GluBot, Miller Dowels and Dealing with the Monotony

[Joe Unni]

Hey all,

Just a quick review and a question...

GluBot - by FastTrack - This is by far the best glue bottle I've used. Besides having different tips and the ability to suck the glue back in the bottle upon release (thus preventing drips), you never, ever have to wait for the glue to get to the tip even when there is not a lot left in the bottle. A huge time saver. I got very familiar with the bottle whilst using...

The Miller Dowel System. Another fantastic product. Some of you may remember about the laminate covered tables that I was contracted to build with on of the requirements being that they contain no metal fasteners. As biscuits would involve lots of clamps and wait time I settled on Miller. A quick call to the company yielded the following helpful hints:

Ensure the top shoulder of the drill bit lands somewhere around halfway through the top piece of stock that you're joining.
Use air (canned or compressed) to clean out the hole after drilling. There's no room for any chips and you'll know almost immediately upon driving the dowel home - because you won't be able to. I used a basketball needle on the end of my air hose inserted into the hole as recommended.
A small ribbon of glue spread on the ribbed portion of the dowel is all that is needed. Actually, less is better. Too much glue can blow out the joint.
Don't beat the junk out of the dowel. A few firm blows is all it takes. You can actually hear when the dowel is seated properly
Thanks to Philip at Miller for the above info. I followed them all and this system worked flawlessly. The sinching power of thes dowels is amazing. I glued the joint, clamped, drilled my holes, removed clamps, moved to the next. I had to do this 118 time to the tune of 500+ dowels.

That's when a truly experienced the monotony. I listened to the radio and thought about up coming projects. And while sanding smooth (about 2 whole days worth) all of the surfaces flush preparing for the p-lam application and having donned earplugs (thus no radio) I thought basic task and kept a list close by and jotted them down as thought of them.

I guess that's one of the not-so-fun things about doing multiples of any project.

What do you guys do?

Sorry so long winded.
-joe

[Per Swenson]

Hello Joe,

I find these work rather well,

They are Peltors, come in handy when
you don't want to answer the phone
or listen to anybody.
Good reception upon your location.
The repetitive tasks seem to fly by.
Per

[Matt Meiser]

That's when a truly experienced the monotony. I listened to the radio and thought about up coming projects. And while sanding smooth (about 2 whole days worth) all of the surfaces flush preparing for the p-lam application and having donned earplugs (thus no radio) I thought basic task and kept a list close by and jotted them down as thought of them.

Joe, when I am mowing (about a 2 hour job) I wear my ear muff style hearing protection over a set of ear bud headphones and listen to my MP3 player. Makes the time go a lot faster.

[Steve Clardy]

I got a couple of those glu-bot bottles. I thought they were to be the cat's meow.
But. The tips on mine do not clear out very good. I have to keep digging the glue out of them.
Steve

[JayStPeter]

I use these as hearing protection/tunes. They work great and not as clunky as the big headsets (a little more expensive though). http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er6.asp

Jay

[Joe Unni]

Thanks everyone for your repsonses. It looks like some type of headphones are in order.

Steve - the gummed up bottles. Yeah, I experienced that too, I just got in the habit of wiping them down with a damp cloth after use.

Thanks again,
-joe

[Tom Pritchard]

Joe, thanks so much for the Miller Dowel tips! I picked up the Miller 1X kit with walnut dowels yesterday to use on a bookcase I'm making for my son's college graduation present (English/secondary education major), and your timing for the post was excellent! I'm using a basketball inflator needle on the end of a turkey baster to blow out the chips (modified your idea).

As far as the monotony goes, sometimes it's nice to have time like that to just contemplate current events, or your next project. My least favorite task is sanding. Dust collector running, palm sander running, ear plugs in, and time passing slowly. Maybe I'll look at some of these new hearing protectors too! In any case, thanks again for the information! :)

[Greg Mann]

I had to do this 118 time to the tune of 500+ dowels.
-joe

When I built my skin-on-frame East Greenland kayak it had over 400 dowels in the frame so I know of what you speak. Of course I then had to stitch the canvas over the frame. It's beautiful but no one can see all the work put into the dowels.:rolleyes:

[Michael McDuffie]

Just when I told the Missus no more toys for me, you had togo and post this.:rolleyes:

Michael



I use these as hearing protection/tunes. They work great and not as clunky as the big headsets (a little more expensive though). http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er6.asp

Jay

[Terre Hooks]

I bought a Glu-Bot Baby-Bot.

Junk. Tip always clogged with glue. I don't keep 16 guage wire in the shop to clean out glue bottle tips.

I threw it away almost 3/4 full of TBII out of frustration.


Think I'll just stick to buying 1/2 pint bottle of TBII every 2 years. I can easily refill it out of my gallon jug and get back to work in 3 minutes. No clogging.