(03-10-2018, 03:39 PM)jteneyck Wrote: I was glad I borrowed my friend's Leigh DT jig before buying one.  Beautifully made and way too complicated.  Mostly I disliked it because you have to hold and move the router through each cut; I just found that awkward, subject to tipping which causes error, and tiring on my hands.  I went back to my original Leigh Jig which is stupid simple and can cut finger joints and dovetails with fixed or variable spacing.  And it fits the way I like to work better, with the router mounted in the table and me holding the wood.  With thru DT's you can clamp a whole stack of parts together and cut all the tails or all the pins at once.  With half blind DT's you have to cut the pin boards one at a time, but you can cycle through the parts and make the cut at each position before indexing the jig to the next position.  I guess I just like simple.  

John

(03-11-2018, 12:22 PM)Tapper Wrote: John, do you have the RTJ400? And if so, what kind of router table do you use it on? Seems like it would require a sizable table top that is dead flat, correct? Maybe a cast iron model.

Thanks,

Doug

(03-11-2018, 12:22 PM)Tapper Wrote: John, do you have the RTJ400? And if so, what kind of router table do you use it on? Seems like it would require a sizable table top that is dead flat, correct? Maybe a cast iron model.

Thanks,

Doug

(03-11-2018, 02:28 PM)jteneyck Wrote: No, the original Incra Jig.  It does take a pretty good size table top to make full use of it, but I have my router table on the end of two table saws bolted together.  Here's a picture of it set up cutting pins on half blind dovetailed drawers.  Note how I have a bunch of sides clamped together against the right angle carrier so I can do them all at once. 



The jig indexes on mating 1/32" racks.  There are stock templates for cutting finger joints and dovetails.  I used one of the stock DT patterns here, but it's easy to develop your own custom spacing, too.  The jig has a maximum range of 8" so when I need to cut joints in wider stock I do the first 7" or so and then index the entire jig and then complete the rest of the cuts.    

 

I think I paid around $75 for it 20+ years ago, which I thought was outrageous at the time, but it's earned its keep for many years now w/o issue so I have no complaints.  Sadly, I don't think it's made anymore.  

And yes, you do need to have a pretty flat router table top to avoid depth errors cutting the joints.  The photo above shows my old home built router table extension wing.  I had trouble keeping the router plate flush with the top so I replaced it with a cast iron extension and phenolic router plate from Peachtree. Everything is dead flat with it.   

I looked at the Leigh RTJ400.  Like all things Leigh, it's overly complicated and expensive.  The Incra Jig is so simple even I can get good results.



John

(03-11-2018, 06:52 PM)Tapper Wrote: Nice pics - thanks! 

The reason I asked is that you said "my original Leigh jig" in your response. Is the LS Positioner by Incra the follow-on to the one you have?

Doug

(03-11-2018, 09:28 PM)jteneyck Wrote: Oops, my bad.  Yes, it looks like the LS Positioner does what the original Incra jig does, but with a lot more bells and whistles, and a commensurately higher price.  For folks like me who would rather have the router in a table the LS Positioner should work well.  Thanks for pointing it out.  Until you did I hadn't looked at it specifically.  

John

(03-12-2018, 11:08 AM)Tapper Wrote: John, it looks like the one you've had for a while has now been re-issued, albeit in black.

Incra Jig

Doug

(03-12-2018, 12:24 PM)Bob10 Wrote: SOLD!  I found a better price here the lower link includes the fence this code gets you an extra 10% off 

I have rules but my eyes aren't perfect and I don't like to wear glasses to incremental stops should take some of the fuzziness out of my work
I think it will see a lot of use on my drill press too


TAKE10

https://www.pricefalls.com/product/the-original-incra-jig/327998390

https://www.pricefalls.com/product/the-original-incra-jig-original-jig-fence-system-with-mdf-fence-and-shop-stop/331069574