Understanding Porter Cable And Similar Style Dovetail Jigs
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.ย. 2024
- Dovetail jigs can make fast work of drawers and other furniture components, but they can be daunting to understand at first. In this video I'll go over the concepts and adjustments you need to understand to be successful using the Porter Cable Omnijig as well as other similar style dovetail jigs. In particular I'll show how the offset, the template to workpiece distance and the router bit depth affect the fit of your dovetail joints.
At 12:01 he does a really good job of explaining what you need to do to get the jig setup correctly for anyone confused. After watching 12:01 - 13:00, start from the beginning and you will totally understand it way more.
Well done video. You explained in nice detail what to look out for. I've been making plywood drawer boxes for years. Time to take the plunge.
Thank you for going into so much detail about this jig, it really helped me understand how to get perfect fitting joints. And the tip for avoiding tear out on the side seems so obvious now, but I wouldn’t have thought of it before ruining at least one drawer side.
Thank you for making this video. I'm new to woodworking and I've got pretty much all I need to start working but this device has intimidated me into pausing my work flow for a week now. I'm afraid of failing after I did all the work from scratch by hand. I'm teaching myself all of this wood working knowledge and it's videos like these that I really appreciate. So thank you.
Scrap wood is your best friend! Try everything new on throwaway wood and you'll feel confident enough with the good stuff.
First picture before the video even started rolling answered my question. Awesome/thanks
Great lesson, took a lot of mystery out of doing this.
great video cleared many things up for me. i was on the right track.... they said i would make a few junk pieces before i locked it in. Your PC Jig is legit..... there isn't much plastic on your JIG! Awesome old tool!! Practice imagine that!! LOL
Glad it helped!
It certainly shows that you know your material and how this jig works. However through all your explications I am even more confused than I was when I started. For me I am more hands on type so when I will read the manual and work with, all the things that you said will fall into place. Thanks for your presentation. Tim
This is definitely one of those things you need to do with your own hands to understand! If you get the jig in front of you and do some setup while watching the video or reading the manual it will become clearer.
Great work but I found it hard to concentrate. I kept thinking about the movie “My Cousin Vinny” love your voice
i dont use this brand of jig, but brilliant description and video. thank you.
Big thank you! Great explanation!
Nice. Worth the effort. Thanks.
I bought one of these jigs a few years ago and found that it gives great results once it is setup correctly. Unfortunately, the setup is rather tedious. I think that you did a great job of showing how to do this. The key to using the jig is being willing to take some time and make lots of practice cuts. I don't think it's possible to make a video to show how to make a perfect joint on your first attempt.
Agreed--it does take both practice and repetitive set-up cuts. Honestly, if I just have to make one or two drawers I'll hand-cut the dovetails. But, when you have a whole kitchen or a big table of drawers, the jigs are much faster in the long run.
Great explanation, dunno what these folks are talking about. thank you.
Thanks for the tips 👌🏻
That older model looks very heavy duty compared to new models.
That could be. Originally they only made one model, and then they added a few more, but likely the original model was the heavy-duty one.
The newer models have the offset built into the stop. While this older model is built heavier the newer models are easier to setup and use and give better instructions with even some written right on the jig itself with tips if the joint fits to tight or to loose.
Thanks man.
I have attempted to set up my jig I find that they see always too loose. As you say the height of the router bit will tighten/loosen the joint. But does the router bit size, comb size and guide bush size have anything to do with it? For example does the guide bush and bit have to be a certain size to work on the particular comb yu have on the jig?
Looks like a oldy but goody
sweetsilage... It is such a “Goody” that I own Seven(7)of the Larger model #7116 one for each Template. I also own a Leigh 514 L and a PC 4210 for mini and through Dovetails and 1/4” Box joints. Enjoy your Creations... Greg
Fine and very clear instructions. I am still sold on Dovetail but do not one as professional as Yours. So do they have small units too for beginners etc.? Porter is the way to go in time but for me something much smaller will be fine. Nice Video and will keep at it!
Those older jigs look to be a better setup, I have a newer one, it has some flaws you always have to deal with! LOL
Yeah, it's funny how "improvements" to tools often are not. I have a few that I desperately repair and keep going because the newer versions are awful.
