Workbench - square holes to round

[Lance Mirrer]

I have an old workbench with square bench dog holes.

I also have many round accessories; benchdogs, holdfasts, etc.

Is there a better solution to using my round accessories than drilling an extra row of round holes?

Thanks!!

[Matt Day]

Suppose you could drill out the round holes and insert a sleeve. Say you want 3/4” holes. drill a 1” hole and use pipe with 1/8” wall thickness. Drill a 1.25” hole and use 1/4 wall pipe.

Just a thought, haven’t done it. But I do have square holes and would like round as well.

[Doug Garson]

It would seem quite straight forward rip up some scrap wood to plug the square holes so you could then center a drill in the plug and drill a round hole. Am I missing something?

[Derek Cohen]

Why not have both? I find this works well for me ..

https://i.postimg.cc/NffdYGd3/D4a.jpg

Square dogs do not twist, and their lean is predictable (mine lean at 3 degrees). Then I have many round dog holes for accessories...

https://i.postimg.cc/76F2hdmg/2a-zpsr3knvsw-v.jpg

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Carl Beckett]

I had square holes and drilled an extra set of round holes. So now have both. The extra set of holes do not bother me one bit.

It is great to use all the round hole assessories.

[Osvaldo Cristo]

Why not have both? I find this works well for me ..

https://i.postimg.cc/NffdYGd3/D4a.jpg

Square dogs do not twist, and their lean is predictable (mine lean at 3 degrees). Then I have many round dog holes for accessories...

https://i.postimg.cc/76F2hdmg/2a-zpsr3knvsw-v.jpg

Regards from Perth

Derek

I share Derek advice. Have both of them. Benches are fixtures, not furniture.

[Lance Mirrer]

Suppose you could drill out the round holes and insert a sleeve. Say you want 3/4” holes. drill a 1” hole and use pipe with 1/8” wall thickness. Drill a 1.25” hole and use 1/4 wall pipe.

Just a thought, haven’t done it. But I do have square holes and would like round as well.

Matt,
What would the sleeve do that is not accomplished by just drilling a 3/4" hole? I'm assuming the answer is 2 sets of holes, one round one square. The pic's below appear nice.

[Lance Mirrer]

It would seem quite straight forward rip up some scrap wood to plug the square holes so you could then center a drill in the plug and drill a round hole. Am I missing something?

Doug,
I'm not sure permanently closing the square holes is valuable. Possible a temp plug, so square or round can be used.

[Lance Mirrer]

Love your bench Derek. And thanks to all who answered!

I was concerned as I start making holes that i'd be turning the top into swiss cheese.

Which begs the follow up question of what pattern and how many holes are needed? One set parallel to the square?

[Carl Beckett]

If you have a wagon vice and want to use it with round holes, they will need to be in line with that.

Recently I made a moxon vice and used two rows, one on each side of the table. My third bench vise I out a row of holes to take advantage again of being in line with the tab on top of the vise.

If you want to use hold downs and other assesseries that do not rely on the vise or edge of the bench, but they can be wherever suits you. Putting a row back from the existing dogs as Derek has done would allow you to clamp with the vise then simultaneously use a hold down from the back edge of a piece. You just have to think about a typical size of piece and not go too far away.

My main bench are in line with the square holes (wagon vise). It is a split top so I can clamp with a traditional clamp at the mid point. But having some holes offset from the existing line would be good.

Some benches do look like Swiss cheese. Even those multi function tables use a piece that looks like pegboard. Personal preference on how far you want to take it.

[Matt Day]

Matt,
What would the sleeve do that is not accomplished by just drilling a 3/4" hole? I'm assuming the answer is 2 sets of holes, one round one square. The pic's below appear nice.

Yup, that’s it. I’m considering drilling a few holes for hold downs now and keeping the squares for normal bench dog clamping and work stops. Thanks for this thread!

[David Eisenhauer]

I measured the "swing" of my holdfasts and then drilled my holdfast (3/4") holes at a distance from the edges of the benchtop such that the holdfasts would reach the edges and also overlap (sideways) some along the length of the bench top. I have a split top Ruobo style bench, so it resulted in a single row of holes down the center of the approximate 12" wide individual slab. That pattern seems to fit all of my hold down needs so far.

[Jim Becker]

I was concerned as I start making holes that i'd be turning the top into swiss cheese.

In some cases, depending on how one uses their bench, the "Swiss cheese" design might actually be desirable! Consider the Festool MFT as a portable example. My "dream" bench top (which I intend to make in the recent future to replace what I have now) will have a traditional vice with appropriate dog holes as well as a few .75" holes that are appropriate for my beloved hold-fasts, but a good portion of the top will be the same 96mm grid of 20mm holes as with the MFT I mentioned. The nice thing about a bench top is that you can "have it your way" so that it supports how you use it or want to use it.

[Alan Schwabacher]

Square bench dogs are so easy to make, you might as well put a bench dog in each hole. Then drill a couple of holes for holdfasts. That's what I did.

[Doug Garson]

Doug,
I'm not sure permanently closing the square holes is valuable. Possible a temp plug, so square or round can be used.
I assumed from your OP that you had square holes that you had no use for and wanted round holes to replace them. If you don't want to replace the square holes with round holes I agree both holes may be useful. Of course you could plug the square holes with slightly tapered square plugs (no glue) that you could easily remove if needed.