# O.K., I Need Help With My New Dowl It Jig



## Jerry Bowen (Jun 25, 2011)

I got my copy of the Dowl It 1000 jig and was not surprised that it was not calibrated. It did not self center. I have tried everything to get it to work but no cigar. 

It seems like the trick is to get the nut on the opposite end of through bolt adjusted but now matter how I adjust it the sides of the jig do not travel in or out at the same rate and will not stay centered. I am beginning to think, that once again you get what you pay for. However, the jig is so well made and the reviews are very good which makes me think that I must be missing something. Does anybody have any suggestions. There were no instructions as to how to calibrate the tool.

Jerry


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## Jerry Bowen (Jun 25, 2011)

Well, I've waited all day for some help on this subject. Went on line and see that others have had the same problem, but did not find an answer. 

I have continued to mess with the jig, I almost have it dead on, but the real test will come when I drill some holes. 

Jerry


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## kp91 (Sep 10, 2004)

Using the Dowel It dowel jig - YouTube

Jerry, 

The guy who posted this video on YouTube loves his, you might want to message him and see if he has any advice.

Sorry I can't help firsthand,

Doug

Dowl-It Company


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## Jerry Bowen (Jun 25, 2011)

kp91 said:


> Using the Dowel It dowel jig - YouTube
> 
> Jerry,
> 
> ...



Thanks Doug,
The video does not address the procedure to use to calibrate the jig so that it closes on a workpiece and centers so that the holes being drilled are centered on the workpiece. 

There is a nut on the opposite side of the jig from the side that has you turn to open and close it. The placement of this nut on the end of the through bolt apparently determines the amount of travel on that side of the clamp when the clamp is being opened or closed. The adjustment of that nut is very sensitive, by that I mean that the slightest error in the adjustment will cause the clamp to open more or less on one side compared to the other side causing the part with the guide holes to be slightly off center when clamped. I have fussed with this nut on the jig until it appears to be very close. I did this in the house during the evening, and not out in the shop. The way I was checking for center was was with a dial caliper. Getting an accurate inside measurement of the gap between the jaws of the clamp and the part with the guide holes in it is difficult.

Right now the variation appears to be is only a couple of thousandths, but I will only know after actually drilling some holes and checking the results, but now I think that I know what to do in ordet to tweak the adjustment if it is slightly off. 

Because this adjustment is so critical, I am surprised that nothing is said about doing this adjustment in the instructions that come with the jig. It may be that this calibration is normally done at the factory before shipping and that that the jig that I received was shipped by mistake without being adjusted. I will call the company and ask them about this just for my own satis faction. I'd still would like to know if anybody else that has used this jig l has had to deal with this issue or not. 

After I drill some holes I get back to report the results. This information is only going to be value to a very few people, but it would have been important to me earlier when I first started to deal with the problem. 

Jerry


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## Shortslvs (Jan 13, 2013)

I have a jig like that, maybe even the same one. I bought mine used. So perhaps the original owner calibrated it, but honestly I think you got a lemon.


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## Jerry Bowen (Jun 25, 2011)

Shortslvs said:


> I have a jig like that, maybe even the same one. I bought mine used. So perhaps the original owner calibrated it, but honestly I think you got a lemon.



I'll know after doing two things, trying my new attempt as calibrating, and/or talking to the people that make the darned thing. 

Jerry


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## OPG3 (Jan 9, 2011)

Jerry, I own a company that manufactures products with transmissions. My products use oppositely-threaded ends on some of the bolts. There are right-hand threads on one end and left-hand threads on the opposite end. Bolts such as this have many uses, but in my case I had to get set-up to make these in-house (I don't make them - my machinist makes them), because I had stringent specifications that every machine shop interviewed reported "was a physical impossibility". Now, we are making these whenever we need them - with no problems, whatsoever.

On the dowelling jig you are referring to the oppositely threaded rod has machine threads. I know this because I just went downstairs to check on mine to see what you perceive as a problem. In use, mine is dead-on accurate - BUT ADMITTEDLY WHEN OPENED IT LOOKS KINDA SLOPPY! When you use it, I think you will find it to be super-accurate. Along the central bar (with female threaded holes for bushings) there is a hex socket screw in a counterbored hole. This is a centralizing screw - nothing to do with "calibration". This can be messed-with and made to be inaccurate, but this tool works fine out-of-the-box. There is a special purpose designed nut to maintain concentricity that should NEVER be adjusted.

