AUTOTOOLHOME Self Centering Doweling Jig Dowel Jig Kit Drill Jig for Straight Holes Wood Biscuit Joiner Tool 6 Drill Guide Bushings Set Woodworking Power Tool Accessory Jigs

A great tool. The only thing that is at all challenging is if you have to line up two holes on opposite pieces of wood, the alignment lines are sometimes hard to line up. Take your time, double check and it works fine.

This one’s a life saver if you need a hole in the center and don’t have a drill press. After many failed attempts of trying to get a straight hole with a hand held drill, I caved in and bought this. I should’ve bought it weeks ago when I started struggling with the job. The clamp is heavy duty with a nice polished finish on it. The rod used to move the clamp is smooth and easy to turn. A nice small size but opens up big enough to get most projects I would need it for done. Once clamped on the project it’s very stable and won’t move unless you loosen the knob. It’s very easy to screw in and out the different (included) inserts for different size bits. Also does not mark up the wood when clamped down.

There is a fix for the centering inaccuracy I've read about in many reviews. On the opposite side from the handle are 2 small cap screws. Loosen them and turn the oddly notched retaining nut until the black block is centered by measuring. Tighten the cap screws. This is an inexpensive tool, but it'll give consistent and centered holes for each job you've adjusted it to. It's also just good practice to clamp it with the handle on the same side of the two boards you're doweling together. I do take issue with the machining tolerances on the tool--the inner thread of the aluminum block that takes the handle/turnscrew isn't in great alignment with the two steel rods. Makes turning the handle stiff and uneven. But it works fine for my purposes. If I need to mass produce, I'd get a better piece of equipment.

I used this product to install floating shelves. The shelf brackets required a 1/2 hole to be drilled in multiple locations that needed to be centered in the 1.5 inch thick wood shelf. The jig allows multiple diameter holes to be drilled. The jig worked great. Make sure you have a vise that will hold the shelf still while you drill the holes. I used a spade bit because i needed to drill a 6" deep hole to accept the shelf bracket dowel and my 1/2 regular bit was not long enough. It required a bit more effort to clean the hole. The shelves look great.

Good quality and strong materials. Used it to repair 2x8 inch roof rafter which had suffered some water damage / rot. Cut out damaged section and replaced it using a new board attached to old using multiple 1/2 inch dowels and construction epoxy. Good as new, saved me an expensive roof job. As someone else noted, the self-centering is adjustable and the kit comes with a hex wrench (for the adjustment).

The parts are solid and nicely made. The engineering of the self centering mechanism could use some work. Out of the box I found that is was consistently off by 1mm between various thicknesses of stock. After some investigation on how it worked and some fooling with it I got is adjusted so that it appears I will get fairly consistent results. The key was understanding the center spring and how if rides in a groove on the main bolt. Loosening the center spring and adjusting back and forth with the other two allen bolts got me to where it needed to be. I'm not sure it would work in a production shop with constant change in thickness, but for the price it works well enough for me. More than once I thought about just sending it back before I got it to center.

Oh boy, where to begin. When I first picked up the devise I thought "humm, it's heavier than I thought it was going to be", but that's usually a good thing in the garage, so we were off to a good start. Then I turned the handle, and it was all down hill from there. The machining of the threaded rod was very poor, there's a ton of friction, not a deal breaker, but I was disappointed. Okay, but the concept is good, so as long as it works, who cares id there's a little friction. The next thing I noticed was the design choices. I present exhibit "A". They took 2 washers and used them to hold on the threaded nut that pulls the devise together and just let them sit there al cockeyed held in place by a couple of machine screws.... What the heck man.... Okay, fine, whatever, it must at least work, right?? I set it down on the bench and that's when I discovered exhibit "B". It's completely crooked However, I will say that when you tighten the whole thing up those pieces to come together, so, it should still self-center and allow you to do proper doweling work, right? I present exhibit "C" you can casually look at those 2 wholes and see that they aren't centered relative to each other, as demonstrated in exhibit "D". As it turns out when measured the whole on the top is off to the right by 3/32's of an inch. That's more than 10% the total thickness of a piece of 3/4 inch material. I rarely give 1* reviews, and while I've put a lot of effort into the occasional positive review, I've never put this kind of effort into making sure that you don't waist your time or money on this product. The manufactures of this must know what they're selling is junk, and they're putting it up for sale anyway. The only reason this isn't blatant theft is because Amazon has a good return policy. Don't waist your time, don't waist your money, you could literally do a better job by eye.

Purchased to install SOSS hinges on a folding top cabinet I am building. The drilling of the holes has to be a perfect match on the two boards I am joining, moreover, the holes must be in the exact center of the board thickness. This high quality tool did exactly what I needed it to do. Perfect.