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Leon
 
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Default Help! Leigh Dovetail Jig

Ok, with any jig that is this style, if your tails are being crushed during
assembly, you are cutting too deep. For looser fitting joints make a
shallower cut. Too loose, cut deeper.

The problem is that you are cutting too deep and this makes the slots too
narrow. If you raise the bit to cut shallower the slots will widen and the
tails will be narrower. When you get it just right always use this depth of
cut for "this" bit. If you buy another bit of the same size, start with
this depth setting and adjust from there.

And by the way... as you know now, you cannot reroute blind dove tails.
Once cut, that's it. Work on scraps until the fit is right.

"Mike in Idaho" wrote in message
...
Hello,

I'm working on an end table right now and I am going to do half blind on

the
front of the drawer and through on the rear. Anyway, I messed around with
some scrap to figure out how to use the jig (just bought it a few weeks

ago)
and the scrap came out great (first try on HB and 3rd try on TD). Problem
is, I cut my first HB for the actual drawer yesterday (both tail pieces

and
one side of the front for the pins) and they don't fit. The only
adjustments you can make according to the book is the depth of fit (too
shallow or too deep -- you move the template in our out to compensate).

But
that's not my problem, when I start to set the tails in the pin sockets
(excuse my misuse of terminology if I've botched that) the tails get

crushed
going in (their just a bit too wide). But I've looked through the book

and
considered what I can change and I can't think of a thing. I even put the
pieces back in the jig and ran the router over them again to see if

there'd
be any new wood cut -- nope, the bit didn't even touch anything. Ugh. I
didn't mess with the fingers once they were set and flipped them over for
the pin side and that worked fine.

Help!! Other than paring the tails down with my chisel (not interested in
that really) I can't think of how to fix this or more importantly what

went
wrong. Anyone with experience that can point out my mistake would be
greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Mike