Otis Guillebeau from Auburn, Georgia


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## Jerry Bowen (Jun 25, 2011)

OPG3 said:


> Jerry, I own a company that manufactures products with transmissions. My products use oppositely-threaded ends on some of the bolts. There are right-hand threads on one end and left-hand threads on the opposite end. Bolts such as this have many uses, but in my case I had to get set-up to make these in-house (I don't make them - my machinist makes them), because I had stringent specifications that every machine shop interviewed reported "was a physical impossibility". Now, we are making these whenever we need them - with no problems, whatsoever.
> 
> On the dowelling jig you are referring to the oppositely threaded rod has machine threads. I know this because I just went downstairs to check on mine to see what you perceive as a problem. In use, mine is dead-on accurate - BUT ADMITTEDLY WHEN OPENED IT LOOKS KINDA SLOPPY! When you use it, I think you will find it to be super-accurate. Along the central bar (with female threaded holes for bushings) there is a hex socket screw in a counterbored hole. This is a centralizing screw - nothing to do with "calibration". This can be messed-with and made to be inaccurate, but this tool works fine out-of-the-box. There is a special purpose designed nut to maintain concentricity that should NEVER be adjusted.
> 
> Otis Guillebeau from Auburn, Georgia


Otis,

I've tried moving the center block with the holes for the bits by backing off that set screw that you mentioned and while there is a little movemove or adjustment there, I haven't been able to get it right yet. The nut on the end of the "through bolt" probably the one that you say should not ever be moved, is the one that I have been trying to tweak without much luck other than to know that if will make the error greater or lessor but I just can't seem to hit that sweet spot that causes the jig to center. Now I need to define what I am called dead center. What I call dead on is when after the holes are drilled and a dowel is inserted that the surfaces of the workpieces are flush and remains so when one of the workpieces is rotated 180 degrees on the dowel. Right now, the error is such that the depth gauge on the dial caliper shows an error or mis match of the workpieces to be about 1/32", or slight less.

Otis, are saying that own a copy of the Dowl It jig and that it works for you in the manner that I described above about what I am expecting of mine after or if, I get it adjusted????

Am anxiously waiting for your reply to my question.

Jerry


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## Jerry Bowen (Jun 25, 2011)

I found the problem with the jig,I think, it was operator error of course. I kept trying the same thing over and over again and getting the same results, isn't that strange.

I finally stopped and studied what was going on in a difference way and realized that the guide hole in the jig that I had been using is larger than the bit that I had been using. I had a 3/8th" bit, was using 3/8" dowels, and thought that the hole in jig was 3/8", but the drill bit was sloppy in the hole. I went to a bit that was a little over .400" and it fit much better. When I tried it, the 3/8th" dowel still fit fine, but the surfaces finally matched as they are supposed to, big smile. 

Apparently the bit drills a hole smaller than the it's diameter. The strange thing is that the dowel seems to fit just as well in the holes drilled with both sized bits, of course the difference in diameter is only about .020", just about the amount of error that I had been getting. I will have to do some more drilling and testing things to be sure that I really have found my problem, but things sure do look better now and I need to take back all of the "bad mourhing" that I had said about the jig. The conclusion is the the jig seems to work as advertised, I hope that it continues to do so, I bet it will.

Jerry


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

OPG3 said:


> My products use oppositely-threaded ends on some of the bolts. There are right-hand threads on one end and left-hand threads on the opposite end. Bolts such as this have many uses, but in my case I had to get set-up to make these in-house (I don't make them - my machinist makes them), because I had stringent specifications that every machine shop interviewed reported "was a physical impossibility". Now, we are making these whenever we need them - with no problems, whatsoever.


Huh. I think those kind of bolts have been around forever. Hard to think that a qualified machine shop would say that. Maybe all they have is school trained machinists; but even so, even I would never say it was a physical impossibility. PITA maybe, don't know, but impossible?, don't think so.


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## OPG3 (Jan 9, 2011)

@Jerry: 


> Otis, are saying that own a copy of the Dowl It jig and that it works for you in the manner that I described above about what I am expecting of mine after or if, I get it adjusted????


Could you rephrase this question, I think I've lost the context.

@Theo:


> Hard to think that a qualified machine shop would say that. Maybe all they have is school trained machinists; but even so, even I would never say it was a physical impossibility. PITA maybe, don't know, but impossible?, don't think so.


