Today in the shop (getting that dog out of the hole)

[reible]

This is not something that I invented, that would have to go to Peter over at the youtube channel "New Brit Workshop".

As you age you seem to loose a bit of your grip on both the mental and physical arenas so sometime it worth getting ahead of the game. In this case some recent developments in the way of dog design has also contributed to making things a bit harder to do.

Today I'll give you a quick view of the issues and then we will get into making a copy of Peter's puller.

In this picture you see a dog and the 20mm hole that it goes in. There are a lot of different dogs and some are taller and some are shorter. Some have a 25mm collar and some don't. In this case it has the 25mm exposed part to grip. The other option is to reach under the bench and push up, but that isn't a great option depending on where the dog is located.

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Gripping can be done and sometimes with a little twist they come right out. These are not a loose fit......... and there is some variance in what companies think the correct size is.

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For me these are the most difficult to pull out, just the 20mm shaft and quite short at that.

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This is my version of the tool that Peter made. In general it is 6" long, 1-1/4" wide and 3/4" thick. The hole is 20mm and the under cut at both ends are like a finger pull. It works by slipping it over the exposed dog like this:

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The when you squeeze and lift the dog comes right out.

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I know a lot of you don't have these tables or dogs but perhaps you will one day or maybe this will give you another idea for some issue you do have with other equipment.

This is the results post, the build will be posted a bit later.

Ed

[reible]

I went ahead and did a drawing that matches pretty close to what I built and I'll add that at the end of the post in case someone wants it.

I used maple scrap and if you have say some oak or other hardwood that will work fine too. I would not use wood that is easy to split or softwood like pine for this.

I didn't shoot a lot of pictures but will post what I have and you get lost on what is going on feel free to ask what ever questions you need answered.

As you will see I'm actually building two of these. The first is the 20mm puller and at some future point I will do the 25mm version. The only difference is the hole size. If you have say 3/4" dogs you should have no problem just drilling the 3/4" hole and be all set.

I had the two parts held together with clamps for the drilling of the finger pull area. These pieces were really close to 3/4" and the 1" diameter bit was fine but if your are undersized you might want to use a smaller bit. I marked the point were the drill center needed to be, the seam was the other center line.

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With the two pieces clamped together it is like drilling one piece and the hole stays nicely centered.

The hole closest to the one end might have a little breakout but the later operations will get rid of that area as waste.

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Drill the second hole and then the 20mm hole, and the results are next.

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Now you can use what ever saw you have that will allow the waste material to be removed. A bandsaw is a good choice but not the only thing that would work. I don't have the parts clamped at this point but for the vertical cuts I hold the two pieces together to provide more surface area to be in contact with the the table.

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So that is about all that I have except for this drawing:

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Ed

[Ed in Tampa]

Nice!
Ed I know that through the years you have shown us various work tables you use. I believe you have a Kreg or Rockler T track table. A Peter Parf drill press table ( not sure if you have a large table or not). I think you may have a Festool MFT also. Of all your tables and all the ways you have to clamp and hold pieces to them which is your favorite?
Also if you will how do you hold them up. Ex. Place them on a work bench, they have their own legs, put them on a centipede or something similar.

[reible]

Yes I have a collection of tables I use. The one I find I use the most is the small MFT type table that mounts like a SPT in the end of the shopsmith. Of course it is small but allows a lot of options for working on smaller projects and for a surface for mounting other tools. So this is shopsmith mounted.

I have a larger table that uses the long extension tubes and the shopsmith's main table and an extension table or just two extension tables. It too is like an MFT. I know I have posted the idea here but I don't know that I have taken any pictures of it in action. I'll try and remember to do that soon. That is shopsmith mounted too.

As you mentioned I have a MFT style drill press table which can be seen in this posting. And of course it is shopsmith mounted as well.

I also have a Festool MFT and an extension table for it. I think the MFT has appeared in various pictures here but the extension table has not. I'll try and get some shots of that in the future. It attaches to the MFT any where along the edges so it too is pretty useful when you want to have a bit larger surface to work on. The MFT has it's own legs and the extension has to have the MFT to provide support on one end while it own legs provide it on the other end.

