Know Different Types and Uses of Dowel Pins

Dowels are usually rod-shaped structures usually made out of wood or metal. It is used in cabinet reinforcements, furniture shelf support, movable game pieces, wheel Axel’s in toys, detents in gymnastics grip and as a support for tiered wedding cakes.

There are a variety of dowels available in the market with different uses to be precise. Here are a few to list out.

• Wooden Dowels

These are traditionally carved out of wood with the help of an iron plate. For its common use, it is turned into a wooden dowel pin and used to reinforce joints in cabinets and support shelves. The dowel pin suppliers claim that it has plenty of uses like re-laminating a countertop. Apply some contact cement on the side that is starting to lift and lay a dowel across the counter. Roll it by applying even amount of pressure so that the laminate adheres evenly.

• Metal Dowels

Dowel pins, these are often used as the precise locating devices in machinery. Dowels made out of steel have high tolerance towards pressure. The mechanical engineers, while designing a machine often use the dowel holes as reference points for controlling positioning variations. Dowels play an important role here as, if they are not used, they can provide some noticeable variations in component alignment. Dowels are used in many cases instead of bolts dues to their low cost, however, they do have low tolerance but are comparatively cheaper in cost.

Dowels are also used in automobiles, for precise mating alignments like in differential gear casing, engines, and transmissions.

It also has used in woodworking, like joining two pieces of wood. These are usually cylindrical in shape. Both or one end of the dowel is slotted, these slots are parallel to each other and the bolt passes through it. In the case of cross dowel application, two pieces of wood are aligned together, and the holes are drilled into them. Dowel hole is however drilled laterally, and the cross dowel is inserted. The bolt is inserted and tightened till the point they are held in one place tightly together.

Most mechanical based companies are quite dependent on these dowels and their uses. They may be small and insignificant looking but in reality, a whole lot of machinery depend on it for their functioning.