pros cons MLCS through dovetail jig

[tom coleman]

MLCS offers an inexpensive jig for cutting thru dovetails. No variable spacing and no half blind dovetails. Very similar to Keller jig except it relies on guide bushings rather than bearing guided bits. Anyone used these templates?

[Bill Leonard]

I have the MLCS dovetail jig and it works (somewhat), but I am not impressed. I purchased it because it was inexpensive, read cheap. You get what you pay for. It will cut dovetails, and they look good, but the effort to get everything set precisely is, in my opinion, way more effort than the value of the result. If doing it again, I would add the additional funds and purchase a Leigh or ???

[David Hostetler]

Are you willing to fiddle with it to get everything lined up just so? And are you going to just cut fixed space through dovetails? If so then this is a great jig for you, it's the one I presently own... You most likely will end up wanting a Leigh or Omnijig or something along those lines.

Once set up, it does what it is supposed to do well... It's just a pretty limited tool is all...

[Bruce Wrenn]

The PC 4212 has this same feature, only longer.

[Prashun Patel]

I have the MLCS jig and I differ with the previous posters.

I made 2 24" blanket chests with them and the joints were great. It took a little bit of initial set up, but I didn't find it hard - and I'm usually impatient when it comes to set up.

There are 2 nice things about these Keller-style jigs:

1) You can move them along your workpiece to accomodate larger panels.
2) You can do variably spaced dovetails by only routing over specific pin positions, and then bumping over the jig incrementally to route out the tails to fit. It's easy and is described in the Nov 2009 issue of Wood Magazine. I have a copy of that article I can send it you wish.

If you're an occasional dovetailer, then this jig MIGHT be worth it for you.