The Rockler t-track table was my favorite for a while until I moved to the MFT. I still have a few times where the clamping options are better with it and I think I might have more options for it yet at this point. The table was designed to mount on a leg setup that Rockler sells but that would have taken up too much room so I use it setting on another bench or surface. I got this for clamping and don't use it for cutting or other operations which could damage the surface. Thus far that has worked and it is pretty much as good as new. The MFT surfaces are expendable so while I try and keep from damaging them it could happen on just about any time.

I have a collection of other tables like the centipede in both the larger and smaller sizes and tables that clamp to my BD workmate. With the centipede I've found that I like to have the round gripper installed and then a sheet of plywood followed by the thicker foam board. I have the blue foam and the pink and they both work fine. The smaller centipede gets the most use since I work on smaller projects most of the time and I have the extension making it higher on most of the time. But the larger one is what I use to cut up full sheets of plywood, no more having to bend to do cuts on the foam that is setting on the ground. That and the tracksaw make the whole process go pretty well with a lot less effort then before.

I can't say I'd be willing to give up my Rockler t-track table but if one had to go that would be the one. I guess I could sell it but with all the money involved in the clamps and what not I'd be losing a lot more then a table.

I'm not sure this answers your questions but if not ask again.

Ed

[sehast]

I don't have as many tables as Ed but having just purchased a Festool track saw I am planning on making one like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-SzRbVPob0&t=13s

I want to build it using the large Rockler risers and bench cookies to support it on top of my current router table. It will be high enough so I won't have to remove the router fence to use and the 3 ft by 4 ft size I plan to build will support about 90% of my needs. I have a simple dedicated table that folds up for storage to break down full sheets of plywood. My back and knees can no longer take the stooping and bending over to do it on the floor any more.

[reible]

I was out working on a pair of signs today and got a couple of shots of my work set up. I normally work in the driveway but it was tooooo windy to use the umbrella and near 90 degrees and a lot of humidity so the back yard in the shade worked out pretty well.

The setup was the centipede with risers and the grippers then a sheet of plywood followed by some blue foam. This is a pretty standard setup for me for a lot of projects.

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I also wheeled the CT26 with oneida dust deputy back there. I updated that with the blue tooth plug in so has that added function when working with things that can't use the built in current sensing plug, things like the Shaper that draws too much current.

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In case you might be wondering about the project, while not finished this is the general idea:

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It will get trimmed for length, sanded, finished and be a birthday gift for a grand daughter. The wood is labeled as Black Mesquite, didn't know there was such a thing but there it was. I also have blanks ready to make 4 pens out of the wood, one will be a gift that goes with the sign. The other three will be left in reserve until I need more pens. I just finished getting 10 more with tubes glued in so in a day or three I'll make them up and if I have enough pen parts left I might just do the other 3 Mesquite ones.

The other sign is not to far behind this one, it is bit different and have some more routing to get done before I can get started on finishing it. It would be nice to work on that tomorrow if I can as it is already late......

Ed

[sehast]

That is great looking Mesquite. It looks like it works well. Never tried any myself.

[claimdude]

Great work and nice jig there Ed! Didn't waste any domino tape either ;-)

Jack

[reible]

Never seem to get as much done as I think I'm going to these days. But I did get more done on both signs and two pens are turned but not assembled at this point.

The signs are "drying" and should be ready for a bit of paste wax in the morning and then I can get back to turning a couple more pens before I get to the assembly phase.

So this is where the one sign sits, the one you saw yesterday with it cut to length, sanded and finish applied.

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You can see the pen parts all there waiting on me.

The other sign which you didn't see yesterday as it came off the table having the 9 little hearts added today.

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It too has been cut to size and sanded and finished. Anyone want to guess the age of the recipient? Well if you though 9 you get a big gold star. This is it as it sets now:

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The wood is of course Padauk and Curly Maple.

Ed

[jsburger]

Ed, where did you get the font for the SO?