Replies

1. 
   papanick | Aug 31, 2005 09:10pm | #1

   They're based upon a single template guide that guides your bushing and bit.

   If you're router isn't perfectly concentric on the bushing, you'll get slop.

   If the bushing isn't exactly the stated size, ot the router bit isn't (after a sharpening or two), you get slop.

   The clamp mechanisms are not all that secure: if it moves, you get slop.

   The setup is absolutely crucial, because you have 4 different stops to set, and they have to be dead square and parallel (sometimes they don't stay that way. (took one of my 1st class cabinetmakers almost 6 hours one time)

   Every time you change material thickness, the jig may need to be reset. If you change the router setup, the jig may not be set right.

   All this being said. They do work. But what you save in $$, you lose in time. And they can be sloppy for no reason sometimes. Caveat emptor as they say.

   As with so many things, you get what you pay for I guess.

   The older I get, the better I was....

2. 
   rayjack | Aug 31, 2005 09:12pm | #2

   I bought a Trend dovetail Jig and returned it pretty quickly because I realised that it was so inflexible.  Unlike the expensive adjustable one (Leigh etc) the jig determines the size of timber you can use if you want to maintain the traditional half pin at each end, which after all is done for a purpose, whether it be aesthetic or practical.  For instance if you are dovetailing drawer sides on to the drawer front the height of your drawers must be calculated in advance to correspond with the pitch of the jig.  I would love a Leigh but they are just too expensive for me, so I continue to tell myself that I much prefer to cut my dovetails by hand! (Actually I do)

3. 
   dirtstirrer | Sep 01, 2005 05:30pm | #3

   RUN AWAY!!!

    

   Steve