Perform Dovetail Jig

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Hey guys :wink:

Im thinking about getting myself a dovetail jig for Christmas (yep I have to buy my own toys now that Santa has given up) :p

I very rarely make drawers but wouldnt mind having some sort of dovetail jig & so I was thinking about the "Perform" dovetail jig for around £37 in Axminster.

Has anyone had any experience with this jig or similar? ive also seen an identical one expect in blue in "Charnwood", it seems they are all chinese imports, even the slightly more expensive "Axminster" own jig to me looks pretty identical to the Perform.

One concern I do have is that my router is a 1/2" Porter Cable 7529 & these jigs look rather smallish, im wondering if my router base plate will be too large to run properly on this type of jig.

Any thoughts, good or bad im all ears @@@@ :D

Thanks!
Nick :wink:
 
Nick
I bought one of thse a while ago-they work fine, your router should no be a problem. They are "fixed" in their spacing and won't cut thru dovetails-that is the only downsides. Apart from that, once a few test pices have been run to get the hang of it, you are away!
regards
Philly :D
 
thanks m8 for the fast reply,

To be honest I very much doubt if I will want to do through dovetails, I personally prefer the look of the standard variety :p

I was going to make my own jig but at that price it isnt worth all the time & hassle.

Nick :wink:
 
Hi Nick,

I don't think you can go wrong. All the better if the jig has a metal template rather than a plastic one, but as you said, at that price...

I found it rather cumbersome using a 1/2" router on my jig (Leigh D4) although it still did the biz, and at the time was the trigger to take the plunge (groan :roll: ) and invest in a 1/4" router. It (Trend T5) is just so bloody useful anyway for lots of stuff, it was worth getting a 1/4"/8mm router regardless of having a dovetail jig.

Ike


Ike
 
I bought one of those Chaiwanese imports from Screwfix a few years ago when they were a lot more expensive than now.
I ran a number of test pieces until I knew I could get a good fit.
It was a year later that I went to use it for some desk drawers.
The plastic stops fell to pieces the moment they were touched.
I went to put the right side stops on the left and these too broke into many bits.
It was a very poor quality plastic that had been used.
When clamping the work in with the hold down knobs I found the work always too loose.
The plastic knobs were no longer fixed to the nurled bolts so lifted off.
As the guarantee had just expired I had to buy a new one just for a pair of drawers.
Fortunately the price had dropped by £20 and this one has lasted (so far)
I wont be buying one of the cheap ones next time.
I will get one of the better ones with a good name behind it because those companies sell much better quality jigs.
 
To follow up on this post, ive just found on the net this:
Sip Quick Set Dovetail Jig
http://www.diytools.co.uk/diy/Main/Product.asp?iProductID=6612

Its about the same price as the Perform, not sure if it comes with a cutter though, but it does come with 2 other templates, whats got me puzzled though is it says its supplied with:

1/2", 7/16th & a 9/16", well I only work in mm but if im not mistaken those sizes are so similar, why would they supply them at all?

Am I missing something here? I thought it was 1/2", 1/4" etc.. that were the common ones, also with a 9/16th template, I wouldnt know what cutter to use, I think this jig is the same as the perform whereby you use a bearing guided cutter, so im not sure what you would use for the other templates as axminster etc.. only sell 1 or 2 sizes of these bearing cutters at most.

Any ideas?
Nick :)
 
nick the sip one has a two year warranty and is £34.95 ,with three metal templates thats not a bad price . :p
 
7/16" is 11.15mm
1/2" is 12.7mm
9/16" is 14.3mm
It may not seem much but spans 1/8" (3.18mm)
 
Nick

If you do buy this Jointer make sure you fit a guide bush to to your router size i think is 14.0mm it makes life a whole lot easier, i have a few dents in mine when i slipped without one on
Tony
 
nick the sip comes with a cutter ,it has a guide bearing on the shank i looked at it in the show on saturday looks ok for the price , show price was £34 ,no pence .so you save 95 p :?
 
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