Talk:Dowel

???
It seems as wrong interwiki. --Postrach 20:30, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

cross dowel
I added the cross dowel section and did some ascii art to show the concept. If you can do up a picture to donate, look at this website for what is meant. http://www.younturn.com.tw/jancrossdowels.htm Strider22 (talk) 02:20, 17 January 2009 (UTC)strider22


 * Yes, a photo is really needed here. Specifically, two photos would be useful: cross dowel component parts, and an installed cross dowel (ideally with exposed cross-sectional view). BTW, please be sure to add new comments at the bottom of the talk page. Lambtron (talk) 03:32, 17 January 2009 (UTC)


 * I think the ASCII art is more confusing than helpful, because I know was a cross dowel is, but I can't figure out what the ASCII art for the life of me. Can we please remove it? If need be I'll draw something up in Solidworks and post it. Wizard191 (talk) 15:51, 17 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Image removed pending a photo or cad dwg. Lambtron (talk) 17:05, 17 January 2009 (UTC)


 * I've added two images. Let me know what you think. Wizard191 (talk) 17:52, 19 January 2009 (UTC)


 * They look great! Thanks, Wizard191. Lambtron (talk) 18:55, 19 January 2009 (UTC)

History - dowels vs treenails?
There are some uncited claims here for very early use of dowels. I don't dispute the age, but I do dispute that these are dowels (i.e. the primary locating and strength member in joinery) vs. treenails that are locking pins through a main tenon. Andy Dingley (talk) 00:41, 22 January 2014 (UTC)
 * I agree that these claims are dubious. Citations have been requested for quite awhile, but never provided. I would support removal of the entire History section as it stands now. Lambtron (talk) 15:52, 22 January 2014 (UTC)

Image Problem?
The photo on the right of a 'steel dowel'(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Anker-Spreitzd%C3%BCbel_M10_Fabrikat_SPIT.jpg) appears to be an expansion anchor for use in masonry. In american english usage, this would certainly not be considered a dowel. Can anyone who uses another flavor of english weigh in? Is the image definitely incorrect, or does dowel have a different meaning where you are? Thank you. 48v (talk) 03:26, 2 September 2014 (UTC)
 * The image does not match the definition of a dowel. Also, since the claim that metal dowels are used in stonemasonry seems to be based on expansion anchors, it's unlikely that actual metal dowels are used. I've removed both, pending citation of supporting RS. Lambtron (talk) 13:10, 2 September 2014 (UTC)

Uncited material in need of citations
I am moving the following uncited material here until it can be properly supported with inline citations of reliable, secondary sources, per WP:V, WP:CS, WP:IRS, WP:PSTS, WP:BLP, WP:NOR, et al. This diff shows where it was in the article. Nightscream (talk) 18:21, 18 January 2022 (UTC)

Manufacturing process
High-volume dowel manufacturing is done on a wood shaper, which simultaneously forms multiple dowels from a single piece of rectangular stock (i.e., wood). These machines employ two wide, rotating cutting heads, one above the stock and one below it. The heads have nearly identical cutting profiles so that each will form an array of adjoined, side-by-side "half dowels". The heads are aligned to each other and one head is shaped to make deeper cuts along the dowel edges so as to part the stock into individual dowel rods, resulting in a group of dowel rods emerging in parallel at the machine's output.

Application
The wooden dowel rod used in woodworking applications is commonly cut into dowel pins, which are used to reinforce joints and support shelves and other components in cabinet making. Some woodworkers make their own dowel pins, while others purchase dowel pins precut to the required length and diameter.

Some dowel pins are fluted with multiple parallel grooves along their length to serve the same purpose.

Dowel centers are simple and inexpensive tools for aligning opposing blind holes. Various commercial systems, such as Dowelmax, have been devised to solve this problem.

Alternative joinery methods may be used in place of conventional dowel pins, such as Miller dowels, biscuit joiners, spline joints, and proprietary tools such as the Domino jointer.

