Dowel jig question

[Davey]

Good evening,

I'm trying to build some shelves in 18mm MFC and I want to make the joints hidden by using 6mm dowels.

I've bought the Clarke dowelling jig set: http://www.clarketools.net/cdj2-clarke-universal-dowelling-jig-set-9189-p.asp

I'm trying to make a Right angle joint but the dowel holes are offset in the edge of the timber (i.e. not in the centre). I suspect this is because I'm using 18mm thick MFC whereas the jig appears designed for 15mm.

Has anybody used this jig before and am I doing something wrong?

Is it a problem with the dowels being offset? Presumably the joints will be stronger if the dowels are in the centre of the board?

The 8mm dowels supplied with the kit appear to line up better but these seem very thick for joining 18mm board.

Thank you

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Think laterally. There is actually no reason in man made boards why you cannot offset the holes to one side of the bord or the other - so long as the mating holes line-up.

 

[big-all]

they are designed possibly for 12mm plus you can find the minimum by measuring the distance from the edge if its 3mm its 12mm if its 4.5 its 15mm then any thickness up to what the jig will accomodate
you will notice the larger holes are off set

 

[Belboz]

It's one of the drawbacks of the Clarke jig. You're not doing anything wrong but the jig isn't designed for really thick material. As per the guide, use the dowel/hole size which is closest to centering on the midpoint of the board edge. Other dowelling jigs don't have this issue but that's why the Clarke one is cheap [I presume]

 

[big-all]

as an aside

you need to mark the face and the face edge on all timbers and only work from that surface
i do this by putting a letter at each joint where 2 surfaces meet so when your drilling the clamp will be away from the face and at the bottom off the letter or number
if you have several components this help you to match them
if you have intermediate shelves you will need several dowel points 2 parallel lines and a wood bit with a nipple point

 

[Davey]

Thanks guys,

There's no intermediate shelves - it's just a series of rectangular "boxes" that will be mounted on the wall to hold DVD's. There's no back to them - that will be provided by the wall.

Each shelf is 1.2m long which should hold about 100 DVD's so there's no real weight in them - only about 10kg which Sagulator says is not a problem.

It's not an issue with the 6mm dowels being offset as they won't be seen. I'll build the shelves so the most "meat" is at the bottom of the shelf as the weight will act downwards of course.

Just wanted reassurance I was using the jig correctly!

For info the MFC was bought cut to size and edged from www.woodbypost.co.uk

I'm not associated with this company in any way but they delivered exactly what was required and saved me the hassle of cutting full boards myself.

Regards

Davey

 

[big-all]

its actually much easier to fix with a back on
on 4ft 5 fixings through the back at 2" in from each end and every 11" along its length