I need a dovetail jig?

[JimD]

I'm sorry that Jeff got frustrated by his HF jig but I still recommend it. I wonder if, after mastering his PC, he could not go back and make the HF work. There are only a couple things unique about the PC that makes it a bit more of the challenge. One is the bar that runs the long direction of the jig for controlling how deep into the front of the drawer you cut. Even the Woodtek instructions are not great for this aspect but once you've cut dovetails successfully, I would think you could see what is going on. I like this feature because I like to use baltic birch plywood that is a bit less than 1/2 inch thick. With my other jig, that causes issues because the minimum thickness it handles is 1/2 inch. I don't know how well the PC handles this. The other thing you may not have to mess with on the PC is the offset of the front to the side. The offset is always 1/2 the dovetail spacing. From looking at the instructions, it appears this is fixed on the PC. This limits flexibility to use alternate template guides but also eliminates one of the things you have to set on the HF. I had used a couple other dovetail jigs when I got my HF so I never had much of a problem. I have a friend that purchased an equivalent jig and got frustrated and gave up on it. My friend is pretty mechanically inclined so maybe I underestimate this drawback of the PC and similar jigs. I need to invite my friend over sometime to see how it is supposed to work. I've made several dozen drawers with my HF and once you understand how it works, it is a very good dovetail jig. Clamping is quick and solid. Jig is all metal with very few exceptions. Should last forever - all for $30.

Jim

[Jeffrey Schronce]

I'm sorry that Jeff got frustrated by his HF jig but I still recommend it. m

I had a pretty extensive thread on the HF jig when I went through that ordeal. I attribute 100% of the failure to me. I spent many hours working with the thing and never got acceptible joints. I am sure some of that came from the intense frustration I had with the unit. All your stars have to line up right, IMHO to get that jig to work and that is where I think the PC jig comes shining through. It comes with the bushings. There are no guesses of the depth of the bushing you have to buy. The bits are included - there is no guessing on what degree router bit you should use. The manual included with the PC jig, the instructions on the jig and the website provide tons of information and help. With the HF you have to go get a manual from another company to remotely understand the jig. These are things that some folks have no problem dealing with, but in my case it just wasn't worth it. I bought the PC 4212 and it worked out of the box. First half blind DT looked ok, 1 minor adjustment and out came a perfect DT. 20 minutes for my first DT with the PC. Through DT's took about an hour to perfect.
The PC 4212 can be bought on sale for around $100 if you catch a good Amazon deal. It includes jig, half blind template, through template, bushings, bits. If you took the HF jig at $30 and added $20 for through template (can they be bought that cheap including shipping?), $25 for the bits and $5 for the bushings you are close to the price of what you get with the PC 4212.
But, again, I attribute my failure with the HF jig to myself.

[kwgeorge]

Well Jeff, I guess I just don’t need engraved instructions. As I said I bought it and used it the next day with out issue. I also like that I am not limited in the width of my drawers and what not by a fixed machined template where I have to design my furniture around a jig.

Ken

[TheRic]

Try:www.stots.com Ingenious jig...incredibly low price. You use it to make duplicate jigs to fit whatever size project you're working on. I love mine!

Not trying to hijack the thread, but I'm also looking into getting a dovetail jig. The Stots jig looks interesting, and cheap ( I like that part!!!). Has anyone else had any pros / cons with this, or something similar?

[Jeffrey Schronce]

Not trying to hijack the thread, but I'm also looking into getting a dovetail jig. The Stots jig looks interesting, and cheap ( I like that part!!!). Has anyone else had any pros / cons with this, or something similar?

I have never used the Stots jig. It got a lot of heat over at woodnet (what doesn't?). Basically you get a piece of plastic "TemplateMaster" which allows you to make your own DT jigs. The kit is $83.80 so I don't see it as being very cheap. If you have the called for flush cutting bit and DT bit you can get the TemplateMaster and the CD-Rom for $50.00. Then consider all your time building jigs, etc I just can't see how this system would be all that feasible.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

Well Jeff, I guess I just don’t need engraved instructions. As I said I bought it and used it the next day with out issue. I also like that I am not limited in the width of my drawers and what not by a fixed machined template where I have to design my furniture around a jig.

Ken

I believe there are some big differences between the 4212 and the older 4112 that you reference. In fact I don't think it even has engraved instructions .
Veiwing the instructions online, one can see that the 4200 series can be used to make unlimited length dovetails.
If someone was giving away DT jigs I would get the 24" Leigh without a question. Regardless of the learning curve, I believe it is a superior jig.

[drumpriest]

Jeff, I agree, thus my post. If you are building furniture art, get the Leigh, if you are building kitchen cabinets, get the PC, that's my take on it. The rockler and it's clones are perfectly servicable if a little hard to setup. Some of that has been now handled by the rockler setup jig they made, but it's still easier to setup the PC.

If you are doing fixed spaced dovetails, why not get the jig that makes that easy? Especially considering that the price difference isn't huge. Personally, I would go for the Leigh, but that's my application.