Cross dowels/barrel nuts

[7sheds]

The bane of my life. I've made various jigs and I'm doing quite well - only 1 in 4 of my last project failed to go together first time. But the others had me swearing, mangling bolt threads and re-drilling the holes bigger.

Any tips on getting the wretched things to align correctly?

Or an alternative type of fastening with equivalent strength but less picky on drilling accuracy?

Oh and they have to be dismantleable.

[katellwood]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmVXbP21NHk

Won't be cheap though

[nickw]

Is this any help? http://www.finewoodworking.com/how-to/a ... nment.aspx

[7sheds]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmVXbP21NHk

Won't be cheap though

The machine retails at around £800. It's mainly used for dowelling, I haven't found a source of the demountable bolts but at that price It's academic!

[7sheds]

Is this any help? http://www.finewoodworking.com/how-to/a ... nment.aspx

That's pretty similar to the jig I made though instead of the M6 bolt I used a 6.5mm steel rod to eliminate any sloppiness in the hole. My problem was that even with everything as tight as possible there is still a bit of movement and an error of as little as 1/2mm is enough to stop it lining up.