Porter Cable Releases The All New 77240 24-Inch Omnijig Joinery System

[Bob Feeser]

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41EUY5TumUL._SS500_.jpg
Now that Porter Cable is releasing on February 25, 2008 their new ADJUSTABLE finger dovetail jig. How does it compare to the Leigh D4 models, the adjustable finger standard? The price tag with a PC List Price of $958, and a discounted sale price of $622.70. Anyone have any pre-release information on it, reviews, or magazine articles? I have the Leigh, and from the picture this looks like a clone, but then again, it would be tough to build something fundamentally different to do the same job efficiently. What do you think of the jig?

[Don Bullock]

I've been seeing pictures of this jig for months. The American Woodworker magazine and Wood magazine that I got in the mail yesterday both have little "teaser" articles on it, but that's the most I've seen so far. The jig looks like it would be easy to use, but I'd have to actually see one in person and even use one if possible before I'd plunk that much money down on a dovetail jig. Since I don't have a good one (just have the original Rockler) I'm very interested in them.

[Eric Haycraft]

I already ordered one for 499 but doubt it will ship until next month. If you look around a bit you can find it for that price with free shipping. I think that the minimum advertised price is 549, so you won't see it below that in any ads or online. BTW, amazon jacked the price a week ago from 549.
Porter-cable put it back on the website, so I guess that the rumor about it being canceled is wrong. It also looks slightly different from the previous photos that I have seen and says that the unit will be setup and adjusted at the factory. :)

[Walt Caza]

Hello Bob,
Now that is interesting news !
Just 2 weeks ago, this post declared the new Omnijigs disco'd.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=73438&highlight=dovetail

I have been waiting to see how these jigs pan out, now I am not
quite sure which way the wind blows...
Maybe they are really coming, or maybe we are getting more marketing
propaganda? The demise was supposed to have come from a reliable source---PC themselves !?!

I was interested in maybe getting one, in the hopes that a knock-off by a
good company would have all the good features of the leader, along with
some useful innovations.
I guess I will see it when I believe it.
(and keep rolling my change up in the meantime)

Good day,
Walt
:)

[Eric Haycraft]

Since this jig wasn't on the PC website a week ago, and it is now but with updated pictures, I take that as a clear sign that they are going to ship them.

[Bob Feeser]

Rockler has the Leigh D4R for $449. That is cheaper then the prices I am seeing for the Porter Cable new unit. You know the old attraction of a higher price; immediately you think there must be something better about it if it is more expensive, so we all go look. I am curious how any comparisons betwen the 2 pan out.
The Leigh is a beautiful machine, but Amazon never carried it. Could be Amazon wanted too big of a chunk of the pie.
I wrote a review on the Porter Cable Omnijig back in 2004, comparing the features of the 2, Amazon had it featured, but everything has evolved since then. The big difference of course was the Omnijig had a fixed template, and the Leigh had adjustable fingers. So that meant the Omnijig gave you fast results, but you could have unbalanced pins at the top and bottom of the drawer for example. Leigh with it's adjustability meant you could space the pins however you want, and get a half pin on top, and half pin on bottom, which is generally considered preferred. The set up time to get those results was more with the Leigh. So for a production shop, they preferred the PC. Although if you were making a lot of runs of the same product, the time invested in setting up the Leigh was a good investment, because once set, it is already there.
Once again I am curious how they both compare, but for me, the Leigh deserves a special place in my shop. I am extremely happy with the results, and since I am not a production shop, the flexibility is nice.
Be that as it may, I can not turn a deaf ear to any possible improvements.
PS: Walt thanks for the link to the post. I missed that one, it was an interesting read, and lays the background to understanding what is going on behind the scenes.

[Eric Haycraft]

There is a 50 dollar price difference - 449 for the leigh and 499 for the PC. The PC has a built in router support which the Leigh doesn't include and has the setup jig that stores bit depth settings. Is that worth 50 bucks? Perhaps.

The only thing that I didn't like was that the PC didn't include a dust port..that is an accessory that I can't find the price on. 80 bucks extra on the Leigh gets you the router support and the dust port but no setup jig; so the prices seem highly competitive between the two.


