New Kreg Pocket Hole Jig The K3

[Leon]

Look here for an interactive demo. Looks pretty well thought out.

[David]

I don't like the stock clamp jutting out at me, Leon. did you notice that?

Dave

[Leon]

Yeah I saw that. It appears to only stick out about 4". I doubt that I would be standing any closer than that. Plus, it has a soft cover. About

3 weeks ago I was holding a piece of 3' long quarter round that I had just milled. It was about 3/4" square to start. I ran it through my router table, turned around with it pointing out from me with one end pointing at my stomach and the other end aimed directly at the 2" wide edge of my work bench. Oddly the end of the quarter round squarely hit the front of the work bench and had the piece been pointed on my end it would have easily gone through me. I bounced back off of the stick and I still have a red spot. I can appreciate things sticking out. Ha.

[David]

You must have been wearing your lucky charm.

I think that Kreg should have the handle stick UP when it's locked because that's when you'll be leaning towards it with drill in hand.

I'm still unhappy with them for making a bunch of the drawer slide alignment tools not quite 90 degrees between the front plate and the slide holder. They said they had gotten a bunch of complaints all of a sudden on them. They sent me a new one which is exactly like the one I got at the local WW show. I fiddled with it for quite some time. I ended up putting progressively thicker layers of 3M blue tape on the horizontal member to elevate the rear of the slides so they wouldn't droop so much. They never called me back with a resolution. I wasted my money on that tool and the drawer holders which also aren't made accurately.

Except for the lack of versatility on stock thickness, I don't have an issues with the K2000. the K3 looks like it incorporates some good ideas, esp. DC. Drilling makes a mountain of a mess on and under my bench.

Dave

[Upscale]

Yes. That would be a problem for me considering I'd be operating the jig from a sitting position. I think it would have been better to have designed the jig so that it locks by pulling the handle down 90° with the handle in locked position pointing down to the floor.

[David]

You can bet they didn't use a focus group to comment on the design before it went into production. I see the same sort of shortsightedness of design from other small woodworking tool companies. I'm sure they turn a profit and laugh all the way to the bank, but it would be nice if they showed off their latest creation to a 3rd party for comments and suggestions before putting the item "out there".

Even LV has produced some poor designs and I have no idea who they show their new tools to before production. Luckily for us, they make plenty of super nice tools to more than make up for the occasional clunker. Wouldn't it be nice though, if everyone who bought last year's honing guide got a credit towards the purchase of the MKII?

Dave

[loutent]

Hi Dave,

I just bought the K2000 a couple of days ago. I am currently working on an entertainment center with a lot of face frames and some strange angles.

I am always a little behind the curve with something "new".

I only wish that I had bought this thing years ago. I don't know if it can be improved - I always hate the plastic look in a real tool - but it has been an awsome time-saver. My face frame joints have never been tighter with so little effort - plus I can screw them together and test fit before gluing.

I am sold on pocket screw technology.

Don't much care which way the clamp faces to tell you the truth.

Lou

[Scrub]

That suggestion was posted a while back. Robin Lee's reply was "Believe it or not - we discussed that here, but the only way we could do it, would be to pad the price so we'd have room to discount it."

[Upscale]

The solution would be obvious. When something new comes out on the market, wait a little while and look at user comments before buying one. Of course, not knowing that there's going to be a much better product out in near future, (like the LV MK II), abrogates that sentiment a bit. But, by far a large, it seems the sensible thing to do. Even so, the MK I is not a completely useless sharpening jig.

[Leon]

That does not seem unreasonable and while we ar wishing. Why not make it auto adjusting like a pair of ViceGrips. I hate having to readjust the plunger if the thickness of a plywood panel varies a bit.

You know I never have had a problem installing slides. I always lay the draw side of the slide on the work bench and attach it to the bottom side of the drawer and always lay the cabinet side of the slide on top of the face frame opening. I cut plywood spacers to stack on top of the bottom slide on the back end to keep sides parallel.

I have been using the K2 aluminum jig for a long time but it only works for centering in 3/4" stock.

[Swingman]

If you ever want to add to the convenience, get Kreg's flat plate and clamp that can mounted in a recess in your bench. Last bunch of FF's I built I sprung for one and speeded up the 'joining' process tremendously.

I recess mounted mine on a variation one of my plywood "i-beams"

which also allows me to easily clamp rails and stiles securely before torquing the pocket hole screws.

[Patriarch]

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

Those are pretty darned clever. I may allow myself to be 'inspired' by those.

Thanks!

Patriarch

[loutent]

I just checked it out. The one little gripe that I encountered with the Kreg jig was that it was sometime awkward trying to get the clamp in the right position - I usually propped up the FF on 2x4 scraps in order to get the clamp under it. I can see where that plate/clamp combo would speed things up quite a bit.

Thanks for the tip.

Lou

[David]

Leon, I've installed slides exactly the same way as you have. I was hoping (erroneously) that the Kreg would make the process faster and would be sufficiently accurate.

Dave

[Phisherman]

A agree. I won't be purchasing this tool until that handle points in another direction. Don't manufacturers test their new-fangled tools anymore?

[Leon]

Apparently not uh?

[David]

If they retool the molds and re-release the product so that a drawer slide will sit perfectly perpendicular to the face plate of the Kreg jig, THEN it will be a useful tool. Their selling point is that it allows for fast positioning of a drawer slide. The reality is that the slides tilt down at the rear.

Dave

[Leon]

How much do they tilt down? I wonder if that is to make the slides self closing and or at least to help prevent the slide from opening on its own. The only problem I can see is that the drawer fronts will not fit flush to the face frame.

[David]

they tilt down WAAY too far. Besides the tech support guy admitted they are having problems! He hasn't called me back with any solution other than for me to tweak the one I have. I had hoped that by now they would have addressed the issue properly by fixing the molds and sending out replacements.

Dave

[Patriarch]

David wrote in news: [e-mail]:

A gentle email to the Kreg product line manager, perhaps?

Patriarch