The little brother to the D4? It looks like they're taking a shot at the
Akeda and the Omni's. Just wondering if its "the same as the D4" in every
aspect, 'cept for the missing 8"?

Now on a tight budget. Would like a Leigh, can't afford a D4.
Was looking at the Akeda, but would prefer a Leigh - hence my curiosity.
Anyone have some hands-on time with the Lil' Leigh?

Thanks!

I have the d4. It looks like the d4 can handle thicker boards. So
it's more than just the width. I'd say the d1600 is good if all you'll
ever do is drawers. If you want to make things like blanket chests,
you'll probably want the d4. Also, the d4 has the other attachments
like the specialty joints and the mortise and tennon attachment. I
don't have any of those. They seem too expensive to me. But swmbo
likes the bear's ear thingies and far be it from me to stand in the way
of any tool requests from my wife.

If the akeda and d1600 were available when I got my d4, I may have
chosen them instead.

One thing you should remember is that dust collection on the d4 (and
probably d1600) really sucks. Leigh sells this router attachment which
I have. It's so-so, probably better than not having it. It makes the
router klunky though since the hose attaches to the router.

The akeda has a better dust collection setup. The sawdust tends to
want to shoot directly at you. And on the akeda, there's a part of the
jig that catches that and funnels it out the bottom to the DC. The
clamp on the front of the d4 doesn't really allow that. I have plans
to make a hinged box out of plexi, with a 4" DC hose on the side that's
held in place with a magnet and swings out of the way to get to the
clamp.

I know d4s show up on ebay all the time. Also, I think there are
stores like woodcraft that carry them and have sales from time to time.
You might be able to get a deal.

brian

"brianlanning" wrote in
oups.com:

I know d4s show up on ebay all the time. Also, I think there are
stores like woodcraft that carry them and have sales from time to time.
You might be able to get a deal.


Thanks Brian for the feedback!