Delta tenon jig

Rob Keeble

Member
Messages
12,633
Location
GTA Ontario Canada
I purchased one of these jigs years back. Spent some time over weekend cleaning it up.
Then tried it out and frankly right now i think this is a piece of Junk.

I had Carols words ringing in my ears again. So many adjustments ....a marketing mans dream.

This is a model 34-183. Same unit that Grizzly and Woodtek put out.

Its supposed to sit flat but rocks on the table saw.

Mathias over at woodgears did a review
https://woodgears.ca/tenon/review.html

Confirmed my own findings.

Now i am wanting to find out if anyone here has had any better luck with this jig.

Any tips anyone has as to how to tweak it. Its supposed to be "made in USA" right now it feels like it came out of harbor freight.

After all the clean up and adjustment work that i put into it i would like to get it working properly.

Going to have to take it apart again and try some sort of shim on the base but where?.
Might even look at an Incra bar to use in place of the junk that came with it.

In hindsight i feel i might have been better off making my own.


Can anyone offer me some insight i feel like i must be missing something.
 
I have one someplace. You are right. A piece of junk.

What I did was cut and access hole in my mortising jig you like so well. I bring the end of the work piece up through the hole. I put a spacer on one side of the workpiece and clamp the piece tight. Then I use a long spiral cutter in the mortising base and make side cuts to create the tenon. Flip the piece to cut the opposite cheek. Make sense to you? Its packed away, or I'd take a picture for you. Don't forget to set your stops. My access hole is about an 1" and quarter wide and about 5" long. Not so long as to compromise the integrity of the jig overall. Plenty big enough for most tenons.
 
The gizmosity is very attractive looking ;)

I think this ?might? be similar to Carols jig in some ways... I've had this stashed in my notes file for a while anyway for doing larger tennons (project nominally pending... its worse than the infamous table... enough said).
http://www.woodworkingseminars.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/WS97_SimpleTenonJig.pdf

edit: I'm pretty sure I picked up that link from someone here but didn't note who...
 
Except mine works the wood vertically and this works the wood horizontally. Also this is a one-off jig designed for a specific sized tenon. Mine it doesn't matter as long as the wood can poke through the hole. That one would be 'interesting' for narrow pieces of wood because the router rests mostly on the workpiece. Mine the router is wholly supported by the jig. Otherwise, they're close. :)
 
Hmmm....
I have one of these, a much older model, and have used it dozens of times. It has performed well. I'll have to go check it to see what has changed in the newer iterations.
 
Bob and Rennie, any chance you can recall the learning part.

After reading a bunch last night i found many areas that need "alignment" or adjustment after my rebuild.

Basically like anything we slide past a blade, looks like i have to loosen a screw and get the face that holds the workpiece travelling parallel to the blade for one.

Then pondering that i realize the same applies to the bar that is at 90degrees to the blade and serves as a carriage way for the workpiece holding and clamping part.

Both the runner bar and this carriage way have two screws securing them in holes with very little slop. So i hope they can be aligned by a tiny adjustment. But that adjustment staying in place is going to rely on merely screw tightness to stay aligned. Mickey mouse if you ask me.

Will try again this weekend hope some more comes to the surface in meantime.

Carol yup your jig can do it all. But i just wanted to get to a point with this contraption where its either deserving of its shelf space or getting tossed.
 
I have one. Brand New in the box. About 10 years old. I never used it - not even once. Not likely that I ever will use it. Nice to have it. It will get me some dollars after I retire. Horrible investment. Terrible interest rate. I don't think I can sell it for more than I paid for it.
 
I've had mine for probably thirty years, and it works quite well. About twenty years ago, I converted it from right tilt to left tilt to work with the (then) new saw. Still worked just fine.

Can't imagine what's wrong with yours - unless it got reassembled incorrectly...
 
You can advertise it as a "vintage" Delta tenon jig and get top dollar for it. :D

:D :D :D
The 'real' vintage one is that 40 pound cast iron monster that Delta made back in the 50s~60s. I'd love to find one of those at a reasonable price.

BTW, Powermatic has a new one on the market. I haven't actually seen one, but it's around $400 !!! I think I'll pass on that one, too.
 
:D :D :D
The 'real' vintage one is that 40 pound cast iron monster that Delta made back in the 50s~60s. I'd love to find one of those at a reasonable price.

BTW, Powermatic has a new one on the market. I haven't actually seen one, but it's around $400 !!! I think I'll pass on that one, too.

Don't know if mine is quite that old.

033c340c5230636cb529285c1859f3d1.jpg


ac5e12d7a3f35f70954add3caa60f441.jpg
 
i have the same model as rennie, and i've put it to good use over the last 15 years or so. i've had no problems with it. stable as all get out, no matter how long (and i've run some long ones) the board. sounds like the guy who wrote the review has a chip on his shoulder, or doesn't know how to use it.
 
Except mine works the wood vertically and this works the wood horizontally. Also this is a one-off jig designed for a specific sized tenon. Mine it doesn't matter as long as the wood can poke through the hole. That one would be 'interesting' for narrow pieces of wood because the router rests mostly on the workpiece. Mine the router is wholly supported by the jig. Otherwise, they're close. :)

:rofl: So other than being entirely unlike it .. exactly the same.

Actually this one is pretty easy to adjust for tennon size as well.. mostly I had marked it because it would work for things larger than I could hold vertically :)
 
i have the same model as rennie, and i've put it to good use over the last 15 years or so. i've had no problems with it. stable as all get out, no matter how long (and i've run some long ones) the board. sounds like the guy who wrote the review has a chip on his shoulder, or doesn't know how to use it.
Dan that guy who wrote the review is Mathias Wandell tge same guy that developed the panto router so i dont think he has no clue what he is talking about.

Lets not forget manufacturers even Delta and even those made in USA can have quality issues.
 
I've had mine for probably thirty years, and it works quite well. About twenty years ago, I converted it from right tilt to left tilt to work with the (then) new saw. Still worked just fine.

Can't imagine what's wrong with yours - unless it got reassembled incorrectly...

I have an earlier model that still the same design. Like Jim, mine has always worked well, though I haven't used it all that much. I also went from right to left tilt (last year) and it worked just fine. I will say this: if I was doing it over I'd probably just make one, but since I have this I'll pull it out when needed.
 
Sometimes quality issues are subject to price point issues. The first criteria to the engineering department is, the product will sell for...and work backward from there.

In defense of really good tools that don't succumb to that line of thinking, the price point is much higher, once again proving you get what you pay for.

And in defense of capitalism, bean counter thinking does prevail to be competitive, once again proving buyer beware.
 
Dan that guy who wrote the review is Mathias Wandell tge same guy that developed the panto router so i dont think he has no clue what he is talking about.

Lets not forget manufacturers even Delta and even those made in USA can have quality issues.

don't get me wrong rob, there can be quality issues, that's how i found out that i had a 13 gauge shotgun, instead of a 12 gauge (has to do with wear and tear on the boring bit). had to look up to see what a pantorouter was. after seeing what it was, i thought that it was a bit of making your own product look better, by over stating the faults of another product. like i said before, i've used my delta tenoning jig for over 15 years now, and have never had a problem with stability, or any other issues.
 
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