03-06-2017, 05:10 PM
(03-06-2017, 04:06 PM)Alan S Wrote: So your template positions the holes, and makes it easy to flip it over for drilling into complementary parts. The small block is really just a handle for the steel bushings, to make sure they are easy to manipulate and always go into the template square and to the same depth?
If I understand correctly, there is no need to have both bushings in one block, except that it makes for fewer things to keep track of.
Compared to other specific-purpose jigs, the efficiency appears to come from not leaving the bushings in place, which would necessitate many more bushings and could complicate use from both faces of the jig.
Exactly. On the 3rd paragraph, I would add that an additional benefit is that the template can be tailored to the project. I have jigs that are a little over 12" wide, for example, and have bushings spaced every 3/4". But sometimes a project has a joint that is 18" or 24" wide, and you don't need/want 24+ dowels. So the template system saves you form having to reposition a conventional jig along a wide joint, and also spares you from having to keep track of which holes get drilled and which are skipped.
Along the same theme, sometimes a joint is only 3" wide (like a tool stand you're making from dressed 2x4's). Maybe you want two rows of dowels, maybe you just want to get your dowels more or less centered in the stock. The template allows that, you can create any pattern you can imagine.
And the time spent making a template is typically regained when it comes time to actually start drilling holes for your project.