What to do?

[art3427]

I've got some $$$ coming from Uncle Sam as a tax return this year. LOML says I can use it to buy shop stuff. I've been looking for dovetail and mortise/tenon tools for some time. At this time I've sorta' settled on these : P/C 24" Onmijig, Leigh D4r, the Gifkin jig and finally the WoodRat.

The PC Omni is the only one that cuts tails and pins together and I like that. I have to buy a extra template to cut both through and half blind DT's.

The Leigh does both through and half blind DT's as well as variable spacing ones and I like that. But it only cuts one side at a time.

The Gifkin is by far the easiest to setup and use. I would need to buy at least 2 jigs to accommodate the various thicknesses I would need to mill.

Finally, the Woodrat will do all the DT's as well as box joints and mortise and tenons. It is also the most expensive ($699.00) and it has the longest learning curve.

If any of you have experience with any of these machines, I'd appreciate your pro and con observations.

art

[triplefreak]

Try Occam's Razor.

[Stretch]

I have experience with the Leigh Jig. I did not like it. We used a borrowed Leigh D4r at the shop I used to work at for a project. I came to the conclusion that I could cut the dovetails by hand faster than setting up the jig, doing test cuts, resetting, etc...and get results that matched or exceeded the level of accuracy the jig provided.

[boodrow]

Stretch there has been someone in Athens postin the Omni for awhile now off and on craigslist, they want 350 for it. Dont know if thats a good price or not
Boodrow

[Beamer]

Well I can't help but pile on yet another option for ya, art ...

I'm a HUGE fan of my Incra router table fence system. It has made my router table the most reliable tool in my shop - i walk up to it with 100% confidence. It'll do half blind dovetails reasonably well - the learning curve isn't REAL bad, but a little steeper than the PC Omni is, for sure. It's not a "Both at once" jig, but you CAN gang cut your tails and box joints real easy. It ain't quite what you were lookin' at, but I figured i'd toss it into the mix

[Stretch]

Feb 24, 2010 18:47:03 GMT -6 boodrow said:

Stretch there has been someone in Athens postin the Omni for awhile now off and on craigslist, they want 350 for it. Dont know if thats a good price or not
Boodrow

Yeah, I've seen that several times. Seems like he's pretty stuck on getting $350 for it. I find it new online for around $420. If it looked like it had never been used, he might be able to expect that price, but I wouldn't take if for more than $300 if I wanted one and I don't. ;D

I've never used the Omnijig so I'll reserve judgment on it's quality.

[jim@jlazy3]

I have the PC omni in 24". It is an awesome jig. I HB dovetail every drawer I build, and the accuracy is second to none. I miss-matched some drawer fronts/sides once, so had to either cut out a whole new drawer, or just cut 2 new sides. I thought I'd test the omni's accuracy, and just cut the 2 sides, without any mating fronts...long story short, the 2 re-cut sides fit the previously DT fronts like a glove!

The Omni is a bit fussy to initially setup, took me about hour and a half to get it dialed in (there is a very good setup video for all of the jigs capabilities included), but it's been consistently perfect from then on.

I'd like to have the new omni, with the variable spacing capability, but there's nothing the matter with mine after 5 years of steady use, and I just can't justify the cost otherwise.

I've tried 2 other jigs... an omni style jig from Rockler, and a similar one from HF. Both were POS and promptly returned.
Oh, and tried the Akita too, sent it back as well (way overpriced, and way to slow).