You show your final drawer product at the very end, what are they made of, is it furniture grade pine? Thanks.
Those drawers were made of poplar, which is a widely available hardwood. It is clear and a little more durable than pine.
@@enduringcharm Thanks for the info. Yeah I’ve worked with poplar, much better than pine. Prices of poplar are getting so high that one drawer is getting expensive to make. Thanks again.
No disrespect intended; you say the directions for these get complicated, but honestly I'm getting more confused with your explanation. Maybe if you summarized things a bit it would be easier to understand - but then maybe it's just me. I appreciate the effort anyway, so thanks for trying to explain.
There are some things in life where you really need to get hands on for it to make sense--no amount of explaining or reading will suffice. This is one of those things. The video is a starting point or a refresher, but you really need to have the dovetail jig in front of you and try some cuts to complete your understanding.
two questions, How far back is edge of comb to edge of vertical piece, and you center wood on comb even if it is not under pin? thanks great vid Mike
I'm not sure I follow your question, but I think you mean what is covered at 5:00?
Ohhhh the roller IS the cam
As far as I can see based on the video that comes with the Omni jig and the directions you have your piece’s placed in backwards in orientation to the stops which you are calling “rules”. The pins which would be the front or back (the top flat)piece should be to the left facing of the vertical piece which is the tails which is the side pieces. I don’t know why you have it backwards. You’re confusing me more than words can say I’ve noticed a couple of other people have said the same thing. I get that you’re trying to evenly space your half pins so that they are evenly spaced. This particular template requires that you build your drawer sides front and backs in 7/8th inch increments. The template Repeats itself every 7/8 of an inch. If you are hiding the bottom half tail in a drawer glide it doesn’t matter whether you have a half pan on the bottom or not. If you need things to metrical then you need to use both the left side and the right side of the jig so things are symmetrical in fashion. I hope this helps others. Greg
Let me rephrase your concern. I think you are referring to the orientation of the top workpiece relative to the front workpiece when clamped in the jig. In the video I have the top workpiece offset to the right of the front workpiece, or to the center of the jig. In your manual you may see a picture where the top workpiece is offset to the left of the front workpiece, or to the outside of the jig. That's not backwards, it's just a choice. It makes no difference whatsoever if the offset is to the inside or outside of the jig. The point is that you need to have the amount of the offset correct in order for the pins and tails to line up. There is one advantage of having the top board offset to the center of the jig: it's easier to install a sacrificial board to avoid chip-out. If you offset the top workpiece to the outside of the jig, you could get chip-out on that side with no sacrificial board installed. Or, you'd have to install the sacrificial board and then account for it's width in all your measurements, which is silly. I didn't intend to make a companion video for the manual, so I don't necessarily follow their diagrams.
I've had a dove tail jig for 2 years and I still can't figure out how to cut my pieces properly with my router using it :'( I've been dying to make dove tail jig boxes.
It's one of those things that appears daunting at first, but once you've successfully done it the first time you'll realize it's not that difficult. You may find that taking two scraps of wood and drawing dovetails in pencil on them will be helpful. After drawing the lines you can insert the pieces in your jig and better visualize what has to happen to actually cut the lines.
Great vid but how do you align the offset of the pieces?
That's covered starting at 3:28, if I understand your question.
@@enduringcharm Got it, thank you..one more question please, how would you set up a 3/4 inch front of drawer and 5/8 side of drawer...different dimensions...thank you again, would that be the same dimensions on the board you first set up...
Watching this with this jig is making me think al just put it away and try and learn to do hand cut couple of cuts chisel oot the wood sorted !! Thts awfy complicated .
Hand cut dovetails are actually not that difficult to accomplish with a little practice. Plus, it has the advantage of custom spacing and authentic style. However, for production runs a jig can't be beat. If I'm doing one drawer for a nightstand I'll likely hand cut the dovetails. If I'm doing a whole kitchen, I'll set up the jig and then run through a dozen drawers in a flash. The set-up takes time, but that time is easily made up with a production run of many drawers.
Try a Trend dovetail jig. I find this one over complicated.
You showed a lot, but you didn't explain how to do anything LOL
This was intended to explain the conceptual basis of dovetail jigs. Once you understand the concepts it should be easier to actually use them.