Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Well, after months of waiting, and several projects that needed dovetils, I finally have this jig. The overall fit and finish of the jig is acceptable. It is well thought out, and well made up to a point. My only quibbles would be:
1. The variable finger template was poorly assembled which resulted in it being bowed along its length, and the two end castings were not of uniform thickness. There was actually about .065" of bow, and this resulted in a pretty imprecise mounting on the machine, in particular since the end castings are used for a reference in setting router depth for through dovetails, this was unacceptable! The assembled aluminum castings were bowed both across the length and width. This was caused by the machining, or lack thereof, of the two halves of the aluminum castings on each end of the template. The steel bars did not fit into these halves when assembled, and the castings are held apart, and actually bowed. The interior of these castings had some casting nipples still in place where they mate with the steel bars, and the castings themselves were actually deformed in every direction by the factory assembly against the bars which didn't fit. I first had to re-flatten the castings in a precision vise, and then machine the bar mating surfaces inside the castings flat. With several trials of reassembly and additional machining, I was able to reassemble the ends of the templates to a uniform thickness, and surface flatness. I reduced the nonlinearity of the template to less than .010" in all directions, which was quite an improvement.
2. The mounting bars (where the template and stabilizer bar are mounted) were not parallel to each other or the horizontal surface of the jig. The right was 0.1 degrees up at the outside end, and the left was up 0.4 degrees. The left bar outer tip was about .07" higher than the right side mounting bar! This resulted in an inability to flatten the template against a piece of wood, and having the stabilizer bar up above the template fingers surface by about .010" on the left side, which interfered with the router base making contact with the template on the left side. I had to remove the mounting bar on the left side and shim it to become parallel to the right side bar and the horizontal table of the jig. That leveled the stabilizer bar and made it parallel to the template in both possible mountings of the template.
3. The stabilizer bar itself was also bowed across its length about .020". I elected to simply flatten it against a 36" lapping table. I also added a pair of UHMW strips on the mounting surfaces of the stabilizer where it meets the mounting bar, and the result is an easier assembly and a stabilizer which is parallel to the template and about .005" below the template surface throughout its length. It now provides more reliable router base support which will help eliminate cutting errors caused by router tipping near the ends of the template fingers.
4. I was a bit disappointed that the machine came with such a limited number of stops and router bits. I need it to cut some through dovetails in a cabinet carcase with .875" thick material, and I can't use it without purchasing extra stops and bits. Guess what.. those accessories aren't even available yet!
5. The through dovetail router bit depth setting bracket was not mounted correctly on the machine frame. It mounting screws were actually only partly in the bracket, and I had to remount the bracket correctly, and reset the depth stops. Of course, since they had been originally set with the bowed template at the factory, I would have needed to do this anyway, but it still shouldn't have happened.
You may have guessed that I'm a perfectionist when it comes to these tools, but its worth it in the end. Once these things are set up properly the results are worth it. A precise joint every time with little effort. Those jig and template errors of up to .070" I corrected are pretty noticable in an assembled dovetail joint! A little attention to detail now will save a great deal of frustration in the future. Of course this degree of inaccuracy is common to almost every woodworking machine I have ever purchased. I've ended up tuning them all. The factory assembly is rarely as accurate as I can achieve myself, and they end up out of alignment due to shipping as well. Buy some digital calipers, some machinests squares, a depth gauge and some precision straight edges and start looking at your machinery. You'll find a lot of room for improvement!
In order to fully utilize its capabilities, you'll need to shell out a few hundred $$ extra to buy all the other stops and router bits. The extra jig fingers for the small variable through and half blind joints is over $200 by itself!
I've done a test cut with some 3/4" maple scrap, and the result was very good. The joint was a bit too tight, but that is easily corrected by a 30 second adjustment to the factory setting on the stop. I've uploaded some photos to show my first test cut. The pins and tails are about .020" proud of corner surfaces, and that is how many people will want to use it. I'll probably adjust it for a more flush fit that will require less sanding, and preserve the assembled dimensions of the pieces I've cut.
Overall I'm still glad that I got this jig, since it is quite a bit nicer and more capable than anything else on the market (including the leigh), but the steep price after including all the accessories I'll need, and seemingly endless delays in getting the jig and accesories, are annoying.
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