Dang Dogs

[Bruce Macmillan]

Anyone have any info on the do's and dont's of making your own platen table dogs? My table has 1 3/4'' holes and I went to alotta trouble to get 1 11/16'' cold rolled to make the dogs...About half the time when I go to seat the bastards they pop up no matter how big the sledge is or how hard I bash em. The other thing the raise little humps in the surface that eventually break off.....Angle wrong? Do they need to be thinner at the bend? Material too big???...Thanks in advance....bm

[Gene C]

this may give you some ideas.

http://www.acorniron.com/products/index.html

[J Wilson]

I've only made them for woodworking. Looks like the "horizontal section" is too short to enable the binding.

[Grant]

Well, I think 1-11/16 might be too tight a fit. Try 1-5/8 or even 1-1/2 and see how it works. As Jeff observed, you might want to make the horizontal leg longer (and more shapely!).

[JNewman]

Mine have 1 5/8 holes and mine made from 1 1/2 don't work that well either. The one I made with the horizontal arm about 11" long does hold better though. I am going to try making one from 1 3/8 and 1 1/4. My table is solid underneath not hollow, I have heard they don't work as well with dogs.

[Grant]

That was ny experience with a solid table too. In fact when I got mine, I turned it over and had a brand new table.

[Bruce Macmillan]

Thanks all, we seem to have fixed it.......Not wanting to scrap my expensive CR 1 11/16'' which I agree is too fat, I decided to have a go at forging the bend point making it less stuborn to flex. Kept the same angle and put a foot on it..... I left the foot off because I saw some shopbuilt dogs at Flagstaff in 2000 that seemed to work fine, I made what thought were copies but the arms were too short to flex properly. Getting in close with shorter dogs has advantages ......Now a 4lb hammer cleats em with ease every time, now to fix 5 more and make some longer 1 1/2'' ones, does it ever end.............

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[David Browne]

Use 1 1/2" round for the 1 3/4" holes, they have to have enough room to wedge themselves in at an angle.