Any comments about the Leigh D1600?

[Patrick Conroy]

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!

[brianlanning]

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

[Patrick Conroy]

"brianlanning" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Thanks Brian for the feedback!