got a Kreg Pocket Hole machine (electric) and love it. Has anyone ever seen a comparable product for drilling dowel pin holes? Maybe be able to set the distance for offset from an edge. After drilling many dowel pin holes with a hand drill I just look over at my pocket hole machine and wish it was that easy. Come to think of it, a biscuit cutting machien like that would be bad either! Seen anything like that?

[Bob Feeser]

Are you tallking about a pocket hole "machine" or Jig? If you are talking about a full blown stationary machine, then the following reply does not apply. If you are talking about a jig, then it does.
I have been away from woodworking for a while but have come back strong. I have a Dowelmax, and when I was using before in hardwoods it would result in a fit that was perfect on every plane. Every surface was perfectly flat so much so it didn't even require sanding other than to go over it with 220 grit dry to get rid of the fuzz.
Last night I tried using it on 3/4" MDF and didn't receive the same results. the joints were slightly off angle for some reason. They fit perfect on one end of a 4" and a 7" joint, but were slightly off at the other end of the joint. Is it because the MDF is soft in comparison, and would give unevenly when installing the dowels? I had to use a small hammer to install them.
I will be testing it out in hardwoods sometime soon because it is disturbing to think that it may not work as perfectly as I experienced before. It's not a cheap doweling jig but it is made with a CNC machine, with tolerances accurate to a thousandth.

[J.R. Rutter]

This:
http://toolmonger.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/dowling-joiner.jpg

[glenn bradley]

A friend of a friend is a pro cabinet-maker and has one in his home shop. I believe his is a General kinda like this (http://www.general.ca/site_general/g_produits/drill_mortiser/75-400.html). This is for shelf pins, not edge joinery.

[Peter Quinn]

Two options I can thing of are horizontal line boring machines or slot mortisers. Pretty much every manufacturer of wood working machinery has some sort of line boring machine, from single to multi head, and they are meant for doweling among other things. Do a search on these to see examples.

Most horizontal slot mortisers also have some dowel index feature for quick dowel pin location. Mine does very well for solid stock.

[Dan Karachio]

Do you have a router? There is also the Mortise Pal. It does dowels too. Lines up every time and makes a dork like me look like I know what I am doing. I have no affiliation with the company, but simply look at this as one of my smarter tool purchases.

http://www.mortisepal.com/

Here is an image of the dowel template - it comes with it.

http://www.mortisepal.com/6-500.jpg

[Chip Lindley]

The doweling equivalent of your Kreg pocket hole machine would be a dedicated horizontal boring machine. Several are available with 1, 2, or 3 boring bits. They are probably about as, or more, expensive as your Kreg though.

Example:

http://i822.photobucket.com/albums/zz142/zzarus/8-501.jpg

[Dave Lehnert]

Buy a used Shopsmith.

Video link
http://www.shopsmith.com/markvsite/hdrill.wmv

http://www.shopsmith.com/markvsite/images/HorBoring2.jpg

[Rick Potter]

Check out Craigs list for a used doweling machine. I got a 40 year old single spindle Ritter for $200...with the air operated hold down and plunge. Double machines are quite a bit more.

Google for pictures of them.

Rick Potter