woodworking - dovetailing jig, anyone with experience?

[adriatic04]

anyone else do any woodworking? hopefully someone with some experience.

let me start with I am a hobbyist at best, like most things I just dive in and figure it out with no real training.

so now I am building drawers and am going to dovetail the drawer box. I have a porter cable dovetail jig (4212) and no matter how much I play around with the damn thing I cannot get them flush.

does anyone else have this jig and have experience getting it all setup and ready to build drawers? any tricks to be shared?

the woodworking forums are hammered with pros and terminology that I am still learning and the more I read the more I question everything I have done because of the overload of opinions on the "correct" way to do things.

 

[knewsom]

I'm assuming you read the manual... In case you don't have them,

The standard, I believe,
http://www.rockler.com/tech/RTD10000210AA.pdf

The Supplemental,
http://www.rockler.com/tech/RTD10000211AA.pdf

I typically cut dovetails (when I use them, which is uncommon for me) on a CNC router, so I may not have a lot of helpful advice on this one.

What alignment issues are you having? Top and Bottom? Or is it a depth issue?

 

[adriatic04]

i have the manual and have studied. it all makes sense and seems simple until you go to use it.

its a depth issue, tails and pins not flush. I could always sand out but they see too loose for the time being.

 

[hafaday]

It's been years for me. but looking up your specific jig, this guy has some good info on adjustments. worth a watch if you haven't seen it already.

As for tooling. is there any play at all in the router, as in, up and down or left to right movement on the bit? Another thought is. are you sure you're holding the router flat and level to the die/template? I remember doing the slight tilting of the router myself.

Good luck.

 

[knewsom]

It's been years for me. but looking up your specific jig, this guy has some good info on adjustments. worth a watch if you haven't seen it already.

As for tooling. is there any play at all in the router, as in, up and down or left to right movement on the bit? Another thought is. are you sure you're holding the router flat and level to the die/template? I remember doing the slight tilting of the router myself.

Good luck.

This - great video. I'd have used a table router to do the 3/8" dado, but that's just me.

Which style dovetail are you doing? If it's a depth issue, make sure your router bit is securely in place, and that you're following the jig nice and flush - the tip in the video about moving the jig in and out based on how close to flush the two pieces are sounds right to me.

Also, what thickness is the wood you're using?

 

[I HATE PONIES]

I can't help any on the jig but... It is going down to 2 degrees with 15mph winds and light snow here. It has got to be FUCKING MISERABLE up by the lake tonight.

 

[adriatic04]

Yeah ponies its fucking miserable alright. The wind off the lake is a bitch

Thanks guys. Going to have another go this weekend. More trial and error. More beers in the garage while I build sounds great.