How to Drill Holes for Wooden Dowel Pins
Dowel pins are used for hidden joints on chairs, desks, bookcases and other wood furniture. Dowel holes must accommodate the dowels, the adhesive and the stock being joined. The holes share the same diameter as the dowels and cannot be close enough to the edges of the stock to threaten cracking it. Drill presses are preferable for boring the holes precisely, but hand drills are adequate substitutes. Precision marking and depth measurements lead to perfect dowel holes for seamless joints.
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Things You'll Need
- Square
- Measuring tape
- Drill press or hand drill
- Vise
- Drill bit set
- Dowel center set
- Masking tape
Instructions
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1
Select dowels that are within 1/2 the width of the smallest piece of adjoining stock. When fitting a 2-inch piece to a 1-inch piece, the diameter of the dowels should be no more than 1/2 inch. Select a drill bit with a matching diameter to drill the holes.
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2
Mark the holes by aligning the two adjoining pieces as they will be fitted together and make pencil marks crossing both at the dowel locations. Hold one edge of a square over the outside pencil marks on one piece and place the perpendicular square edge over the surface where the dowel holes will be drilled. Use the square as a straight edge to draw pencil lines over the proposed dowel hole locations. Measure the centers of the marks and cross them with the pencil to show the center points of the holes.
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3
Clamp the piece with the hole marks onto a drill press table, or into a vise for using hand drills. Use the depth gauge on a drill press to set the depth to 1/2 the length of the dowels plus 1/8 inch. When using 1-inch dowels, drill holes to a 5/8-inch depth to allow space for the adhesive. Measure the depth on a hand drill bit and mark it with masking tape.
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4
Drill holes into the marked piece smoothly and slowly to the precise depth. Hold a hand drill firmly in both hands for steady boring.
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5
Mark the holes on the adjoining piece with a dowel center of the same diameter as the holes. Place the dowel center over one hole and press the pieces together as they are to fit. The point on the dowel center will pierce the exact location of the coupling center hole on the meeting piece. Move the dowel center to the other hole and push the pieces together again to mark the other hole center.
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6
Drill the holes into the other piece of stock to the same measured depth. Check the fit by inserting a dowel into each hole. The pin should fit tightly enough so hand pressure is all that's needed to insert it.
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