Porter Cable Omnijig

[Steve Costa]

I am seriously considering purchasing the PC 24" Omnijig. My major concern is does this jig produce tearout on through dovetails. Has anyone had significant enough experience with this jig to describe their experience with it?

Thanks for your help.

Steve

[Chip Lindley]

Tearout in through DTs should be a non-issue using sharp bits with the Omni Jig. Never had a problem with my Leigh D4. Don't try to hog off too much in one cut. Nibble at large dovetails until all stock is removed between pins and tails.

[Neil Brooks]

As a P-C 4212 user, I'd also say ... beware plywood. Notorious for tearout.

I've heard people recommend, and so have had luck trying, scoring the line at the level of the bottom of the DT before actually routing.

[Jeff Monson]

I own one, tearout on through dovetails is not an issue, works very well for them but is a pita to set up. Once setup it works well and is quick. Single pass 1/2 blinds are also tricky to setup but once again they are quick and accurate once setup. Variable spaced 1/2 blinds, for example 1/2" side stock and 3/4" front and backs are very hard, to impossible to setup on this jig, the manual suggests the wrong bushings. If I had the $500 to spend on a jig again, I would seriously consider a different jig. I would look really hard at a leigh or the akeda jig. I think their setup is far superior to the pc....but thats just my .02

[Steve Costa]

Good Morning,

Thank you all for your comments. I will take another look at the Akeda and Leigh as well as the PC. It seems that what ever I read regardless of the jig purchased the owners either love it to hate it. I suspect that in many cases it is based on the skill of woodworker.

FYI: As far as plywood is concerned I have tried that with my Keller jig with disasterous results. No amount of backing seemed to help.

So far I can only find one retailer in the US for the Akeda which gives me some cause for concern re: their financial stability or marketing program. Any suggestions on other sources would be welcome.

Steve

[Terry Sparks]

I'm a former owner of a Omnijig for a reason, they are a pita.

[Harley Lewis]

There is a reason the Leigh jig is considered the best out there, it just simply is. It does a great job with through, half blind and if a person is inclined you can do the isoloc dovetails like bears ears, clover etc.

[Mort Stevens]

I have the Leigh jig and both the old (16") and new (24") Omnijigs and they all have pros and cons. If I had to choose just one it's the new Omnijig because it's easier to set up and is overall faster because it cuts the pins and the tails at the same time and because of this arrangement tearout is eliminated. Also, a real timesaver is to leave the routers set up for dovetails once you get things set the way you like them. I have a number of Porter-Cable PC690 routers that are dedicated to a single task and the only reason I ever touch them to is replace a worn out bit.

[Jeff Monson]

about half of the work I do with my omnijig is making kitchen drawers from 1/2" baltic birch plywood. I use 1/2 blind dovetails cut in a single pass, I climb cut and have on tearout.

[Glen Butler]

I have not used any other jig than the omnijig. The omnijig "preset" stops are not accurate; fine tuning is necessary. This may also have something to do with undersized birch ply. I climb cut single pass half blind dovetails for my boxes and the only place that tears out is hidden by a drawer slide, or otherwise a non issue because it is outside the box. Overall I really like the jig. Once the stops are set, repeatability is easy.

Be sure to center the bit in the guide bushing or you will not get a consistent cut. I agree with buying a router for each DT operation that you want to perform. This will ensure consistency.

[Wayne Watling]

I persisted with the Omnijig for six months and couldn't get it accurate on variable spaced half blind D/T's. I took it back for a refund and purchased an Akeda which performs very well and the customer service is great.

Wayne

ps. If you do some searching on this forum you will find some posts with the details. That problem could well have been fixed by now.

[Michael Heffernan]

I sold my 24" Omnijig (newest model) and bought an Akeda. The Omnijig took too much time to set up, with wasted trial cuts. Dialing it in was more work than cutting the DTs. IMO, the bit depth pod is a complete waste of time. Nothing was accurate out of the box and I gave up trying to set these bit depth stops and put it away.
With the Akeda, I can layout my spacing and set it up in less than 5 minutes, with one, maximum two trial cuts. And I can come back at any time and remake the exact same DT spacing with this jig.

As for plywood tearout, good quality sharp bits are a must. I also use front and back tearout boards, sandwiching the work piece between them. I start with shallow climb cuts (moving the router right to left) until I'm through the front of the work piece. Then I take shallow cuts left to right until I'm almost through the back of the piece. Lastly, cut through the left side of the DT and come back to the right to finish the cut off. Takes only a few seconds for each DT and seems to minimize tearout in plywood.

Akeda is still in business, doing well from what I've heard. I've seen their ad recently in FWW. They only have one internet seller at this time, but service is good and shipping is fast. I got my BC24 in a couple of days.

[John Grabowski]

I have the leigh D4R and love it...i decided to buy it b/c my local supply store carried all the parts and even held free classes to teach new users how to use...i never went...figured all cuts out quickly with the DVD and manual...very good quality.I made some youtube videos on this thing from my perspective and I am a hobby woodworker.www.youtube.com/grub32good luck in making your decision,John G

[Steve Costa]

Thanks again for all of the recommendations and suggestions. I am back to my original thoughts which are some you love this jig and some of you don't. It seems that the set up issues are the most common complaints ... or not.

As both Rockler & Woodcraft have a 90 day return policy I am going to try out the Leigh D4R. The free bit bonus if I buy this month certainly does influence the decision. If I like I'll keep it, if not, back it goes and on to Omnijig.

I have a supply of maple flooring left over from when we built our house & I think it will provide great test material.

As a new member it sounds as if I link to Amazon through this site then on to Rockler from Amazon, Sawmill get some revenue. This works for me.