Eric. Posted January 1, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2016 Yeah I read that about keeping the router in the same orientation and not rotating it at all since the bushing is elliptical. I guess I'm still not fully grasping the benefit of the special bushing because it just seems like an unnecessary complication that can introduce error. But I assume there's a reason they made it that way. We won't be doing asymmetric dovetails...we're doing symmetrical then trimming off the bottom of the case panels so the molding lands at the correct place in order for it to appear as a half pin. Am I misremembering our conversation or are you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgreenb Posted January 1, 2016 Report Share Posted January 1, 2016 Nah I misspoke. You left the panels wide on both ends right? Like you're gonna do trimming from both ends? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davewyo Posted January 1, 2016 Report Share Posted January 1, 2016 You don't need to use the elliptical bushing for through DTs. You can use a standard 7/16th(1/4' barrel length) guide bushing. You only need to use the elliptical for single pass half blind DTs, finger joint adjustment and sliding DTs.. At least that's how it is with my Leigh SuperJig. I would wager it is the same with the D4. Check the manual(1st pg. of Chap. 3 in mine). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted January 1, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2016 15 minutes ago, bgreenb said: Nah I misspoke. You left the panels wide on both ends right? Like you're gonna do trimming from both ends? The ultimate width of the panels is totally arbitrary. Right now they're at about 18.5" but whatever we end up with, we end up with...I just pulled dimensions out of my wazoo. So no, technically I didn't leave extra material on both sides...we'll have a half pin at the top and a half pin at the bottom after we cut the dovetails, then we'll trim off the bottoms of the panels to whatever width dictates that the molding land at the correct height to create the appearance of a half pin at the bottom. If that makes any sense. It probably doesn't. 8 minutes ago, davewyo said: You don't need to use the elliptical bushing for through DTs. You can use a standard 7/16th(1/4' barrel length) guide bushing. You only need to use the elliptical for single pass half blind DTs, finger joint adjustment and sliding DTs.. At least that's how it is with my Leigh SuperJig. I would wager it is the same with the D4. Check the manual(1st pg. of Chap. 3 in mine). Good tip, Dave. I may consider that...although I don't believe I have two 7/16" bushings. It might be worth buying an extra. I really don't wanna deal with the eccentric bushings if I don't have to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgreenb Posted January 1, 2016 Report Share Posted January 1, 2016 Ok, our conversation just returned to my memory. Yes, that makes sense. And the ultimate takeaway was that you need to make sure that you make the fingers dead on symmetrical (or as close as you can get it). Use setup blocks or shims or something. Normally it doesn't matter and you can just eyeball it. But in this case if you're not dead nuts (or close) symmetrical it's gonna be really noticeable. If you want I can explain why, but not tonight. Too many beers to do it any coherent justice. Just use the elliptical bushing. It's not a big deal. Dave is correct that it only matters for other features, not through dovetails, but why mess with another bushing. Just keep the router steady. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted January 1, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2016 1 minute ago, bgreenb said: Ok, our conversation just returned to my memory. Yes, that makes sense. And the ultimate takeaway was that you need to make sure that you make the fingers dead on symmetrical (or as close as you can get it). Use setup blocks or shims or something. Normally it doesn't matter and you can just eyeball it. But in this case if you're not dead nuts (or close) symmetrical it's gonna be really noticeable. Yep, I get it. I plan to use some kind of block to set the spacing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted January 1, 2016 Report Share Posted January 1, 2016 This thingamajig is supposed to make dovetails EASY, right? I'm pretty sure I hand cut my first set into hardwood in less time than it took to read this conversation, much less the manual! I hope the results are good for both of you! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgreenb Posted January 1, 2016 Report Share Posted January 1, 2016 9 hours ago, wtnhighlander said: This thingamajig is supposed to make dovetails EASY, right? I'm pretty sure I hand cut my first set into hardwood in less time than it took to read this conversation, much less the manual! I hope the results are good for both of you! I wouldn't say easier. Just faster. And of course that depends on how many you have to cut. Of course there's a learning curve but once you know how to use the thing it's easy. Especially plain TDTs. I could do both of E's blanket chests in 30 minutes including setup. I'm sure there are people who can hand cut them in that little time, but I'm not one of them. And neither is Eric, if I may speak for him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted January 1, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2016 No way. If I cut all the dovetails in just my chest it would take me at least two days. And that doesn't even take into account Joe's chest...the bigger problem. I mean I could pound out joints that fit together in a couple hours I'm sure, but I'm too anal for that sloppy crap so it would be agonizingly slow. There are a TON of dovetails on these two chests. The first time you use a jig like this you have to expect a big learning curve. The Incra was the same way...the first time took me a whole day to do a single drawer. But after that I could knock them out way faster than cutting by hand because I understood the process. I consider the time invested in learning this jig as an investment in future builds as well. And ultimately, I don't really care how long anything takes...perfect or near perfect joinery is what I'm interested in. The thing that annoys me is THINKING, not the time it consumes. I hate THINKING. The worst part of woodworking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodger. Posted January 1, 2016 Report Share Posted January 1, 2016 you think that jig is complicatd, you try assembling this ridicolous marble run my daighter received as a christmas gift! