What's the most practical way to mechanise dovetails?

[shed9]

Update on this, I managed to swag a D4R Pro on the bay of E for £200 in pristine condition.

The only slight downside is it is just the jig and template, no other bits. I ordered the D4R Pro upgrade kit (essentially the one for the non Pro kit) which has some of the missing parts so al good. Just need some guide bushes and I'm all set.

Will post results when all set. Just wanted to say thanks again for the help (albeit from a while ago). 

 

[jacko9]

Update on this, I managed to swag a D4R Pro on the bay of E for £200 in pristine condition.

The only slight downside is it is just the jig and template, no other bits. I ordered the D4R Pro upgrade kit (essentially the one for the non Pro kit) which has some of the missing parts so al good. Just need some guide bushes and I'm all set.

Will post results when all set. Just wanted to say thanks again for the help (albeit from a while ago). 

The VSR dust collector is a very good addition that collects about 95% of the dust and wood chips with the 36mm Festool Hose and my CT22.

https://www.leighjigs.com/vrs.php

Jack

 

[shed9]

Should have mentioned this before but yes that is definitely on my shopping list. Not sure if to get the VRS on its own or with the cutter package.

I assume the Leigh cutters are worth the cash?

 

[jacko9]

Should have mentioned this before but yes that is definitely on my shopping list. Not sure if to get the VRS on its own or with the cutter package.

I assume the Leigh cutters are worth the cash?

I have the Leigh cutters in 8mm and 1/2" but, the 1/4" shank is too small in my opinion.  I use the upspiral straight cutters from Leigh and I like the results better than using the straight edge cutters. I've never had a problem with the Leigh cutters and I have most of the sizes but, I would have saved a lot of money by buying the set of cutters instead of buying the a few at a time.

Jack

 

[fshanno]

Call me old fashioned, but I would say old dovetailing machines are the best way to make dovetails. Sure, the more modern dovetailing machines might be good - perhaps even better, but I bet they don't come cheap.

I have a dovetail machine that I have yet to use, but that's because I'm currently restoring it. I presume setup takes a little time, but once that's done, it's rock'n'roll!

Fun to watch but that beast would be utterly impractical in my garage shop.  My Leigh Superjig works into my scheme much better than the machine in the video.  Could you do a 10" deep drawer in two passes on that machine?  I don't think so.  For deep drawers my Superjig 18 is just about as fast.  And even on shallow drawers those extra two passes I have to do with my Leigh don't take only a tiny portion of the time in an over all project.

 

[Joncooper27]

WoodRat update —
I’m currently in discussions with the WoodRat inventor’s family regarding the future of the brand.
I’ve also opened conversations with Dictum in Germany about cutters and possible future supply in the DACH region.
It’s still early days and there’s work to do, but the aim would be to see whether the WoodRat can be brought back in a sensible and sustainable way.
Not quite ready to come out of hibernation yet — but watch this space.
If anyone would like to stay updated as things progress, feel free to drop me a message.

 

[Packard]

Cost-effective way to improve productivity:

Two jigs and two dedicated routers always left setup.

When I was making quite a number of dovetails, that is what I did.

Anytime I wanted to make a dovetail joint, I would saw the boards to width and length,, clamp the first board in the first jig and cut the dovetails with the first router. To cut the mating dovetails, I would do the same withe the second jig and the second router.

The biggest time consumer was the setups. I eliminated all of that.

I got the second Porter Cable jig and the second P-C 690 router on a deep discount. I don’t remember the price of the jig, but I got two routers (new, close outs) at Lowe’s for $50.00 each. Too cheap to pass up.

 

[Steve1]

I was recently watching Morgan Hurst on Youtube.
I thought it was pretty cool how he was using his Leigh Jig to cut dovetails --- as a holding fixture during marking.