dovetail jig/machine

allen levine

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new york city burbs
which is the best out there for the price, and the least complicated one for me to use.?Id like the best of two worlds.Im going to be using the jig with my dewalt 626 router
Im going to the show this week, maybe if they have the one most suggest, Ill pick one up. My daughter gave me a 50 dollar credit at woodcraft for my bd, so I can apply that towards the jig and bits.
I use birch ply for drawers. Does the birch ply machine well with the dovetail jigs, are they crisp, meaning do the ends split, or crack?
Ive never used this type of jig, and only used my one dovetail bit on hardwoods.
 
some say that they can get DT jigs to cut plywood clean, i have not seen any.. my thoughts are to get hardwood for the drawers not plywood and akeada makes a good one and Porter cable makes a decent simple model..the best thing to do allen is go look at them and remember the stuff they are setup on is made to make them work just right,, they are salesman not necessarily a woodworker thats gonna use it regularly.
 
I have purchased the Fast Joint Precision Joinery System #9411 from MLCS ---http://www.mlcswoodworking.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/smarthtml/pages/fast_joint_system.html

shipped and due for delivery this week...

Not sure about the ply-wood sheet... In fact I am not sure if this will do what I want it do --- I want to make some fancy boxes as gifts.
 
plywood is going to be a problem for any jig that uses a router.....
the way to fix the problem is to use backer stock on both sides.
kinda a pain to go through for a plywood box?
 
Allen you would be better off using solid wwod for the drawers when you do dovetails. I've done mine with 1/2" birch ply but you need to take your time. I climb cut across the board first then proceed to cut the dovetails. I use the porter cable jig and it can be a little tedious to set up. There are easier ones out there. Saw a video for onr that uses just a straight bit in the router table and 2 different templates. Looked rather simple. I'll try to find it again.
 
I also wouldn't do dove tails on plywood. I have the PC dove tail jig. It works but as said before it can be a bit of a pain to set up.
 
I went with the Prazi checkmate, inexpensive and it seemed pretty easy.
After watching the dvd which is included with it, around 5 times, and reading the directions twice, I messed up. I couldnt understand it all day till I watched the video again and realized I set it up backwards. (the storyboard with the slots and the washer should be on the other side with the jig turned around. I am not that happy Im that dumb )
Waiting on a new router bushing, then Ill give it another try.
 

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