Leigh Dovetail Jig Personal Review

I'll also say that while I've made projects over the years, I really
got "into" it August.... onto the jig...

Out of the box I put the jig together in about 45 minutes. Excellent
instructions. I didn't find one mistake in the whole thing. You can
tell that you're paying for great engineering and machining on this
thing. All the parts went together without a hitch. Nothing
misaligned, everything went together smoothly.

I then watched the instructional video. Helpful as to see what's
possible with the jig. I then went through the manual. While it
appears to be overwhelming (160 or so pages), it really isn't. Once
you understand the scales used, you can jump to the section that
you're concerned with and get to work.

You start out by aligning the stops. Instead of milling up some wood,
making sure those are square, I just used by trusty square that I
bought with my TS-Aligner Jr. It was a snap to set the stops.

Time to make some dovetails. Milled up some boards, and went through
their step by step instructions for through dovetails. It was a
snap, even for someone like me with limited router experience. I like
to use the router in a table whenever possible since I'm still getting
used to using it by hand.

After you cut the dovetails for the first time, you'll probably find
out that they're cut so tight they won't fit together. No problem.
Adjust the "fingers" so they're a little further away from you, and
this makes the pass with the router take a little more stock away on
the pins. It took me a couple of adjustments to get the right fit as
I wasn't sure how much to adjust after the first trial fitting.

Once you have it adjusted, viola, they came out perfect. I was amazed
at the jig as much as I amazed myself they came out so nice!

Half-blind DT:

Went through the step by step process, and they came out very nice.
More setup and test cuttings are required with half-blind since you
basically get one shot to get the fit right (you can't sneak up on the
fit like you can with through dovetails). But once it's set, I jumped
right into my project and proceeded to make 4 drawers in about an
hour. Perfect fit. It actually took longer to mill up the pieces and
cut them to size than to cut the dovetails.

I haven't tried any of the fancier setups such as half-blind which are
rabbited, or inlayed dovetails, but if the standard dovetails are any
indication, these should be a breeze to do!

Note that I bought the jig from Lee Valley. They were the lowest
price I could find at the time ($340).

About the only complaint is that I wish they would have included some
standard spacers used for larger dovetails (maybe some plastic ones at
1/4" increments). You need to put a 1/4" sq. long bar between the
fingers when the gap between them is more than 1/8" or so. I cut some
up with some hardboard, but then you need to make sure they're a tight
fit. That was kinda a hassle. If anyone has any suggestions for
this, let me know.

.

Thanks for the review!!! It's posts like this that make us newbies on the
wreck appreciative.
Before plunking down $350, it's nice to hear from someone with real world
experience.
Thanks

How long is long? Keys (as in keys for motor/pulleys) are a handy gadget to
have around the shop. Very accurate and available in assorted sizes. Only
a couple of inches long though.
Ed

I recommend using the 8 mm-shank cutters over the stock 1/4"-shank cutters.
It might just be me, but they seem to work better.

-JBB

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"J.B. Bobbitt" <jbob...@nospamno.pacbell.net> wrote in message
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I use my router brass set up blocks to set the finger spacing. They
come as a set and are 1/16, 1/8, 3/16, 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 inch. Great
for setting up the dovetail jig, router, and table saw. If I need
wider spacing I also have a cheap set of machinist adjustable
parallels. A set of these will give you any dimension you need up to
about 4 inches. You should be able to find a set from H F or Grizzly
for less than $20 or so.
When setting up the Leigh I usually use an odd number of tails,
setting the outside fingers to the board width then set the then set
the spacing of the next set of fingers to some convient spacing like
1/4 inch. Then let the spacing on the center most pin just go to
whatever is left. This works great for drawers.
J l

I talked to the Leigh guy at a ww show, couple of years ago. His advice,
slow down and listen carefully to the cut. If you can hear a difference
when you are cutting from not, your going too fast, so slow down more.

Cheers,
Eric

Well, the bars are used to fill the space between the fingers when
cutting the tails in a half blind mode (I believe that's when you use
them). The fingers have a 1/4" slot in them, and you need to cut the
bars to whatever length it takes to fill the gap. The problem is that
they need to fit tight into those slots so they don't move around.

>What do you do to fill the space between the fingers when cutting

I have always used 1/4 brass keyway stock. The brass is a little
harder to find but steel will work just as well. Just don't pick up
your router at the wrong time.
JL