Russell Tribby
07-24-2008, 6:19 PM
I've had this jig for about 2 years but have never really put the time into it that it deserves. I had to build five drawers for a repeat customer so I figured this was the perfect opportunity to pull it out. I've recently started a war on sawdust in my shop and the thought of using my PC 4210 (which I'm getting rid of) and spewing chips everywhere did not appeal to me. If you've never seen the Akeda in action you should know that it excels at dust collection. I've included a pic to show what little I had to clean up after dovetailing five drawers. Had I attempted that with the PC both myself and the floor would have been covered.
Since the drawers were only 5 1/4" wide I decided to route both the tails and the pins at the same time (I have the 16" version of the jig). I placed the snap in fingers for the tails on the left and the fingers for the pins on the right. While it is not as fast as the PC it is pretty darn close and the time saved in cleanup is worth it. You have to use a backer block when routing the tails or you'll get chip out (even with the Whiteside bits). To route the pins the piece has to protrude from the guide rail the amount equivalent to the thickness of the piece. In this case it is 5/8". To speed things up I've used a cut off that correctly spaces the pin piece. I simply place it flush against the front guide rail and then but the piece up against it. This saves a lot of time.
The jig is a pleasure to use and easy to operate. I made a little drawer (similar to John Lucas' to hold all of the little snap in fingers. This makes things a lot quicker and it is certainly more functional. I just take this with me to the jig and I can grab or replace whatever I need.
I also took some time to route some scrap pieces with the different bit depth profiles. I coupled the scraps with the recommended bit and cut the profile. This'll make setting the bit height in the future a lot easier and faster.
The jig is a pleasure to use and easy to operate. I've never had the opportunity to use the Leigh or the Omnijig but I can't imagine the dust collection being better. Oh yeah, almost forgot the most important part....the fit was spot on.
Since the drawers were only 5 1/4" wide I decided to route both the tails and the pins at the same time (I have the 16" version of the jig). I placed the snap in fingers for the tails on the left and the fingers for the pins on the right. While it is not as fast as the PC it is pretty darn close and the time saved in cleanup is worth it. You have to use a backer block when routing the tails or you'll get chip out (even with the Whiteside bits). To route the pins the piece has to protrude from the guide rail the amount equivalent to the thickness of the piece. In this case it is 5/8". To speed things up I've used a cut off that correctly spaces the pin piece. I simply place it flush against the front guide rail and then but the piece up against it. This saves a lot of time.
The jig is a pleasure to use and easy to operate. I made a little drawer (similar to John Lucas' to hold all of the little snap in fingers. This makes things a lot quicker and it is certainly more functional. I just take this with me to the jig and I can grab or replace whatever I need.
I also took some time to route some scrap pieces with the different bit depth profiles. I coupled the scraps with the recommended bit and cut the profile. This'll make setting the bit height in the future a lot easier and faster.
The jig is a pleasure to use and easy to operate. I've never had the opportunity to use the Leigh or the Omnijig but I can't imagine the dust collection being better. Oh yeah, almost forgot the most important part....the fit was spot on.