MFT3 Bench Dog Find for under $5 each

kdzito

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Jul 9, 2009
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Last summer after I bought my MFT3 and found that there were many choices of for its accessories of holding the pieces in place and at numerous price points.

As I do work for a Carpentry and Millwork contractor, I'm also the one that takes the headaches by being the Project Manager with our company working on large Commercial Buildings.  This leads to my responsibility of engineering our work and sourcing the necessary materials, which allowed me to find a $5 bench dog to use on the MFT3. 

I want to see if anyone's curious about this item and can tell what I used to become my MFT3 bench dog.  I'm not trying to market or sell anything here; however, this is just a quiz to see how resourceful one is.

I'll give a couple of hints, it's not called a bench dog; however, it works so beautifully as one that I didn't believe it at first.  It's made out of steel (tooled very smooth) and is a tad over 20mm and fits so snug that you don't have worry about it slipping out.  Also, it comes in 3 different lengths.

 
Sounds similar to what I found to fit into the holes in my first MFT 1080 -- what I found was some surplus roller bearings, or at least that's what I think they are.  Steel, about 2 inches long, or so, and fit nicely into my MFT's holes.  But, I don't think that they cost as much as $5 each.  Not long after, I purchased a mini lathe and tooling and made my own from 6061 aluminum which proved to be much more expensive...  [blink]
 
Well I would guess a 20mm smooth shank bolt, cap screw or similar as that is what I use.
 
Well, I was going to guess a Workmate plastic dog until I read your last paragraph.

As I neither have a MFT nor room for one, my interest here is curiousity.  I love a good puzzle... you'd think I had enough of that coping laminate flooring to a stone fireplace at a 45-degree angle.  (Not part of my normal work - renovations in my house.)
 
If you have a wood lathe it is pretty easy to turn your own dogs from some hardwood scrap and the cost is really only your time.
You can also get a very fine fit in the holes this way too.

Best,
Todd
 
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