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treeslayer Posted January 1, 2016 Report Share Posted January 1, 2016 absolutely eric, the thinking part is the hardest, I've had the leigh jig for about 4 years now and the only issue i have with it is the 8MM adaptor, it keeps slipping, i have to really tighten that thing to get it to stay put. they do make an 8MM collet for my porter cable and thats my next purchase before doing anymore on that machine. i have made asymmetrical dovetails on a hope chest i made, lots of thinking on that one but it came out great. i like that machine so much i pulled the trigger on an F3 finger joint template this morning to add another tool to the pile. a friend has the old F1 template and he found it very easy to use with great results. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Eric. Posted January 5, 2016 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted January 5, 2016 Major milestone today: case dovetails are complete. The Leigh is a total pain in the ass to set up, but I'll tell you what...it makes some very nice joints. After a couple duh moments this morning and a slap in the face from the guys in chat, we were off to the races. These things are YOOGE! LOL They're gonna be awesome though. We had a good laugh over the size of them and I reminded Joe his new wife is gonna need a ton of space to store all of her shattered dreams with him as her husband. I thought that was funnier than he did. Tomorrow we'll dovetail the skirt boards and probably start working on the bottoms. After that, I get busy with work and a fishing trip so we'll be stalled again for another couple weeks. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davewyo Posted January 5, 2016 Report Share Posted January 5, 2016 13 minutes ago, Eric. said: Tomorrow we'll dovetail the skirt boards and probably start working on the bottoms. After that, I get busy with work and a fishing trip so we'll be stalled again for another couple weeks. Watch the high water! I'll bet the North Fork is flowing strong... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted January 5, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2016 Yeah it's still yet to be seen if we'll be able to fish or not. Normal flow this time of year is well under 1,000 cfs...a week ago it was 90,000. It dropped to under 10k quickly but it's still roaring right now. It's one of those rivers though...comes up fast and empties fast. Unless we get more rain in the next ten days we should be good. We'll have drift boats but we'll still have to get under 2k for it to be fishable. If not we'll just play poker in the cabin and eat and drink ourselves to near death. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted January 5, 2016 Report Share Posted January 5, 2016 Awesome progress Eric! That really looks awesome! And, you're spot on about the D4! I go thru that every time I use it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaneymack Posted January 5, 2016 Report Share Posted January 5, 2016 Glad that you got that jig figured out. That was the easy part, the half blind are a little trickier. Its looking good man, you must be happy to finally get going on this thing! Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treeslayer Posted January 5, 2016 Report Share Posted January 5, 2016 those are looking great eric, made a couple of huge ones like them last year, 48" X 17" piece in that jig is a handful for sure, i guess i got lucky with mine and was making dovetails in under an hour after i got it put together but to this day i agree with shane and kev, every time i use it i still have to refer to the dvd it came with and half billed are a little trickier to get the hang of, i used dovetails on the skirt of the cherry one i built, the walnut one i used a 1 1/4 rounder bit on the corners, gave it an interesting effect, looking forward to more pics 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgreenb Posted January 5, 2016 Report Share Posted January 5, 2016 Awesome. Glad you got it all figured out. Both chests look great. Love the grain continuity on Joe's. Like you said, once you get going with the jig it produces great joints, especially TDTs. What are you doing for the top? Breadboards or no? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Eric. Posted January 5, 2016 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted January 5, 2016 Yep, we'll be doing traditional breadboards. We haven't totally decided on hardware yet. Probably the Rockler torsion hinges if they'll work with the thickness of our boards (we're a little shy of a full 3/4" but I think they'll still work). If not we may go with traditional butt hinges and lid stays or chains...which will look good but will be a little more work and will cost considerably more since I'll make us use Brusso. The stays are especially pricey...but awesome. Not much to report today. We finished the skirt dovetails, put the Leigh away (yay!), started working on the skirt profile templates (ignore the left side...not done yet) and then we kind of ran out of steam. Or I did anyway. Called it a day. The most difficult and stressful part is behind us. Lots of work still to do but it's all downhill from here. Stay tuned...will be a couple weeks before another update. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted January 5, 2016 Report Share Posted January 5, 2016 Interesting detail in the profile. Small time consuming detail but, the devil is in the details. Nice job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted January 6, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2016 4 hours ago, TIODS said: Interesting detail in the profile. Small time consuming detail but, the devil is in the details. Nice job! Thanks man. Yeah I like it too... "All my best ideas are stolen." - Peter Follansbee LOL 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Brown Posted January 15, 2016 Report Share Posted January 15, 2016 Beautiful chests Eric. This is something I would love to work up to...in about 10 years. Right now I am just getting a handle on telling dovetails from a hole in the ground. Time and patience are going to be key. Oh and Pug - my son got the big brother of that dang marble set a couple years back. It is a beast and the instructions are not worth anything...but the kiddo likes it and that is all that matters 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Immortan D Posted January 15, 2016 Report Share Posted January 15, 2016 8 minutes ago, David Brown said: This is something I would love to work up to...in about 10 years You may still finish it before Eric... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted January 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2016 45 minutes ago, Immortan D said: You may still finish it before Eric... It's true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted January 15, 2016 Report Share Posted January 15, 2016 I used the Rockler hinges on the guild chest build. Going by their weight and deminision chart, it called for three hinges, which made it a little hard to open. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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