Rockler Dovetail Jig

[Bill Leonard]

I just received the new Rockler catalog with their "new"
dovetail jig on the cover. Does anyone have any direct user feedback? I need a dovetail jig and the price looks a lot better than the Leigh and new Porter Cable. I expect that it is not in the D4 class, but I don't need that capability at this time. Is the Rockler a good buy?

[Mike Henderson]

I had the older Rockler jig and never much used it. The problems are that it takes a long time to set up and the spacings are fixed. I now find it pretty easy to hand cut dovetails and you get a lot of flexibility doing it that way. But if you're going to do production work, I'd say get one of the better jigs with variable spacing.

Mike

[Gary McKown]

I have the last version of that jig - looks to be the same except for the color. Bought it just before the PC 4212 hit the market. I haven't used it that much except for simple half-blind drawer construction, but it didn't take long to set it up - couple tries with the bit depth. I have the through template also, but have not used it yet.

If I had it to do now, I would look hard at the similar PC jig. From what I have read, it is even simpler to set up.

[glenn bradley]

I got one on sale with half and through templates for $99 about a year ago. Once setup (which I don't find that bad but I have no other reference) it is easy to use.

The downside, as mentioned is that the spacing is fixed but, this has not been a problem to date. For the price, it's been a nice unit. I would have to imagine the ones costing multiple times the price are pretty sweet if you do a lot of machined DT's.

[Jim Thiel]

One thing I've discovered with dovetail jigs, not just you get what you pay for, but some get what they paid for it.

Do a quick search on ebay for completed auctions, leigh jig. Some have gotten more than new prices (411.00) for their jigs, and most get real close.

next do a randon search for dovetail jig. That style from rockler can be had for pennies on the dollar. Something to consider if you don't use the jig as much as you thought you would.

Jim

[Don Bullock]

I made the mistake of purchasing a Rockler jig ( that was long before I found Sawmill Creek and the great advice I get here). I didn't realize how bad a decision it was until I went to a demonstration of a dovetail jig at a Rockler store. The guy doing the demonstration had a PC jig set up. He admitted that the Rockler jig is much more difficult to use and that he didn't like it. It doesn't look to me that they have made that many improvements if their new jig to make it better. After reading a review in one of the magazines, I'm convinced that Leigh and new Porter Cable are much better. I do plan to keep my Rockler jig and set it up to do 1/4 plywood drewer sides, so that when I make drawers, I will have a dedicated jig for that task already to go. For decorative dovetails, I'm almost convinced that they need to be done by hand.

I think I'm going to wait untilI can set up a "full size" shop and get a new table saw with an Incra, Jointtech or similar system and a router station on the side so that I can use the fence system for both. I saw the Jointech system demonstrated at the WoodWorks show on Friday and was blown away by what I saw. You have to remember that I struggle along with a Craftsman TS from the early '70s with a terrible fence. I can't, however see spending that much just on a TS fence, so a system like that which would work for both mschines and help create dovetails sounds fantastic.

[Tim Malyszko]

Just as an fyi, the Rockler stores have that jig on sale this weekend as part of their end of season tag team sale - or something like that. I was in the St. Louis Rockler store yesterday and it was priced somewhere between $50 and $60 dollars. The only reason I noticed it was that there was a big stack of them next to the PC 7518 router that was also on sale for $269.99, which was so hard to resist - but I did.

If you have a Rocker store within driving distance, it may be worthwhile to check the jig out today.

[Lee Schierer]

I have the Rockler jig and it works okay once you get it set up. Mine was mis-assembled out of the box as the handle for the vertical piece had to be lifted up to lock the piece in place. The vibration from the router and the fact that it was easy to bump cause the handle to droop and the pice would slip. I found that you could flip the lock assembly over so the handle was pushed down to lock and lifted up to release and it has not slipped since.

The set up is a bit tricky until you figure it all out. their directions are not terribly clear and their graduated scales are not accurate. If you ahve several widths of drawer sides to do, setting things up to center the tails is harder than it should be since you have to remove part of the jig to get to the adjustment screws. For what I paid for it, it is fully serviceable. If I did more drawers, one of the more costly jigs would probably be a better choice.