Leigh D4R Pro Practice Joints...

[Derek Arita]

I bought one of these jigs, about 3 years ago, when I started to do some woodworking. Watched lots of videos to justify the expense and was real excited when I go it.

But I couldn't get good results, consistently, so it went up on a high shelf and has sat there ever since.

So this thread has been very helpful, even though it might cost me the purchase of another router.....but one can never have too many tools and Christmas isn't too far away...

Chris, I think it may be easier to get the jig squared away by starting with half blind dovetails. The half blind dovetails are done with one router and one bit. That way, you have only one router and the jig to trouble shoot. Also, Leigh support was very helpful. They really do want to solve your issues and get you and jig working. Send them pics of your joints and they can trouble shoot from there. Matt and Barry were a huge help. Just be sure that your stock is totally flat and square.

[Jim Becker]

Didn't mean for this to become a "1 router or 2" thread but,

In an ideal world we'd have two "identical" routers with each having the alternative cutter locked in after test cuts so all the production work would be "spot on". But most of us don't live in that ideal world. LOL

[Derek Arita]

As an update, there were so many that swore by using 2 routers for Through Dovetails, I decided to do further testing. I bought another Dewalt 618, centered the guides and used a fixed template guide in one and the adjustable guide in the other, set to 10, as the manual states.
I was able to get a good fitting joint with that setup, however the registered edges of the boards were not at all flush. After some head-scratching, I decided to try using the adjustments on the guide. Moving in quarter turn increments, I was able to get to .003" off of flush sides, with nice fitting joints.
Not quite sure if it's an acceptable number, but at least I know that the option is there if the project is not a crucial one. That said, when you think about it, all the Tails are cut at the same time, then the bit would be changed to do the Pins. You're going to have to mount the straight bit in the router at some point anyways, unless you leave the bits in the routers all the time. For a non production guy like me, mounting the straight bit one time is not a very big deal, so I'll likely use one router most of the time, just to get the optimal fit. But like I said, the option is there for me.

[Kim Gibbens]

I don't see any pictures.

[Derek Arita]

Kim, sorry. I tried to use Photobucket, but it's not coming up. Here's a pic using "insert image"...if it's big enough, you can see the flushness or lack of, on the top of the joint.
TD2.pdf

[Jim Becker]

Derek, you can't use Photobucket to link to images anymore unless you pay them $400 for the privilege.

[Derek Arita]

Jim, that sucks! I've been using all this time. In fact, I posted pics with this thread. Can I post pics that will actually show in the thread, rather than having to click on it or just show a thumbnail?

[Jim Becker]

The recommended method for posting images to SMC is to upload them here to display. I do that "in-line" using the "Insert Image" button, selecting "choose file" and then clicking on "upload". While that does place a thumbnail (for efficiency), one can click on that thumbnail to get the larger image and cycle through multiples if there are more than one in a post. The limit is 8 per post and you can have as many posts in a thread as you want.

Photobucket's policy change a quite some time ago literally decimated a large percentage of image content in online forums, especially those that unlike SMC, don't prefer or even allow uploading to the forums' servers. Supposedly, they recently relaxed things for images that already existed, but any new images for linking require the expensive $400 subscription.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread about making dovetails...

[Derek Arita]

Jim, sorry...just one more pic question...can you see the pic I posted? I don't even see a thumbnail. I just see "TD2pdf". Why is that?

[Jim Becker]

No, it's not visible. And if it's a PDF...it's not going to be visible since that's a document format, not an image format.

[Derek Arita]

Second try at posting this pic...

TDT JPEG.jpg