Bill Huber
10-25-2010, 7:06 PM
As most of you know I am a dowel freak, that is I use dowels for everything.
I had the DowelMax and really loved it and then Jessem came out with their doweling jig and I found I like it better then the DowelMax. I sold the DowelMax and bought the Jessem.
There was one area that the DowelMax worked a little better and that was on flat work, like a 12 inch board where you are going to place dowel holes in the middle of the board, like for a shelf.
With the DowelMax you just used the main block clamped to a board and clamped to the work board. The Jessem jig is much bigger and it is harder to clamp it to the board in the middle.
So here is the flat work adapter for the Jessem doweling jig.
This one in the pictures is 14 1/2" long and will work on a board up to 12", you could make the rail any length you needed. You could also use a T slot bit in the router table to make the slot. I didn't have a T slot bit but I did have some T slot so that is what I used.
The main adapter just screws on to the end of the jig and with a T bolt and knob it tightens to the rail. This one is made out of scrap 3/4" oak I had in the scrap bucket.
To use it:
Mark the center line of where you are going to drill the holes. Attached the adapter to the jig, attach the rail to the adapter and bias it against the rail board and lock it down. Now set the jig on the board to be drilled, line up the center marks on the board with the center marks on the jig (see note below) and clamp it down. Now you can drill your holes, unlock the jig from the rail and move it to the next position. very quick and easy.
165480 165481
165482 165483
Note:
If your jig does not have a center line on each side it is very easy to make them. Set the back plate of the jig to the 3/8" settings and then with a 3/8 brass gauge block clamped to the back plate use a good square to scribe a line on each side of the main block.
I had the DowelMax and really loved it and then Jessem came out with their doweling jig and I found I like it better then the DowelMax. I sold the DowelMax and bought the Jessem.
There was one area that the DowelMax worked a little better and that was on flat work, like a 12 inch board where you are going to place dowel holes in the middle of the board, like for a shelf.
With the DowelMax you just used the main block clamped to a board and clamped to the work board. The Jessem jig is much bigger and it is harder to clamp it to the board in the middle.
So here is the flat work adapter for the Jessem doweling jig.
This one in the pictures is 14 1/2" long and will work on a board up to 12", you could make the rail any length you needed. You could also use a T slot bit in the router table to make the slot. I didn't have a T slot bit but I did have some T slot so that is what I used.
The main adapter just screws on to the end of the jig and with a T bolt and knob it tightens to the rail. This one is made out of scrap 3/4" oak I had in the scrap bucket.
To use it:
Mark the center line of where you are going to drill the holes. Attached the adapter to the jig, attach the rail to the adapter and bias it against the rail board and lock it down. Now set the jig on the board to be drilled, line up the center marks on the board with the center marks on the jig (see note below) and clamp it down. Now you can drill your holes, unlock the jig from the rail and move it to the next position. very quick and easy.
165480 165481
165482 165483
Note:
If your jig does not have a center line on each side it is very easy to make them. Set the back plate of the jig to the 3/8" settings and then with a 3/8 brass gauge block clamped to the back plate use a good square to scribe a line on each side of the main block.