Thin stock planing stops

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I have always struggled to plane thin material using bench dogs.  Most are thicker than what I am planing so they prevent using the plane unless I put something beneath the stock to raise it up.   I searched for existing stops but the ones I found were all steel.   Sorry I am far too clumsy to not run into a steel dog with a plane, so I avoid them.  I was also surprised I could not find them in the 3d printing world.  So I enlisted my son to help design them and print them.

We came up with the following useful features for me, and hoping that that others might find the features useful too:
  1. The stops are 1/4" thick and 2" square, fitting in 3/4" diameter dog holes.
  2. The offset from the dog hole varies from ~1/4" through ~1-1/4" as you rotate the dog. 
  3. Each face of the dog is angled down to help hold stock against the bench top.
  4. Two dogs fit into a sliding dovetail in an 8" wide 3/8" thick planing stop making it easy to create a wider planing stop that will fit dog spacing from 3" to 6".
  5. The planing stops are plastic so if you hit them with a plane or chisel, there is no crying and no swearing.

These ended up working better than I ever imagined.  I had concerns about them being strong enough, but then my son taught me a thing or two.  3D printing has layers similar to wood having fibers.  He oriented the printing of the dogs so that he maximized the strength of the layers.  This is the same way I would have oriented the wood if I made them from wood.  Definitely a proud poppa moment.

Source: Low profile bench dogs (more photos and explanation)
Link to Thingiverse if you want to print your own.


Nice solution, I had the same problem, but I made mine out of wood and didn't think of putting a slight angle on the mating surface. I like yours better.

.................. John D....................

Lots of clever thinking there, swirt. Those look very useful.

I never thought about 3D printed solids as having “grain.” Interesting.
Nicely done! 3D printed items absolutely have grain. Maybe more so than wood. Since the bond between layers will never be as strong as the grain lines in wood, it’s really important to consider orientation if you’re printing any functional item!

Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".

Good solution, mine are wood as well, but good idea if you have a 3d printer.
Thank you gentlemen.  I appreciate the comments.