Work bench mishap!


logos

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I'm nearing the end of this project and was just marveling at how few mishaps I've had!

 

 

I was routing the dog holes when the router jerked. Not sure why but certainly could have been me.

 

 

I added a big champher to the hole but still stands out and isn't smooth

 

 

Anyway, looking for opinions...

 

 

It's a work bench that's going to get beat up eventually, so I could just leave it bebc00d6b72e3f41509c1e80905f57ee6f.jpga2c4c99afec89e48cffb5cd82a8c8d8c.jpg7b17973592c734078c224988d6cf668a.jpg05f2325abe71f6aa2cd0fee75d4f1c9b.jpg5265aef15918bea41edd1add3f351880.jpg

 

 

I could try and drill it out and plug it with an 1.5 plug.

 

 

I could add more of a champher and make a unique dog for it

 

 

Other ideas?

 

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Since it has a rather unique look and shape could you possibly make a one of a kind planing stop? Something of a half moon shape with teeth along the leading edge.

 

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

 

Was thinking about putting a planning stop somewhere...

 

Great suggestion!

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I'd route out and chisel a rectangular section as deep as the tearout goes then inlay another piece of wood.  Then re-drill.  Some idiot pushed a straight bit into my front laminate one time and I had to do a similar repair.

 

 

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I just found a piece to inlay from the same stock.

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

 

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11 hours ago, logos said:

Great idea! Put in a 3/4 inch dowel with epoxy filling in the champher and re drill if I'm understanding. That could work!

The epoxy won't take the sideways pressure very well that a dog hole experiences.  I'm in the camp that favors mortising it out square and gluing in a piece of like material.  Then re-drill/route.  This info is too late but, when using a plunge router for dog holes, I add an oversized baseplate of scrap ply and clamp the router to the bench to assure it stays put during the operation.  Here, I'm adding a dog hole to a vise chop in place.

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I'm kind of curious how you were getting through 4" of material with a router bit anyway?  I would have gone drill bit and jig for that job.  Plunging that big of a hole in that much material with a router is in the pucker & poop chapter of my book.  I actually did mine on the drill press. LOL

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Yeah, it was a bit stressful. A buddy lent me his festool 1400 router with a spiral 3/4 inch bit.

 

He also lent me a track but my bench was to long to clamp easily. I'd never used the system before so maybe I just didn't know how to adapt it.

 

I wound up using the edge guide and puckering a bit. Cut like butter through the hard maple.

 

The bit cut about 3 inches deep. I'm going to use a drill to finish it since the hole will act as a guide

 

I'm going to plug it with a 3/4 inch dowel and inlay the top year out with my white side inlay kit I'm going to inlay a circle to make it a no brainer plug. The squaring would take a bit more work and I'm not sure I see the advantage other the style?

 

Thanks for all the help!

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4 hours ago, logos said:

The bit cut about 3 inches deep. I'm going to use a drill to finish it since the hole will act as a guide

For future reference, you could have made a simple jig by drilling a 2" hole in some random blocky scrap of wood at the drill press, and using that to guide the beginning of your entry when drilling the holes in your bench.  If you clamp the jig hard to the bench it will also help prevent entry tearout because the fibers will be supported by the bottom of the jig.  Your holes will be perfectly straight as long as you use the DP to create the jig.

Not that you'll need to drill dog holes again anytime soon...but the next time you're faced with plunging huge holes that deep...reconsider.  That's a disaster waiting to happen.

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I would agree with Eric that a good option would be to rout out a rectangular section around the hole, match the wood as close as possible, glue the piece in and re-drill.

Normally plugging with a round plug would be the easiest, but I don't know where you would get a plug cutter that diameter. I've never seen them larger than 5/8" in diameter.

One other option is to route out a rectangle or some other shape on both of the holes near the vise, glue in contrasting plugs, re-drill, and then it would look like a unique design feature.

Or you could leave it but  I know that's hard to do on a bench that looks that great. For me, leaving mistakes in the shop can be a good reminder for what I shouldn't do in the future.

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1 minute ago, logos said:

 

 

Thanks! I'm happy with how it turned out. Will suit my work flow. The repair just adds a design feature which I'm sure will be followed by numerous other dings.

 

 

 

 

Appreciate the help along the way!

 

And well you should be happy! That's one fine bench. How long is it?

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