Due to legal constraints, I cannot say a lot about this; but the bolt I was searching for was 1/2" diameter ACME threads RHT on one end, LHT on the other end with specialized machining at the middle and at both ends. Precision ACME bolts are not cheap and I have checked everywhere that I could try to check. I even went to Global Spec, initially they assured me it was no problem - but EACH and EVERY MACHINIST told me they could not make it. I was willing to pay some serious money to have these made, but no one could accomodate my needs. I have emails from all-over the planet. Several equipment manufacturers even decided to chime-in to prove that their equipment was up to the challenge, BUT EVERYONE FAILED. MOST APOLOGIZED for wasting my time, some got mad and suggested it was some kind of trick - it wasn't. I even have a coworker / Router Forums Member "Mike" from Washington State, who helped me in this endeavor. He got the same reports that I got. We were given names of people who were considered the best of the best and they also said what I needed was a physical impossibility.

I am not a guy who chooses to abandon a project just because someone else tried it and failed - that kind of thing intrigues me. Me and my guys gave this some serious thought and I developed a plan of attack... EVERYONE will tell you that "if something can be built out of wood - it can be built better and more accurately with metal." This is not a trick statement - we're not talking about firewood, etc., but precision work.

I went downstairs with my intentions in mind, I adjusted one power tool to do something that is not normally done with it - but what I did was completely safe to me and the tool. In less than 10 minutes, *I had a perfect ACME bolt as I needed* with one minor exception - mine was made from wood! I took photos of this "Home made bolt" and emailed it to several machinists who replied with some rather rude comments. Most of them accused me of doing trick photography or using photoshop or mirrors! In a nutshell - I think outside of the box! I partnered with my brother and a machinist to begin this manufacturing business. I showed my machinist how I made the wooden bolt and he almost did a backflip! Now, whenever we need this part he can quickly make one!

Moral to the story:
Don't give-up on something you're passionate about just because someone else failed - UNLESS YOU'RE A WEENY.

Otis Guillebeau from Auburn, Georgia


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## Jerry Bowen (Jun 25, 2011)

OPG3 said:


> @Jerry:
> 
> Could you rephrase this question, I think I've lost the context.
> 
> ...



Otis,
Thank you for sharing your story with us on the intriguing quest and/or adventure in developing the ACME bolt. 

Several years ago I read a book written by Neapolitan Hill and entitle "Think And Grow Rich". In the book the author referred to Henry Ford when he wanted the blocik for the V8 engine to be cast in one piece. He was told over and over that it was impossible to do, but he simply told his people, "I don't care what you think, just do it". Eventually, due to Ford's persistant, they figured out how to do it. 

I have a belief, don't expect anybody to agree with me even though some people may, but I believe that when we persist in our solving problems like you eluded to in your recount of making the ACME bolt, that God is involved in helping us solve the problem. Can't ever prove this, don't even want to try, it just makes sense to me and is the way I think about such things.

Now the question is, are you saying that the Dowl It jig uses this type of bolt and if so, where do they get the ones that they use? 

Otis, I assume that you read my post to my problem with the Dowl It jig and how the problem that I was having got solved. The jig is working as hoped for now, the problem was, as usual, operator's error.

Thanks again for your sharing of what happened when you wanted the ACME bolt and how it came about that you accomplished what you needed when everybody said that it couldn't be done. Glood for you.

Jerry


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## Shortslvs (Jan 13, 2013)

OPG3 said:


> @Jerry:
> 
> Could you rephrase this question, I think I've lost the context.
> 
> ...


I heard that Howard Hughes, before meeting with his engineers, would have them leave their slide rules on a table outside the meeting room to cut down on the "It can't be done" remarks.

I may have that story mixed with another but I enjoy remembering it that way


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## OPG3 (Jan 9, 2011)

*It's all about ATTITUDE!*

@Jerry, The specialized bolt I described had to be made in the manner I described for the transmission to function as necessary. This is a state-of-the-art product and I am very okay with being laughed at by naysayers. I also tell jokes to be funny. Being laughed at is okay - regardless of the reason.

Please bear-in-mind: I am okay with failure, in fact I kinda look forward to failure! My reason for this is silly to some, but it works for me; when something fails I will spend a lot of time, effort and money to determine why it fails - this makes me smarter.

Oppositely-threaded bolts are nothing new. ACME threads have unique characteristics that differ considerably from machine-type threads. Either of these can easily be made, but my bolt requirements were inclusive of some very unique secondary machining processes, with an incomplete listing being: Non-magnetic material, yet super strong; the center portion needed to be larger in diameter than the threads - which eliminated "thread rolling"; Slenderness Ratio that is "off the charts"; self-lubricating. When these (unavoidable) specs are added, everyone assured me it was impossible! As Theo correctly pointed-out, IT WASN'T IMPOSSIBLE - IT SIMPLY REQUIRED OPEN-MINDED THOUGHT PATTERNS (very opened minded - even laughable, but it worked).

