Smart Connect Bench Dogs

[RFGuy]

Thanks guys. I appreciate it. Once I can get things cleaned up a bit, I will try to post a picture of what I have and share it. To handle crosscuts on my custom MFT, I bought the Mk2 fence from Benchdogs in the UK. However, I don't really like the fit & quality of the benchdogs that come with it (see pic below). To gain more crosscut capacity, I want to try the Smart Connect Bench dogs, or something similar to semi-permanently attach the fence to my MFT top. The fence would be sitting on top of a row of dog holes rather than in front of them as would be the case with what they supplied me.

Benchdogs.jpg (23.47 KiB) Viewed 5925 times

[reible]

As I have mentioned the new flush dogs are not flush.......... so I have been in email conversations with TSO and UJK. TSO has tried their dogs in hole with the "same" tool that I have and they are flush or below. Mean while UJK has said that they have two versions of this tool out there. One made of stainless steel and a newer version made of aluminum. The newer aluminum version cuts a deeper "V". So I expect that is my issue, I have the older stainless steel version.

No resolution yet so if I want to use these it will be a router operation to deepen them for now. Not sure I would spend the money to get a new version so I hope we come up with an exchange????

Ed

[sehast]

A bearing guided chamfer bit with a trim router also does a good job and can be set at whatever depth is needed. I have had good success with this one.

https://www.amazon.com/Amana-Tool-MR010 ... 144&sr=8-1

[reible]

TSO is redesigning the dog so it matches other such dogs. Not sure when that will come about but when it does they will exchange the ones I have for the new design. They have also made changes to the information on the page with the dogs too:

"To flush mount Smart Connect Dogs, you will need to chamfer the 20mm holes on your work surface. We recommend using a trim router, rather than the fixed cut of the UJK Chamfer Tool, to chamfer your 20mm holes as you can perfectly adjust the depth of the chamfer to match these bench dogs."

So now I have to decide if I want to go back to all the holes and redo them or just wait until the new dogs comes out to see how well it fits and then do them as needed. Since it is 42 degrees in the shop I have no desire to spend much time in there now so I think waiting will work out best..... I can take out my dewalt battery router and do a couple of holes that are the ones I want to use now and leave the rest. I have plans to start running my heater for Jan and Feb this coming year, didn't do that last year and that made for a long winter. March is still open as sometimes it warms enough to do something but other times not so much.

Still waiting for UJK to get back to me about there tool and if they will replace it or not. It is handy if it works but if it doesn't then it becomes a paper weight. I do hope they do the right thing.

Ed

[RFGuy]

FYI....The TSO Smart Connect bench dogs seem to be back in stock again. I had requested to be notified when they were in stock, but unfortunately TSO never contacted me. I just happened to check the website today and see it available to add to cart finally. The SpeedKnobs from them are still not available yet though.

https://tsoproducts.com/accessories/ben ... dogs-pair/

[reible]

Thanks for the info, I too had requested to be notified when they were back in stock and have seen nothing. Will have to see if I have enough money in the tool budget left this month to get another set.

I have not ordered the knobs for them from them. I have a collection for other uses and they seem to work fine.

Ed

[reible]

Yes they were still showing as in stock so I have another order in. Don't have a need right now as it too cold to work in the garage shop right now, 42 degrees and my hands don't get along anymore. Stuff I could put up with and work on back 20 years even are just not possible anymore.

I did give myself some $$ for heating the garage this year but don't want to use that up just yet. Maybe in Feb.

Ed

[reible]

Smart connect dogs arrived today. That seems faster then before, maybe the mail system is getting back to normal?

The new chamfer tool arrived too so I had to take it out and do a few holes. Now the dogs set below the surface like they should! Just did like 5 holes to make sure I was actually seeing what I was seeing and I was. Once it warms up I'll get started on the rest.

Ed