Edit. Looks like the site I ordered from raised the price to 529.. Still not 599 or 622, but not as cheap anymore.

[Everette Harmon]

I just saw one at the wood show in Atlanta and they are selling them but they will be delivered. $539.00 each and that includes a PC691 Router. I thought it was a pretty good deal.

Everette

[Bruce Page]

$622.70:eek::eek::eek::eek: That's obscene. I'll stick with my old Omnijig.
It better supply the wood for that price!

[Eric Haycraft]

It is 500 even at plumber's surplus. 530 at burns tools, etc. I agree that 622 is obscene, but you don't have to pay that much.

[Sean Troy]

$622.70:eek::eek::eek::eek: That's obscene. I'll stick with my old Omnijig.
It better supply the wood for that price!

I'll stick with mine also.

[Bob Feeser]

The thing I have always admired about the Omnijig by PC is it's industrial strength heft. I have not used one, but as I understand you can possibly cut the pins and tails with a stacked piece, and get great results? No having to flip over the fingers, then cut sample pieces to get the depth right? Am I correct in this? If so, way to go PC. :)
I'm not into yey this, and boo that. I am into Yey this, and yey that. One of each would be just fine.

[Kewan Floyd]

Just got home from the Atlanta woodworking show where they had demos of the Omnijig. Redmond Machinery was taking orders and said they would start shipping them out this week. They were charging $539 and that included a free PC router. The demo guy was handing out $10 off coupons so the price was really $529. They were selling a lot of ‘em after people saw the demo.

I’m a novice and only caught the tail end of the demo but it looked very slick. Perhaps some of the more experienced forum members who were at the show could answer more detailed questions. The demo guy said PC is working on a mortise and tenon attachment for the Omnijig that should be out in the spring.

[Jon Bonham]

Just got home from the Atlanta woodworking show where they had demos of the Omnijig. Redmond Machinery was taking orders and said they would start shipping them out this week. They were charging $539 and that included a free PC router. The demo guy was handing out $10 off coupons so the price was really $529. They were selling a lot of ‘em after people saw the demo.

I’m a novice and only caught the tail end of the demo but it looked very slick. Perhaps some of the more experienced forum members who were at the show could answer more detailed questions. The demo guy said PC is working on a mortise and tenon attachment for the Omnijig that should be out in the spring.
There's a M&T attachment for the Leigh, they're probably knocking that one off overseas as we speak. ;)

[Brandon Shew]

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41EUY5TumUL._SS500_.jpg


Looks a lot like the D4R, but it doesn't looks like the guide pins can be split like the Leigh. What is that bank of levers on the back?

[Eric Haycraft]

The pins split just like the liegh. The bank of pins at the back is their place to store bit depths for different setups.

On a related note, I called burns tools regarding my order and they called porter cable. Apparently there is a huge backorder on these. Mine is scheduled to ship on 3/1.


Eric

[Steven Bolton]

Are the fingers made out of the same material as the Leigh?

sb

[Jeffrey Schronce]

What is that bank of levers on the back?

I am pretty sure they are bit depth adjustment settings. Sit your router up on top of the fixture and drop the bit to the preset level then tighten. Kind of like they have on the side of the 4212.

[C Scott McDonald]

I wonder if PC will support them as well as Leigh does for thiers i.e. the video and outstanding book that comes with it. Also all the different upgrades and add-ons for it. By the way, there is no such thing as "free" anymore your paying for it one way or another :p. I just bought a D4R but I will be excited to see some creekers reviews of them when they start to ship.

Scott

[Eric Haycraft]

According to the PC website, it comes with a dvd of norm abram showing its use. It does not come with a dust collector attachment :(
Leigh has had years to prefect their docs, so I would imagine that the PC docs won't be as good initially. There are also a few accessories being released with it and perhaps a mortise and tenon addon later.

[John Michael]

I called Redmond Machinery today and confirmed they will be shipping next month. They allowed me to order one at the show pricing for $536 with a free PC D-handle router. If you subtract the cost of the router (sell it) the jig comes in just under $400 after shipping which isn't nearly as bad.

By the way thank you to the original poster, I was the one that started the discontinued thread 2 weeks ago when I saw they had removed it from theire website and was once again deceived by the Porter Cable CS department when I called to confirm. Of course when I had finally written the darn thing off, they release it.

