tough choice-Leigh d4r pro or PC Omni 24 inch

allen levine

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any advice anyone can offer that would steer me towards one of these would be appreciated, or any advice that would steer me away would be appreciated also.
I want a minimum of 24 inch jig.
Most of my interest is for drawers, but Id like to do some solid cabinets with dovetailed joinery.
 
I have the D4R and am very happy with it. That being said, were I to make the same choice today (I purchased mine about 5 years ago), I would go for the PC. They took the Leigh and made it easier, cleaner, and quicker to use. IMHO
 
Since you'd like the capacity to handle wider stock, "minimum of 24 inch", would you consider the Router Boss? The smallest of the three has a clamping capacity of 25" and the middle one, 31" of clamping capacity. Actually with a change to the way you clamp up the work, you could get a couple of additional inches if you want. I upgraded mine to the 470 so I can clamp up to a 36" wide piece for dovetails.

The Router Boss doesn't limit you to one specific dovetail bit angle so you can use any and all dovetail bits out there. And you can use the slender HSS dovetail bits which will make what I think are nicer looking dovetail sockets than the carbide bits. Of course you can still use the carbide bits if you wish. Dovetail spacing is entirely up to you. In fact you can do the layout on the fly if you want. You could even do real needle pins say on the bandsaw or by hand and cut the pins on the Router Boss if you were so inclined.

Price might be a bit higher than the Leigh or the PC but it's not just a dovetail machine either. Tapered sliding dovetails, mortises, tenons, edge profiling, dowels, etc. are all easy on the Router Boss.

Another thing that's nice is that it doesn't have to take up real estate on your work bench. It is designed to on the wall so it is always put away but always ready for use.

Might be more info than you want but I thought I'd put it out there anyway. I almost bought a Leigh some years ago but I'm glad I went the route I did instead.

Of course asking a bunch of woodworkers which is the best tool will generally elicit a variety of answers and no consensus.
 
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I was curious about it! :D

Looks like quite a lot of parts. Still trying to figure out how it actually cuts the dovetails...
 
There are a lot of parts but it is all quite straightforward. There's videos on the site showing how dovetails are cut but the basics are: set the guides up for a straight in and out movement of the router with the dovetail bit and cut the sockets by pulling the router through the work. To cut the pins, you set the guide rails at the angle that matches the angle of the dovetail bit and use a straight cutter to remove the waste between the pins.

If you want half-blind dovetails you don't cut all the way to the front face when cutting the pins. You'll have a little clean up to do with a chisel since the straight bit can't get into the corners but once the clean up is done, the joint will look like a hand cut joint in its shape. Although you can cut half blind joints with the pin board mounted horizontally like you do on dovetail jigs, that's not the usual way.



Here's a picture of my Router Boss set up to cut 1° off of square. I did that to rough out tapered sliding dovetails on new legs for an old swivel office chair. I say rough out because the dovetail sockets are in an old piece of cast iron and none of them are the same shape or size. I got pretty close with the Router Boss and trimmed a bit by hand from there. For cutting, say 8° dovetails you would set the green guides to 8° and be all set.
 
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Allen it may look complicated but it really isn't. and for something like dovetails, once you do it, you'll see that it is quite intuitive.

I don't cut dovetails every day so for me, a dedicated dovetail machine doesn't make sense. I like having a machine that is capable of more than just one thing.

I've gone on about this before so I'll try to keep it short. My opinion is that with the adhesives we have today, dovetail joints aren't needed so much for their strength as they once were. No matter how you make a dovetail joint, they are fussy to make compared to a joint like a lock rabbet or using biscuits or Dominoes or even a common box joint. If you only want to put two boards together at a corner, why not use an easier and quicker to make joint and strong adhesive? Well, the reason for using a dovetail joint is aesthetics. If done well, they can have a very pleasing look. Personally, I don't find dovetail joints made with fat carbide cutters pleasant to look at. I especially dislike the zipper-tooth look of dovetails made with those dovetail jigs with the comb templates. While dovetails made with the Router Boss are still machine made, they can be cut to look nice. As I mentioned before, if you wanted to, you could cut the sockets by hand and create needle-like pins on the Router Boss. All you're doing in that case is using a spinning cutter instead of a chisel and saw to remove the waste. You could actually layout the dovetails as you would if you were cutting them entirely by hand.
 
Add up the price of, say, the Leigh D4R with all the bells and whistles, and the Leigh FMT and compare that to the price of the Router Boss. Then add in something to do raised panels and grooves and dowels and...

And then find room in your shop to store all of that stuff when you aren't using it :D

According to the Leigh site they show the price of the FMT at $989 and the D4R at $549. And with the D4R, you're still limited to 24 inch cutting width.

Or look at it this way. the D4R lists for $549. Add in dust collection (which is included with the Router Boss and you're up to $658 and you still only have a dovetail jig.

I know not everyone will go for the Router Boss but it is definitely a good option and should be considered.
 
dave, thanx for all the input and info.

This is one of the most challenging parts of being somewhat new to woodworking.
I take all points and views into consideration, and then I look at price and what I think I need.
Im not rushing into this purchase, because noone is running any sales or specials, something that sometimes helps me decide.
Im going to need a dovetail machine by late april to start on making drawers.
There are not that many woodworkers discussing the router boss, and I understand its not as popular as the jigs, but doesnt mean much there either.
IM looking into all three of these, hoping to get to work with one of them before I purchase anything to see how it works for me.
 
SHAME SHAME SHAME on you rockler.

I got very excited when I opened my emails today to learn rockler is offering 20% off of one single item.
So I read the fine print, NO Leigh jig. :(

no problem, so they made the choice for me, to save 120 dollars, Id go with the omni 24 inch. uhhhhhhhhh.....wait a minute, rockler wont give the 20% off that one either.....huh? off the 12 or 16 inch, yep, but not the one I want.
Im pretty ticked off.
 
I planted a few seeds, my birthday is next month so I wanna see if I get lucky and suprised. I know, bad boy, but my wife yells at me each year when I buy things before my birthday or holiday season saying theres nothing to get me. so Ill let this tool "want" float around for a month and see if anything happens.
 
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