Has anyone tried to make a copy of the Festool router mortise jig? I like the Festool thing but its a hilarious $405 for three pieces of plexiglass and four knobs. That's where you lose me, Festool...
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Contributor
Has anyone tried to make a copy of the Festool router mortise jig? I like the Festool thing but its a hilarious $405 for three pieces of plexiglass and four knobs. That's where you lose me, Festool...
Contributor
Yeah, it's pretty expensive. But it's also well-made and easy to use. So some people might believe it's worth the money.
Honestly though, if you're looking to save money, why even mess with trying to make a copy? I'd just use a single router fence and run it across the top. Or, if I wanted to get crazy with it, two router fences. And if I wanted to save money on a router fence, I could just screw a scrap piece of wood to the base at the right spot.
Some people want easy. Some people want cheap. Some people want something that's a little of both. There are options for everyone.
My guess is it costs so much because it's one of the products they don't plan to sell too many of. So it's probably offered more as a service to their current customers that may want something like that, rather than a product line that gets its own, full-time, production run. So I'm guessing they're made one-at-a-time on a single CNC machine that produces just a couple a day, and may have to share time making other things as well. So you're not paying for the cost of R&D or materials, so much as the cost of tying up a machine that could be making something else.
Friend of the Creek
James, you might want to peruse this 2023 thread on the same subject
https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?305794-Festool-Mortising-Template/page2&p=3280115
I don't have any Festool tools or jigs, but this one seems to be made out of formed plexiglass with built in dust collection and might be self centering (although it doesn't look like it). A lot of these jigs have a lot of bells and whistles and are made for the market for folks that simply want to woodwork and not spend time making jigs and tools, and I get that.
God Bless Pat Warner (RIP)--you may want to look at some of his books, because I'm quite confident that Pat has an exact design for this, although probably in plywood and made for under $20.
Me, I don't have the time to make fancy jigs, and if I have to make more than 20 identical holes, I'm more inclined to make a one-off project specific jig based on the stock I am using, rather than add adjustability for future similar projects which may or may not happen.
Regards,
Tom
Contributor
If you're a woodworker, you make jigs, that's just the way it is. IMOOriginally Posted by Thomas McCurnin
Like you, I'll make a jig for a project, paying that much for a simple jig is just out of the question.
I used to poke fun at Festool for the multifunction stool they used to sell
https://www.misterworker.com/en-us/f...000/46158.html
But the mortise jig just might have dethroned it.
Slightly off topic, is Festools site on April Fools Day mode?
Went to their site, typed mortise in search box, see what happens.
The site is a train wreck, one example
Capture5.jpg
Not sure what type of furniture he's making
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