Ordered first dovetail jig

[mark]

Greetings All, I was waffling between the PC 4212, the new Omnijig and Leigh jig. After thinking for a while, I went with the 4212 for $169 inc shipping from Amazon. I went this route because I mainly need it for drawer boxes, nothing fancy. I must admit after watching the video (featuring Norm) showing the Omni in action, I almost ordered one. But I thought about the price difference and couldn't see the $300 more for the Omni. I know it does a lot for the money and is probably a good deal, it's just more than I need now. Maybe after a while I'll see limitations of the 4212 and eventually upgrade, but for now I think I made the right choice. I'll post my first time using it for anyone else thinking about a DT jig. Mark

[Leon]

If you have never made DT's with a jig before a simple one is better to learn on.

Having said that, the biggest draw back to the fixed spacing on the 4212 is that your projects, the drawers that you mentioned, will have to be made to the size that the jig dictates. For proper beginnings and endings of your DT joints you will be restricted to joint lengths that are divisible by the distances between the fixed fingers on the jig. The problem with this is that you will have to design you cabinet drawer openings heights around the height of the drawer which is dictated by the jig. With adjustable finger spacing jigs you simply adjust the fingers to the width of the drawer side that was cut to fit the cabinet opening. Basically the more simple fixed finger jigs are a case of the "tail wagging the dog". Something to think about.

[Dave]

I have a Leigh D4 and like it a lot. I just purchased the new Prazzi Chessmate jig and played around with it. It only cuts through dovetails, but is a no-brainer to use. There's no limit to the length of boards or spacing you can use with the jig.

[Pat Barber]

You will wanted read my earlier post about my trials and tribulations with the 4212 jig.

It is a nice jig with the "correct" router bits.

mark wrote: