Years ago I had a 12" Harbor Freight. It was horrible. Got rid of it and
bought a 24" Omnijig. Marvelous machine, but it was so heavy and big that I
rarely used it. My shop is very small, without a proper work bench, so the
Omnijig just didn't fit. Ebayed it for more than I paid for it.

Now I am looking for a new jig. I am thinking of the new Leigh. Issue is
12" or 18". I am not sure I will ever need more than the 12", but it I do I
will sure feel silly for not getting the 18".

So, my question is how often do you make dovetails that won't fit on the
12"?

"Wade Lippman" wrote in message
...
Years ago I had a 12" Harbor Freight. It was horrible. Got rid of it and
bought a 24" Omnijig. Marvelous machine, but it was so heavy and big that
I rarely used it. My shop is very small, without a proper work bench, so
the Omnijig just didn't fit. Ebayed it for more than I paid for it.

Now I am looking for a new jig. I am thinking of the new Leigh. Issue is
12" or 18". I am not sure I will ever need more than the 12", but it I do
I will sure feel silly for not getting the 18".

So, my question is how often do you make dovetails that won't fit on the
12"?

One of the big advantages to the wider 24 inch jig that has infinitely
adjustable spacers is that if you happen to be building boxes that have
through DT's and they will be setting next to each other it is important
that the DT's match each other, from one box to the next. Because with
adjustable spacers that afford that unique spacing of DT's, the front boards
that show will tend to have irregular spaced DT's unless you set up a mirror
image of those finger spacers on the opposite end of the jig. If you are
cutting through DT's on a 8" tall box and only have a 12" jig you will have
to make all right hand cuts first, set the jig back up and then make all the
left hand cuts if you want the look to be symmetrical.
Ideally the jig should be twice as long as the board is tall when cutting
symmetrical through DT's

I have had one time that I needed longer than 12". I use the porter cable 12
inch model and it has always been fine. Even for the one time I needed more
that 12".
I'll send a pic of the project that needed longer than 12 inches. In my case
I did a little arithmetic for length of two pieces and then joined them with
bisquits then used the through dovetails as normal. Worked great.

Thom


"Leon" wrote in message
t...

"Wade Lippman" wrote in message
...
Years ago I had a 12" Harbor Freight. It was horrible. Got rid of it
and
bought a 24" Omnijig. Marvelous machine, but it was so heavy and big
that
I rarely used it. My shop is very small, without a proper work bench,
so
the Omnijig just didn't fit. Ebayed it for more than I paid for it.

Now I am looking for a new jig. I am thinking of the new Leigh. Issue
is
12" or 18". I am not sure I will ever need more than the 12", but it I
do
I will sure feel silly for not getting the 18".

So, my question is how often do you make dovetails that won't fit on the
12"?

One of the big advantages to the wider 24 inch jig that has infinitely
adjustable spacers is that if you happen to be building boxes that have
through DT's and they will be setting next to each other it is important
that the DT's match each other, from one box to the next. Because with
adjustable spacers that afford that unique spacing of DT's, the front
boards
that show will tend to have irregular spaced DT's unless you set up a
mirror
image of those finger spacers on the opposite end of the jig. If you are
cutting through DT's on a 8" tall box and only have a 12" jig you will
have
to make all right hand cuts first, set the jig back up and then make all
the
left hand cuts if you want the look to be symmetrical.
Ideally the jig should be twice as long as the board is tall when cutting
symmetrical through DT's

Leon wrote:

One of the big advantages to the wider 24 inch jig that has infinitely
adjustable spacers is that if you happen to be building boxes that have
through DT's and they will be setting next to each other it is important
that the DT's match each other, from one box to the next.

He's looking at the new Leigh superjigs. All three sizes have
adjustable spacing.

The Leigh D4R is the next level up, and also has adjustable pin size.

Chris

"Wade Lippman" wrote in message

So, my question is how often do you make dovetails that won't fit on the
12"?

Simply get the biggest one you can afford. You will almost certainly find
that at some point a 12" will indeed be too small.

Doing casework on things like blanket/hope chests, or a dovetailed case for
a big chest of drawers, can even quickly exceed an 18" capacity. My old D4
has a 24" capacity that has come in handy more times than you would have
thought.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 8/8/07
KarlC@ (the obvious)

On Fri, 07 Sep 2007 14:36:20 GMT, "Wade Lippman"
wrote:

Years ago I had a 12" Harbor Freight. It was horrible. Got rid of it and
bought a 24" Omnijig. Marvelous machine, but it was so heavy and big that I
rarely used it. My shop is very small, without a proper work bench, so the
Omnijig just didn't fit. Ebayed it for more than I paid for it.

Your first mistake. You have to acquire large size tools in
quantities that make it inevitable that you expand your shop. :~)

But I know what you mean about the Omnijig weight. I keep mine on a
permanent base, hanging on the wall, and I'm afraid it might cave in
the wall some day.

Now I am looking for a new jig. I am thinking of the new Leigh. Issue is
12" or 18". I am not sure I will ever need more than the 12", but it I do I
will sure feel silly for not getting the 18".

So, my question is how often do you make dovetails that won't fit on the
12"?
Twice so far, on the same project, box joints for a cradle and sliding
tapered dovetails for the same cradle.

Wade Lippman wrote:

So, my question is how often do you make dovetails that won't fit on the
12"?

Think dual setups.

You can save lots of time by being able to do left and right setups in
one pop.

"Chris Friesen" wrote in message
...
Leon wrote:

One of the big advantages to the wider 24 inch jig that has infinitely
adjustable spacers is that if you happen to be building boxes that have
through DT's and they will be setting next to each other it is important
that the DT's match each other, from one box to the next.

He's looking at the new Leigh superjigs. All three sizes have adjustable
spacing.

The Leigh D4R is the next level up, and also has adjustable pin size.

Chris

Correct, and sorry, I was referring more to the 24" length making it easier
to cut both ends of a board if the board is more than 1/2 the width of the
jig.

"B A R R Y" wrote in message
...
Wade Lippman wrote:

So, my question is how often do you make dovetails that won't fit on the
12"?

Think dual setups.

You can save lots of time by being able to do left and right setups in one
pop.


YEAH! In on sentence you summed up my paragraph.

Leon wrote:
"B A R R Y" wrote in message
...
Wade Lippman wrote:
So, my question is how often do you make dovetails that won't fit on the
12"?
Think dual setups.

You can save lots of time by being able to do left and right setups in one
pop.


YEAH! In on sentence you summed up my paragraph.

The real time savings is not accidentally cutting two rights or lefts.

At least, that's I've heard... G

On Fri, 07 Sep 2007 12:21:35 -0500, Leon wrote:

You can save lots of time by being able to do left and right setups in one
pop.


YEAH! In on sentence you summed up my paragraph.

Agreed. But that implies some volume. If the OP is a hobbyist making a
single drawer or two for a small project, it won't help much.

If the OP would tell us the kind of work he does, it would be easier to
suggest a jig. In my case, I do so few dovetails that a simple fixed jig
is all I need. If I need variable ones, I'll do them by hand+bandsaw.

On Fri, 07 Sep 2007 16:19:19 -0700, Larry Blanchard
wrote:

Agreed. But that implies some volume. If the OP is a hobbyist making a
single drawer or two for a small project, it won't help much.

You'd be surprised.

On a chest, buffet, or sideboard with 2-3 different drawer sizes, with
some version of half blind on the front and through DT's in the back..

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