Dovetail jigs

[bigarm]

I have a Rockler dovetail jig that I am going to use.  I tried it and forgot to put the bushing in the router (1400) and destroyed the jig.  My replacement came yesterday so I am going to try again this weekend (this time WITH the bushing).  Do you have any words of wisdom?

 

[squawkin]

I made a bubu on my new LEIGH RTJ400. I forgot to block a tail opening and routed into a plastic stop at the back. Getting old sucks! [mad]

 

[Lou in DE]

I would venture to guess that most first time dovetail jig users have a story to tell  [big grin]

Mine is that I had the bit at the wrong height and proceeded to put a dovetail profile into the template - fortunately
I noticed it pretty quickly and it didn't destroy the template but every time I use it I get a reminder to take things
slowly and check / re-check everything.

Good luck!

Lou

 

[Billedis]

Not sure what type jig that is, however, for a good tutorial, check out Marc Sommerfeld's video on the Katy jig, his dovetail jig.  May give you some insights.  Bill

 

[TomGadwa1]

Be patient and try some practice runs with some scrap materials. Remember "Hurry up, mess up!!!

 

[bigarm]

Thanks for the suggestions.  I will check out that video Billedis

 

[HowardH]

I have had a few including the Leigh Superjig, the Jointech router table setup and most recently, the Leigh RTJ 400.  It's easily the easiest to use and get great results with just a little practice.  I just have to find more projects to use it.

 

[JimD]

When you get the bit height right, save yourself some time for the next time by making a U-shaped piece of wood with a screw in the center so you can set it to the right height and then duplicate it easily next time.  My HF jig with Grizzly template guide sits on a box of Baltic birch plywood with a dovetailed Baltic birch plywood to hold my setup jigs.  I can eyeball the side stops pretty well at this point but I really like the height jig.  I can normally put my pieces in and cut good dovetails the first time.  But I cut the pieces an inch or more long so I can cut off a bad joint, just in case.