Thread: Are most common/ affordable router bits and bushings in Australia imperial?

Originally Posted by derekcohen

My advice is a little different from what you may have asked and expected, and basically is that you change focus and direction.

Mine, too, I took a similar approach to Derek, but used a sheet of pegboard as my spacing template to accurately drill dog holes on my MDF assembly benches about 20 years ago.


Pegboard

Pegboard is still imperial and has 3/16" holes on 1" centres. I drew vertical and horizontal lines with a texture colour through every fourth row of holes to form a 4" grid. (4" = 101.6 mm)


Centre Punch

I was going to make a 3/16 centre punch, but experimented with a 4.5 mm brad point bit. It was asloppy fit in the pegboard holes so I wrapped some sparkies tape around it to form a snug fit. An improvised centre punch.


Marking Holes

I carefully aligned pegboard on MDF table top. Then put the centre punch in the marked grid holes in the pegboard, gave it a sharp tap with a hammer and then dog hole centres were marked very accurately.


Drilling Dog Holes

I still had one of those horrible portable drill presses that you put an electric drill in. I put the largest hole saw that I had in the chuck and drilled a 60 mm (?) hole through the aluminium base. Easy.

Festool and continental woodwork benches have 20 mm dog holes; British and American benches have ¾" (19.05 mm) dog holes - take your pick. I chose ¾" because I then did not have a 20 mm forstner bit.

I just put the ¾" forstner bit in that drill press, aligned the centre spur with the dog hole centre and drilled. Repeat. Holes do not have to be all that accurate , but they are aligned to within a pencil line width.


Usage

It is used as an assembly table, mainly with QuickGrip clamps through the holes as hold downs. Occasionally, with wooden dogs it gets used for light planing.