@Fred, Wow! That lady pictured beside you is BEAUTIFUL!

What your brief note reminds me of is "SQUIRREL-PROOF BIRD FEEDERS". I put out several styles of those (we were pretty sure they wouldn't REALLY work) and there are squirrels eating out of every one of them! My wife keeps me laughing constantly and often she will step-out on our back deck and yell, "Hey You Squirrels - Don't you know those are Squirrel-Proof Feeders". Squirrels are not psychological and therefore they haven't been TOLD that they cannot eat out of those feeders - so they just try until they succeed. People, on the other hand are extremely psychological and many (certainly not all) will give-up because someone else failed. Evidently I am part squirrel. Now I am not saying try things that are stupid, but if you need to do something out-of-the-ordinary: THINK LIKE A SQUIRREL!

Many years ago I began a "ministry" from our church to provide free firewood for those in need. I had connections who cleared large plots of land and hundreds of trees were overturned by huge equipment and were available to me. I organized a group of about 12-15 healthy young guys. I and a couple others had 4- wheel drive trucks. Several had chainsaws. Some of the bigger and younger members became "toters". Often we cut oaks and hickories that had to be split to be lifted onto the trucks. We worked smart to avoid injuries and it was very good fellowship for all who participated. Even some of the wives began bringing lunches, etc.

Way-back on a piece of property was a gigantic sycamore tree. I am going to guess it was 6.5 to 7 feet in diameter (across). It had 15 or 20 limbs that were as big as many of the old oak trees! Several of us began working on the limbs - dropping them to the ground in firewood lengths. After we had the limbs that we could access off of the tree and split and loaded, the ladies showed-up with lunch. A couple of the guys suggested that we were "wasting our time" on the trunk of the tree - due to its diameter being far greater than we could access with our chainsaws - some with bars up to 36". I hated to leave all of that firewood just laying there to be wasted, so I hatched a plan...

All of the chainsaws we were using had the bars coming off the powerhead on the same side, so why not cut 18" to 24" into the tree at a firewood length from the end and then split-off what could be removed - thereby giving powerheads room to cut deeper? Some of us did this, while others were shaking their heads. It worked and we got about 20 big truckloads of wood from that one tree! Some of us were thinking like squirrels!

Otis Guillebeau from Auburn, Georgia


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## Jerry Bowen (Jun 25, 2011)

Otis,
I for one sincerely enjoy your stories. Thanks for taking your valuble time to type them out for us to read and enjoy.

Your description of the large tree reminded me of the size of the old growth Douglas Fir in Oregon in the early part of the last century. My family moved to Oregon in 1945 and bought a small piece of land, seven acres, on which were many old stumps that were as large as the what you described. The trees in that area had all been logged off years earlier leaving only the evidence of their existence in the forms of those massive stumps.

I would never ever compare my skills to your's Otis, but I am a lot like you in regard to trying to figure things out and especially riddles. 

Your remarks about failures sure rings true. It is our failures that lead to new ideas and causes our sub-conscience minds to really go to work and try to solve the problem. When it, our sub-conscience, finds the answer that's when we say that the light went on and the solution pops into our conscience mind and we wonder why we didn't think of that before. All of us have this happen quite frequently. Part of what keeps the sub-conscience mind working is the determination that you have described and the refusal to believe that there is no answer to the problem.

By the way Otis, or anybody that has read my thread about the problem with the Dowl It jig, I did find the answer and it was, as usual operator error, I was using the wrong hole in the jig. My new thread about my question of the day explains why and how I screwed up. The Dowl It jig works just fine when used correctly. I suspect that most of the members that read my thread just shook their heads and laughed at me. So, your statement that it's alright to be laughed at no matter why they laugh is applicable in regard to my frustration with the jig when I was the one that caused the problem for myself.

Keep the good stories coming Otis, and if anybody out there likes good riddles, let me know, I have one that I have known the answer to for over 50 years and in that time I have told it to any number of people and so far nobody has been able to figure it out. I had been trying to solve it and one night after a couple of years of thinking about, I woke up in the middle of the night with the answer, it was simple or is simple once you grasp the concept of the problem. It is not a trick question, it just takes some thinking to figure it out. Few people care about such things, but some do, so let me know if you would like to try to solve it.

Jerry


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## Shortslvs (Jan 13, 2013)

Fun thread.

Thanks for the comment about my wife. Caught her when she was 16 so she don't know no better 

I also keep the squirrels away! Hahaha


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