[Steve Roxberg]

I own a Leigh D4 and the one feature of this that impressed me was the adjustment for the fingers on the Porter-Cable unit. On the Leigh for through dovetails you are manually adjusting the fit by eyesight as you adjust the fingers. The porter cable, at least the early prerelease version, had fine adjusters that you could tweak the fit with. With my old eyes that seems like a better way to go.

[Eric Haycraft]

I own a Leigh D4 and the one feature of this that impressed me was the adjustment for the fingers on the Porter-Cable unit. On the Leigh for through dovetails you are manually adjusting the fit by eyesight as you adjust the fingers. The porter cable, at least the early prerelease version, had fine adjusters that you could tweak the fit with. With my old eyes that seems like a better way to go.

The new Leigh superjigs come with a special guide that fits the router which makes for an extreme degree of fine tuning. You simply rotate the guide to loosen or tighten the joint. I can't see why it wouldn't work on the D4.

[Eric Haycraft]

I called Redmond Machinery today and confirmed they will be shipping next month. They allowed me to order one at the show pricing for $536 with a free PC D-handle router. If you subtract the cost of the router (sell it) the jig comes in just under $400 after shipping which isn't nearly as bad.
Is that router deal a porter cable freebe or is that from Redmond? If it is from Redmond, I should probably cancel my current order and get mine through them.

[Bill Jepson]

I have the old Omni. One minor correction. The old 24" came with adjustable fingers. (At least mine did.) The fingers weren't splitable like the Leigh though. I never have done anything that fancy with a machine style dovetail cutter. The price of the old omni was a few bucks less than the Leigh, but with a few fewer features. I really hope they have stayed with the really tank-like construction of the lower base. The particular feature I like about the old one is the clamp. It's all steel and super sturdy. If they didn't keep that feature there is just no real sagnifigant difference between the PC and the Leigh, buy which ever you like the color of!
Bill J

[Scott Ricks]

Thanks for the update. I just called and ordered mine from Rich at Redmond. Really nice guy. He said he has to turn in his order by Monday so if you want to take advantage of the free router deal (worth +/- $155) give them a call and ask for Rich at ext 228.

[Will Blick]

have the Liegh Patents expired? maybe that's why it looks so much like a DR4?

[Eric Haycraft]

The leigh has been unchanged since before I was born, so I would guess that it is out of patent...but these days patents are more about who has better lawyers and not who has the patent so I doubt it would matter.

[Dennis Farmer]

Well has anyone received there jig yet?

Anyone found a source for the accessories.... mainly the dust collector ?

Order mine from ace tools 499 + 15 shipping .


Ps
This post is how I found this great site,alot of good info & people

Thanks,
Dennis

[Alan Trout]

I fondled one at my woodcraft the other day. I must say it is an impressive jig and seems very well built. It is made in Vietnam which I found kind of interesting. Not the same old China bit. However the machine work was very good and I mean that dude is heavy. Just from observing it looks to me that it will give the Leigh DR4 some serious competition even though it is a more expensive machine.

I must say that if I am ever in the market for an other dovetail jig it will be on my shortlist.

Good Luck

Alan

[Mike Heidrick]

Saw one at the WW show. This new jig is huge when you add on all the bits and pieces! I own the original 24" Onmni. As close as I can tell thw new one is very solid. Had to be exact though because all the pins and guides kinda block teh main assembly from view. The demo guy said the new one was just as solid. Hope he is right. It looks nice but I do not think I will upgrade. I may try and mod or reengineer the DC asssembly.

[Eric Haycraft]

I talked to the PC rep at 7Corners hardware today. I guess the reason that this was delayed so long was because the factory in Vietnam burned to the ground. That pretty easily explains the 1+ year delay on this.
Apparently they made some tweaks to the design since that event (the bit depth pod was updated along with the graphics). They also mentioned that they were heavily backordered, but did have one on site to demo with.

[Greg Funk]

have the Liegh Patents expired? maybe that's why it looks so much like a DR4?
Leigh's original dovetail patent (4428408) was issued in 1984 so assuming a 17 year term it expired in 2001.

Greg