Leigh DT Jig Question

[Michael O'Sullivan]

I am making a stepstool where the two base pieces are going to be trapezoidal -- i.e. they are wider at the bottom than at the top.

I would like to dovetail the top step into them with the jig, but am having a lot of trouble getting everything to line up.

The bases are rectangular right now -- I will cut the tapers into them later.

Is there a clever way to make sure the top gets lined up correctly? -- it is narrower than the base pieces, so I cannot align it with the side like normal. Is it just a matter of putting a spacer in?

[John Lucas]

Michael,
I dont see the problem. Leaving the pieces as rectangles does make it simplr to clamp and the visualize. But other than that, the two boards meet as a straight joint. I presume you are talking about thru dovetails, so setup should be straight forward same as normal box construction.
You say " it is narrower than the base pieces, so I cannot align it with the side like normal." I dont see that. While it wil be tapered, the actual joint should be similar dimensions. If they arent, I woulld line them up arbitrarily at the front corner...that is the one you will be graded on. BUT, unless I am really missing something, both edges of the joint should be the same length.

[Jim Kountz]

Yeah Im not sure Im understanding what your trouble is. Maybe a couple pics??

[Michael O'Sullivan]

I don't have any pix handy, but the issue is this: the top piece (with the tails) is about 8" wide. The base pieces (with the pins) are 10" wide (and when the tapers are cut, they will be 10" at the bottom and 8" on the top). The top piece needs to be centered on the two bases, so unless I am missing something, it needs to be "indented" an inch from the side of the jig. The last time I tried this, I "indented" it manually using a spacer, but the fit on the DTs was not very good.

I am not sure if this is because my spacer was not quite the right size, or if I just messed something else up in cutting the DTs.

I hope that is a little clearer.

[Tom Davis]

Michael:

Make all your pieces the same size (10"), cut your DTs and then rip to your final dimensions.

Tom