Question Leigh half blinds

[mike johnston]

I haven't done any half blinds on my d4 in probably 5 years or more. I remember tails 1st and adjust fit with depth of router bit, but can't remember if I adjust depth of the bit on just the pins, or go back and do tails & pins after the adjustment. I'm just not getting it after reading the manual. I've come to the conclusion I've made to many trips around the sun to learn the easy way.


Thanks Mike

[Chris Rosenberger]

It does not matter which you cut first.

You have to cut both tails & pins after adjusting the depth of cut.

Raise the bit to loosen the joint.

Lower the bit to tighten the joint.

[Michael Heffernan]

Mike, Leigh now makes a retrofit kit for the D4, D4R so that you can do single pass HB dovetails. It is standard on the newer D4R Pro jig. If you are cutting a lot of HBs and don't mind equal DT spacing for your project, this might be the trick. Set the depth, with test cuts for proper fit and rout away. I don't necessarily like the look of uniform DTs, but IMO, it's a good retrofit for the jig for making kitchen cabinets, builtins, etc. For fine furniture, I go with variable spacing.

[Ken Krawford]

Mike, if you make any adjustments to the jig, you will have to re-cut the tails and pins. Because of the way the jig works, any change to one component will affect the other. It takes me way more time to set up my jig that it does to cut the joints.