Dog hole spacing?

[James K Peterson]

I loaned my workbench book out and I can't remember the suggested spacing of dog holes :confused:
Does anyone have a suggestion? I was thinking about 4" apart, but should it be further? or is it based on something else?
I'll take some shots tonight to show the progress on the bench. I've got to get it done so I can work on the LOML's wish list ;)

Thanks
James

[Randy Klein]

It was anywhere between 3-1/2 to 4-1/2.

[Jim Becker]

I did six inches for most of the bench and cut to 3" for the last few rows near the end. That gives quite a bit of flexibility with the WonderPups I use to clamp up things no matter how big or small.

[Bill Houghton]

as long as you've got enough wood between the holes. I originally did them about 8", and it was way too infrequent. 3-4" should be fine.

[Charles Shenk]

The distance between holes should be less than the total travel of your tail vise. I like 3 1/2 inch spacing.

[glenn bradley]

As Charles says; as long as your vice travel will allow a grip, your good. Mine are at 6" but I have a QR vise. How far do you want to have to wind to get to the next hole?

[Doug Shepard]

I think I'd measure the max vise travel then divide that by half if it's a relatively short travel or 3rds if it's long. I did mine around 8" with a vise travel around 12" and can see where 6" might have meant for a bit less cranking. 4" even less cranking but for other reasons I didn't want that many holes in mine.

[Robert Miller]

I fussed about this when I built my bench, I think the answer is also how long the bench is. My bench is 7ft 4" long and the dog holes are 5 inches apart until you get to the tail vise where I graduated it down to 4 1/2" for the last three dog holes. I'm glad I did this as it allows more flexibilty when I'm holding small parts.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g148/robmill54/workbench16.jpg

[Robert Miller]

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g148/robmill54/workbench18.jpg

[Frank Drew]

The distance between holes should be less than the total travel of your tail vise.

This is the essential measurement; anything else (closer) is for convenience.

[Bill Houghton]

The distance between holes should be less than the total travel of your tail vise. I like 3 1/2 inch spacing.

In theory, if you've got a board shorter than your tail vise will travel, you can just clamp it in the tail vise. In practice, there are a lot of operations for which having it on top of the bench makes more sense. If dogs are farther apart than the tail vise travel, you will wind up with short boards that don't quite work, leading to finding shim boards to make up the distance (says this voice of experience).

I have a Record vise mounted as the tail vise, and this can make for awkwardness with short boards: the tail vise screw can interfere with the dog (or vice versa, pun not intended but I like it). My solution was to find some Workmate plastic dogs at a garage sale. They're only 1/2" high, and don't stick into the hole far, and, because the head is larger than the shank (about 1-1/4" squarish head on 3/4" shank), they don't fall into the hole and can be pulled out easily. If I hadn't found them, I'd have made scrapwood-and-dowel dogs of the same design.

When I get the round tuits to experiment, I'm thinking to try the "wagon vise" that Christopher Schwarz has been trying - a block mounted in a groove on the benchtop designed to hold a dog. Less total length available on the benchtop, but it might be more substantial support for boards.

[Bill Houghton]

The distance between holes should be less than the total travel of your tail vise. I like 3 1/2 inch spacing.

I would amend that to "significantly less than the total travel of the tail vise." In theory, if you've got a board shorter than your tail vise will travel, you can just clamp it in the tail vise. In practice, there are a lot of operations for which having it on top of the bench makes more sense. If dogs are spaced close to the tail vise travel, you will wind up with short boards that don't quite work, leading to finding shim boards to make up the distance (says this voice of experience).

I have a Record vise mounted as the tail vise, and this can make for awkwardness with short boards: the tail vise screw can interfere with the dog (or vice versa, pun not intended but I like it). My solution was to find some Workmate plastic dogs at a garage sale. They're only 1/2" high, and don't stick into the hole far, and, because the head is larger than the shank (about 1-1/4" squarish head on 3/4" shank), they don't fall into the hole and can be pulled out easily. If I hadn't found them, I'd have made scrapwood-and-dowel dogs of the same design.

When I get the round tuits to experiment, I'm thinking to try the "wagon vise" that Christopher Schwarz has been trying - a block mounted in a groove on the benchtop designed to hold a dog. Less total length available on the benchtop, but it might be more substantial support for boards.

[Frank Drew]

Bill,

I don't think Charles had short boards in mind, specifically, nor did I in my response. You'll have difficulty clamping any board, short or long, on top of the bench and between dogs if the dog hole spacing is longer than your tail vise's travel.

[Randy Klein]

When I get the round tuits to experiment, I'm thinking to try the "wagon vise" that Christopher Schwarz has been trying - a block mounted in a groove on the benchtop designed to hold a dog. Less total length available on the benchtop, but it might be more substantial support for boards.


That's what I did, and it's worked great. In my wagon vise I have 3 dog holes. The two outer ones are equal to the spacing I have in my bench ~3-1/2 or 3-3/3 (I forget which one). The one in the middle splits the distance of course and just makes it that much more convenient.