advice on Leigh jig use

[Tom M King]

VRS is definitely worth it, if nothing more than more surface area for the router base to ride on.

I also find it easy to use, but before I had a digital depth gauge, I kept two routers dedicated to using it with 3/4" material. Actually, I still have those 690's dedicated to that, but don't mind resetting things with the digital depth gauge to get things back to being dead on first shot.

There is no skipping steps. Boards have to be milled perfectly.

[Dan Hahr]

One thing that caused me an issue is the tightness of the fingers. Called tech support and was given this advice. When tightening the fingers, push down on them with one finger and use three fingers on the other hand to lightly tighten the screw. Any more pressure will distort the fingers. Also, I bought my jig second hand as well. They looked fine, but a new set of fingers made my joints much tighter. I used a plain guide bushing, but had to buy a better router base.

After all of this, perfect dovetails!

Dan

[Paul Haus]

Though I've seen mentioned watching the videos, how many actually have them and watch them? I have a Leigh D4, and when I bought it, it came with a VHS tape which wasn't the 'easiest' to watch. I found that the same videos were available on DVD so I purchased one. Being I don't use the jig but a few times a year, I watch the videos of what I want to do prior to setting up for the joint. If you have a computer set up to watch dvd's, you can even consider taking it into the shop while doing your setups to confirm what you're doing.
Just a thought.

[Derek Arita]

I suggest calling Leigh. They are very helpful and very much want you to succeed. I had issues with my D4R Pro, called and sent many pics back and forth, until my issues were solved. As others have advised, starting with a flat and square workpiece is essential. After that, keep the router orientation the same with every pass. Many use 2 routers to keep from having variances when switching bits. Even at that, calling them is essential. They'll zero in on the issue just by seeing the joint you get.

[Thomas McCurnin]

This post made me dig out the Leigh D4 and give it another try. I bought some poplar this week and will set it up with a pair of DeWalt routers I purchased this month.

The OP's photo shows some really goofy dovetails, one in the center fits perfect, and the ones to the outside have huge gaps. It almost looks like the stock was not registered correctly against the stops or the router bits were not centered.

[Alex Zeller]

Te only helpful tips I can offer that I haven't seen posted is make a mark on your router and keep that mark always facing exactly the same direction. Others have said about not rotating the router and my Bosch router has a triangle shape mark in the aluminum but making it stand out makes it easier to see (and not rotate). Secondly made a second pass and be sure to make sure you hold the router tight to the jig's fingers. You shouldn't hear any wood being removed by the bit. If you do then your last pass didn't remove everything it should have. When new I would make 3 or 4 passes before I was confident I got it all. Once I got a feel for it I only do one extra pass just to be sure.

[Jerry Thompson]

After two years with the device and two other WW trying trying it out I gave it away.

[Ron Selzer]

Have a D3 that i bought used. VERY HAPPY with it. have cut up to 24" dovetails on it. keep two PC 690's set up for it. Use only straight bushings and definitely use the factory dust collection. Have cut dovetails on boards 65" long with it.
NEED to always hold the router in the same position as you cut the dovetails.
Good luck
Ron

[Larry Frank]

I have the D4R and cut a lot of dovetails and finger joints. Sometimes it takes awhile to get thing correct but not too bad for me.

I think the manual and videos online are really good.

[Lenny Howard]

Related to the D4R, has anyone bought the upgrade kit for box joints and single-pass half-blind? Worth it? How about the VRS? some dust collection and router support would be nice but the price is not so nice.

i recently was given an old Leigh D1258R that had spent a year under a deck. After seeing how much they get for the new ones, I decided to clean it up and in the process of ordering some parts, also ordered the upgrade kit. After testing it out a little I decided to also order the VRS today. Yes, it’s wicked expensive, but by all accounts it works great. I doesn’t hurt so much when a product actually lives up to expectations. I hope so anyway. 😊

[Larry Frank]

One thing that helps me is I put adhesive backed sandpaper on the clamp bars. This helps to prevent your pieces from moving.

[Aaron Gatzke]

Hi Alexandra,

Have you had any success with your dovetail jig?
I just purchased the Leigh Super 12 jig and it is a real learning experience.
any tips and or tricks you could provide?

Aaron