Akeda Jig

[Jerry Bittner]

Somewhere I read where one can speed up drawer making by mounting the pin guides on the left side of the jig and the tail guides on the right or vice versa.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p><o:p> </o:p>Since I am a novice at this and the first attempt at making drawers, I’m concerned about the orientation of the pieces. I understand the orientation as set forth in the manual but since I’m making 8 drawers, using both sides of the jig would greatly reduce time but it seems to me that the orientation of the pieces would require change.

Anyone who has done this, I'd appreciate hearing from you or a referral to a site where it may be explained.

[Tim Sproul]

I'd only worry about this if you build 1000's of drawers each year. If a hobbyist...you (and I :)) might build 100 or so for a year. I don't think the time savings is that critical.

Routing goes very quickly and is only a small fraction of the time involved in making solid wood dovetailed drawers with the Akeda.

If you're hell bent, you'll still need to make test cuts to ensure you've got it right. Cut enough lumber for 9 or 10 drawers. Figure it out and then you'll be good from there. Might want to take notes and pictures if you don't do this often.

[John Lucas]

I have done it and it is easy. You know how you use pencil marks on the left when you do your DT's? I would use white paper tape on that side and when I ran the DT, I followed it. If it worked the way I wanted it, I would pick up the tape and place it on the right side. The way you can "zero" the two pieces if to use the first actual piece and draw lines around the DT's and draw right on the matching piece. Then install that in right hand side and align with the pin markings. Place the pins and go for it. Once you have those wset to your liking, DON'T touch. By the way, the best addition to this setup is having two routers and never reset the depth.
Here is URL for page on site doing that. http://www.woodshopdemos.com/aked-3.htm
http://www.woodshopdemos.com/aked-38.jpg .