I have a Porter Cable Omnijig 24″ model 7116, and all of the templates that go with it. The joint I make most often is the 1/2″ inch half-blind dovetail. Over the years I have found that once the right settings are achieved, the best thing to do is to leave the template in place, as well as leave the router bit in the router. Of course this means one router is dedicated, and all the other templates cannot be used.
So I thought I would buy another Omnijig, and use the second one for the other templates that I already have at hand. It turns out that now they only sell it with two templates (1/2″ half blind dovetails, and adjustable through dovetails) both of which I have. So I could buy it for $350 ($400 less $50 promo at Amazon) and simply put those templates aside. Or, do something else. I am interested in and would welcome thoughts in this regard.
Replies
Hi Alfie,
A few months ago, when I was shopping for a jig, I spent some time on ebay and the 'for sale' sections of several WW forums. The PC Omni came up rather often, some near new.
No sense buying what you don't need!
Rennie
PS. I found a D4 in near new condition with a full set of unused Leigh Valley bits for the D4 for under $400.
Rennie
A man is a fool if he drinks before he reaches the age of 50, and a fool if he doesn't afterward.
Frank Lloyd Wright
Find a used one. Post here (in the classified section) to see if anyone wants to sell theirs.
Ebay has a 7116 bidding now at $199. Wait until it's down to 10 minutes left and bid $250...you might win. If not, be patient and wait until the next one comes to ebay.
Rennie, Mumda - thanks for your input.
My Stanley dovetail jig came with an adjustable depth gauge that I could use to set up the router bit depth again. So I use it whenever I need to set up the router for the dovetail jig.
The jig is just a U shaped piece of metal and a small bolt down the middle with a locking wing nut. Once the original router bit depth was properly set then I could adjust the depth gauge for when I needed to set up the router again.
Thanks. I have often thought of making a depth gauge out of wood, just haven't got around to it yet. Perhaps the next time time I use it I will.
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