I had a chance to use a new product called Qwas Speed Dogs from Steve Adams, the maker of Qwas dogs. You already know I like Qwas dogs and Qwas rail dogs for use on my MFT table as they allow accurate placement of stock relative to other parts of the table thanks to the CNCed top. Speed Dogs are a different animal (snicker...): they act like quick hold downs.
I've had them for awhile now, but didn't have a chance to do a review earlier. These are definitely a hit. In the video, I'll show you how they are used in a number of scenarios so you can decide for yourself if they solve a need you have in your work flow. For me, they definitely do and they'll definitely get used in other places, too, like my Moxon vice bench you've seen before (video forthcoming on this modification). Takes it to 11.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Review of Qwas Speed Dogs
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Naturally, I like woodworking as a hobby, but an ice hockey tournament will easily get me out of the shop :)
Posts
Must get a metric crescent wrench to go with my Festool gear. Thanks for the video.
Thanks Paul. Good review. I have to pick up two Qwas speed dogs.
Hi Paul-marcel,
Thanks for yet another great video. I received my speed dogs during the week and just had a chance to try them out earlier tonight.
I like the quality / fit / finish and the potential that they bring. I do have a problem with one aspect of its design, however, and would like to hear if yours are similar.
When fully seated, the Speed dogs protrude slightly below the bottom surface of my MFT 1080. Because of this, the knobs (borrowed from the clamping elements as you recommended) can't tighten the speed dogs to the table. The knob will bottom out on the dog before it bottoms out on the table. As a result, the speed dogs are left with a little play when trying to clamp something to the table top.
I guess I could get around this problem if I used a washer (with an inside diameter greater than 20mm, ie. a monstrous washer) between the knob and the underside of the table.
IMHO, however, a better solotion would have been to make the Speed Dogs slightly shorter so that they didn't protrude through the bottom of the table.
Please let me know if you understand what I'm trying to say and, if so, if yours are similarly machined.
Thanks, Chris (Squasher)
Thanks for the input Chris, that's exactly what I need to hear. I was trying to keep the dogs long to limit any hole damage from over-tightening. Your right, it's better to make the dogs a little shorter rather than having customers hunt down a large washer and then try aligning the washer while tightening everything.
Yes, i see the potential of damaging the top if you put too much torque into tightening.
As an alterative to a washer, how about a (rubber) o-ring ? If you're only interested in the dog's clamping function and not using it to align anything, you could even put the o-ring between the dog and the top top surface thereby protecting the hole....
I've been playing with the design a little bit and I think I have things worked out. I'm going to make some new dogs this weekend and I will send a pair of the dogs to you Chris. Again. thanks for the input.
Wow, thanks! I look forward to trying the updated design.