How do I find the center point of a dowel?

Question

The neighbor girl brought home a a rudimentary wooden car kit home from school. She brought it to me for a bit of help. Included was a piece of 1 1/4" dowel to be cut into wheels. I want to drill the centers for an axle. How do I find the center? I can do it on paper, but is there a tip for finding the center on wood? I don't want to have to buy a special tool for the job.

Answer 1

Take 2 pieces of paper which are reliably rectangular. Most paper available fits this criterion. Fold the bottom edge of one piece so that it meets the side of the sheet with the crease passing through the corner. Lay this on op of the unfolded sheet so that a straight edge is aligned and the corner with the fold through it is aligned with the corner of the unfolded sheet. put this arrangement on the end of the dowel so that the edges of the unfolded sheet are tangent to the sides of the dowel. Make a little slit about where you think the center is, and then draw a line on the end of the dowel along the folded edge of the paper. Now, turn the dowel and draw another line in the same way. Where these lines you draw intersect is the center of the dowel, or close enough for gummint work.

Answer 2

Dowel Center Points

Answer 3

The disciple's method would work if you knew you were measuring through the center, or if your lines passed through the center. You cant be positive that you are doing this if you dont know exactly where the center is. You could eyball a point(or use the above methods) and measure the distance from that point to the edge of the dowell in several directions. If all of the measurements are the same then you have the center. If not then you must try again with a different point.

Answer 4

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RE:
How do I find the center point of a dowel?
The neighbor girl brought home a a rudimentary wooden car kit home from school. She brought it to me for a bit of help. Included was a piece of 1 1/4" dowel to be cut into wheels. I want to drill the centers for an axle. How do I find the center? I can do it on paper, but is there a tip for...

Answer 5

Not an easy task, since being slightly off will cause the wheels to wobble. I guess the "right" way to do this is to drill a hole in a piece of wood, and THEN cut out the wheel using the predrilled hole as the center. But that doesn't help you here.

Do you have any drawing software on your computer? You could use that to generate a 1-1/4" circle, plus a dot or "x" at its center. Print it out, lay it on the end of the dowel and use a center punch to mark the center on the dowel.

My problem when doing this sort of thing is, surface roughness will cause my center punch or drill bit to wander off from the spot I'm trying to mark. Make the wheel face as smooth as you can before punching your center mark.

Good luck.

Answer 6

Simple way is to cut out a 1 1/4" square shape out of paper and draw two straight lines from the opposite corners - when this is placed evenly on the end of your dowell, the center is where the lines intersect. Punch or mark this and remove the template.

Answer 7

I think you will be fine with out the dowels, but for piece of mind, use them if you wish. Cakes do slide, cakes do collapse. I would use the dowels, they are cheap insurance. And yes you just stick them in, making sure they are perpendicular to the bottom on the cake, or they will give way. and you can use a platform if you want, doubt you need one. I see some pretty tall cakes on Cake Boss, and he rarely uses dowels. But he is Buddy, a professional, and we, well, aren't.

Answer 8

Measure the Diameter then divide it by 2, mark it on the center..... OR get two diameters and make a line....where it intersects is your center line..hope this helps

Answer 9

Draw 2 chords and bisect the 2 and where they cross should be the center.