Harbor Freight Dovetail Jig -- $29.99

[ssmith1627]

Looks like HF has the dovetail jig on sale again. I think I'll pick up one tonight. Almost can't go wrong at that price. Gonna try that 20% off coupon as well.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=34102

I think it was mentioned here already that there's a better manual out there for it. So I'm going to go searching for that now.

Steve

[gychang]

dovetail jig any good?

anyone used this?, any comment or review?

Looks like HF has the dovetail jig on sale again. I think I'll pick up one tonight. Almost can't go wrong at that price. Gonna try that 20% off coupon as well.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=34102

I think it was mentioned here already that there's a better manual out there for it. So I'm going to go searching for that now.

Steve

[tfischer]

It's a good jig with terrible instructions. Search the archive for links to a much better instruction set, and the jig will work VERY well.

Excellent value for the money.

-Tim

[jgscott987]

Great, with some reservations

This is a great jig, and is the same one Rockler used to sell. Unfortunately, template that came with mine was very rough and essentially unuseable. I smoothed it out with sand paper, but ended up taking off too much material and now my dovetails don't fit tightly.

I've ordered another template from Rockler for $14. still all in all a good deal on a good jig.

[Lee4847]

HF dovetails

I have a HF jig and also found that the template was unuseable. They cast the aluminum and didn't machiene the fingers. I went and bought a Rockler template and Found that the Rockler template was about 2 inches longer on each end. It had the same number of fingers! Even though the HF jig says it will do 12 inch boards with the offset necessary it is more like 11 inches. Also the Rockler jig has one stop on the right that wraps down over the front providing the exact 1/2 inch offset. Another consideration is that the Rockler includes a bit and collet. If I had it to do over I would wait on the rockler to go on sale. With the cost of the bit, collett and guide I have more in the HF Jig that I bought last year on sale.

[zootroy]

I have used it to make some nice tight dovetails. I posted some notes on it about a month ago. Do a search for "Dovetail Notes" and you should find it. The woodstock manual is a must.

[ssmith1627]

I picked this up last night while it was still on sale. Got a dovetail bit today -- didn't dawn on me that I'd need a 1/4" shank bit instead of the 1/2" shank bit that I already had from Holbren.

Gonna try to give it a try this weekend with some scrap pieces to see what results I get. I'll post some pictures of my results ......if they turn out ok ! haha

Steve

[psal2]

I have a better manual (Not HF but looks just like it) at home in PDF, PM me with an email and I will send it later tonight after work (around 10PM).

[Stormbringer]

Got a dovetail bit today -- didn't dawn on me that I'd need a 1/4" shank bit instead of the 1/2" shank bit that I already had from Holbren.

Does anybody know if that's true for the Porter Cable? I know they supply their own hard to come by dovetail bit, but is it 1/4" or 1/2" shank

Sorry about going OT.

Thanks,
Greg

[jAngiel]

Porter Cables ship with 1/2" shank bits.

[ssmith1627]

I have a PC router and the guide bushing for the base. But the 7/16ths guide bushing won't work with a 1/2" shank bit. So I had to pick up that 1/4" shank bit -- which it clearly talks about in the manual for this thing. It just hadn't clicked with me until I started putting things together.

Hope to try it out tonight or tomorrow.

Steve

[Jeffrey Schronce]

I note that Jet is selling an identical jig for $48.99 on amazon. It's the same color and everything!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...lance&n=228013

[JimD]

The HF template on my jig does not look pretty but I found the joints it made were fine. I have since bought a 7/16 template from Grizzly that fit the HF jig well. It is machined and thus looks nicer but the joints are no better than with the HF jig.

Jim

[Al R.]

Looks like HF has the dovetail jig on sale again. I think I'll pick up one tonight. Almost can't go wrong at that price. Gonna try that 20% off coupon as well.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=34102

I think it was mentioned here already that there's a better manual out there for it. So I'm going to go searching for that now.

Steve

____


Hi,
I have the Harbor Freight (Central Machinery actually) jig for some 8 yrs, and believe me never had the time (because of not knowing anybody close to have it, not any good instruction manual reachable, etc) to use it. But lately I’ve seen many smarts guys saying that “everything” in HF is junk, so I decided to look for a manual and I found it pretty easily. In Grizzly website under Dovetail Jig D2796 Operating Manual you can download the complete and very clear manual on PDF file or HTLM. It is the same Jig as mine at least. Great!
So, now I had to proof that it actually works (I’m going to include pictures here). I tried first, before getting the Manual, and the result (using also scrap pieces of treated wood) was not exactly as I wanted. So after I got the Manual first I build a base with two scrap pieces of plywood that I glued together, then I read the whole Manual and follow the instructions step by step. Got two scrap pieces of some yellow pine…and excellent results!
As you see in the pictures this is just scrap pieces of wood. If it was a real project just by using the plane once or twice over the dovetail you remove any disparity, but even without touching it after routing you can see how good it performed. I added two clamps over the template just to secure it better off over the stock.

[Mr__Bill]

Thanks for the post with the pictures. Good to know the manual is so easy to get. Grizzly does do a good job with documentation.

I am not sure just what the two red C clamps are doing seems like the screws there already hold the guide down.


Bill, over here on the other ocean