History
Cognates with other Germanic languages suggest that the word is much older (deuvel in Dutch, Dübel in German).

Wooden dowels have been used in manufacturing and woodworking for many centuries. One of the earliest documented uses of wooden dowels was in Japanese shrines in AD 690, which were constructed using only wood, wooden dowels and pegs, and interlocking joints. Around AD 1000, Leif Erikson sailed across the North Atlantic in a ship that was largely constructed of overlapping planks held together by wooden dowels and iron nails. The wooden dowels did not rust and thus were more reliable than iron for long expeditions.

In machinery
Metal dowels or dowel pins are often used as precise locating devices in machinery. Steel dowel pins are machined to tight tolerances, as are the corresponding holes, which are typically reamed. A dowel pin may have a smaller diameter than its hole so that it freely slips in, or a larger diameter so that it must be pressed into its hole (an interference fit).

When designing mechanical components, mechanical engineers typically use dowel holes as reference points to control positioning variations and attain repeatable assembly quality. If no dowels are used for alignment (e.g., components are mated by bolts only), there can be significant variation, or "play", in component alignment.

Typical drilling and milling operations, as well as manufacturing practices for bolt threads, introduce mechanical play proportional to the size of the fasteners. For example, bolts up to 10 mm in diameter typically have play on the order of 0.2 mm. When dowels are used in addition to bolts, however, the tighter dimensional tolerances of dowels and their mating holes—typically 0.01 mm—result in significantly less play, on the order of 0.02 mm. Manufacturing costs are inversely proportional to mechanical tolerances and, as a result, engineers must balance the need for mechanical precision against cost as well as other factors such as manufacturability and serviceability.

There are a variety of specifications, military, ISO, DIN, ASME that pins may be made to. And size can even vary by dowel pin material. Metric dowel pins are often found in two sizes. In DIN 6325 standard the dowel pins are slightly larger than the nominal value. For example a 3 mm dowel pin will range from 3.002 to 3.008 mm. In the ISO 2338 standard the dowel pins are slightly smaller - 3 mm nominal range is 2.986 to 3.000 mm. The terminology (e.g. "oversized", "standard") is not entirely consistent across suppliers. In inch pins "oversized" refers to pins that are more significantly oversized for worn-out dowel pinholes. The most common inch-sized pins are slightly oversized, and "undersized" versions are also available.

In automobiles, dowels are used when precise mating alignment is required, such as in differential gear casings, engines, and transmissions.

Bolts in a bolted joint often have an important function as a dowel, resisting shear forces. For this reason, many bolts have a plain unthreaded section to their shank. This gives a closer fit to the hole and also avoids some problems with fretting wear when a screw thread bears against an unthreaded component.

In woodworking
A cross dowel is a cylindrically shaped metal nut (i.e., a metal dowel) that is used to join two pieces of wood. Like other metal nuts, it has an inside threaded hole, although the hole is unusual in that it passes through the sides of the dowel. One or both ends of the dowel are slotted, with the slots oriented parallel to the threaded hole through which the bolt will pass.

In a cross dowel application, the two pieces of wood are aligned and a bolt hole is drilled through one piece of wood and into the other. A dowel hole is drilled laterally across the bolt hole and the cross dowel is inserted into it. A screwdriver is inserted into the slot at the end of the cross dowel and the dowel is rotated so that its threaded hole aligns with the bolt hole. The bolt is then inserted into the bolt hole and screwed into the cross dowel until the wood pieces are held tightly together.

Dowel Rod?
In half a century of existence, living in various states, I had until recently NEVER heard dowels referred to as "dowel rods", but apparently it is a thing here in central PA. It is also redundant a dowel is a rod, so there is no need to say "dowel rod". 2601:980:C000:2E30:7CD6:7B6B:8A2:5439 (talk) 19:57, 31 May 2024 (UTC)
 * UK. Dowels are dowels, but multi-foot lengths of cylindrical timber are 'dowel rod'. Andy Dingley (talk) 20:13, 31 May 2024 (UTC)