Drill bushings and dowel pins

schemer

schemer

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I used to work at a place that had molds making plastic bottles and they used hard steel dowel pins for mold alignment on one half of the mold, and a steel bushing on the other half. I was going to buy a box of small dowel pins for a small mold making project and found the dowels in the Enco catalog just fine. I was expecting the bushings to be as easily found but they were not. After a little research I realize they are called drill bushings but the ones I am finding are quite expensive as compared to a box of 50 or 100 dowel pins. Am I missing something here or is that the way it is? I know I can make them but as cheap as a box of the dowel pins is for the smaller sizes, it would be nice to have the matching counterparts in a box for cheap to for future projects. Anybody use these and know where to get them or are they just that much harder to make and therefore that much more expensive?
Thanks,
schemer
 
Bill Gruby said:
Drill Bushings are expensive because they are ground for accuracy and re-use. They are used to accurately align holes in Jigs and Fixtures where repeatability is necessary. They are hardened so the drill will not wear them out or cut into them.

What you are looking for are usually made by you.

"Bill Gruby"
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Thanks Bill,
I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something in the Enco catalog. It seems that years ago they were available right near the dowel pins and were reasonably priced. Of course chickens were also .29 cents a pound then too. ;)
 
As is usually the case, it's all about the numbers. Nowhere near as many bushing are manufactured as dowel pins. This, plus the fact that both OD and ID are ground after heat treating, make them far more expensive than dowel pins. I imagine that there are not as many foreign sources for bushings as there are for pins also.
 
Drill busings

Keep your eye on Ebay
I picked up on a 10 lbs.assortment of drill bushings for $25.00
Robbie
 
Tony Wells said:
As is usually the case, it's all about the numbers. Nowhere near as many bushing are manufactured as dowel pins. This, plus the fact that both OD and ID are ground after heat treating, make them far more expensive than dowel pins. I imagine that there are not as many foreign sources for bushings as there are for pins also.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's what I figured. Oh well, note to self: "buy 'em when they are cheap and available".
 
rmsflorida said:
Keep your eye on Ebay
I picked up on a 10 lbs.assortment of drill bushings for $25.00
Robbie
Click to expand...

Been there already but most are assortments and way too large for my little projects...But it is a great source and I always look there first. :)
 
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