My new dowel machine

[Adnick]

Here's my new dowel machine, had to sell a few excess tools, but sure is worth it, now I can make does out of any wood....

This is a near perfect machine from one of our own JimReed@Tallahassee

Thanks much Jim, have already made, maple, walnut, cherry, red oak and spanish cedar....

Andy
-- mos maiorum

[JimReed@Tallahassee]

Too cool! I love to see them get back to work.

[irishconger]

pics.... explanation..... please.

-g-

[hbmcc]

"pics.... explanation..... please."

You put meat in one side and sausage links come out the other.

Pretty doggone cool!

[JimReed@Tallahassee]

The #77 accepts 9 different sized cutters, ranging in size from 1/4 to 3/4. There is a rotating holder at the end with graduated square holes in it. The square hole in the cutter keeps the raw stock from rotating while it is cut. To use the machine, cut raw square stock that is 1/8 larger than the cutter. For example, the common 3/8 cutter requires 1/2 stock. Then attach the cutter and thread the square raw stock through the appropriate square hole. Turn the crank wheel furiously and it will transfer the motion through the pinion gear to and make the cutter spin. As you feed the stock manually, the cutter will cut the square stock to size. SO you can make REALLY long dowels. And you can make dowels from any wood that you have. That is the real bonus.

[irishconger]

Thanks... I see a video about the Stanley 77 dowel maker here ----->> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGYIShalYMk

-g-

[Adnick]

Here's a few things that have become obvious: (at least to me)

Don't change stock orientation during cuts, that's when you take it out to see the progress...

Keep a sized piece of stock marked with the size handy to use as a reference

Chamfering the edges can reduce cutting efforts significantly

Test cut each end of the stock, it always seems to cut better one direction vs the other

Andy-- mos maiorum

[DCM]

Andy - so how do you like the machine?  Looks like a very nice one.

I'll pick one up later today - went to a local tool collector show this past weekend & one of the dealer/collectors had one in like new condition. I messed up and didn't take enough cash so I was out of $'s by the time I found the dowel machine - the good news is he lives very close to the credit union my wife works at & he's going to deliver it to her.

What a good wife... she even drove me to the sale given I just had neck surgery & can't drive   :  )

Thanks & enjoy!
David

[JimReed@Tallahassee]

Acquiring vintage tools = good
Having vintage tools delivered = priceless

[Adnick]

Really like it, making some carriage doors for my shop and the plans call for dowels, they are 5/8 so went looking for a new cutter and made a deal for two, one is a 5/8 and the other is 1/2 so now all i need is a 1/4 and 5/16 and it'll be dowel heaven....

Been making dowels from different wood, so now I have a real good supply of dowels, made some 8 inch ones out of hard maple to finish out my workbench.

The sharpness of the cutter makes a huge difference in the output condition of the dowels. And I had a problem with the cutter blade turning a bit skewed, and this happened on each cutter esp with hard woods, put on some lock washers and the problem went away.

Made some tapered red oak legs for my drafting table and made the dowels out of the same, they turned out fine. It's so nice to be able to just turn the handle and make dowels out of whatever.

Andy