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EZ Dovetail Jig

16672 Views 24 Replies 13 Participants Last post by  jdonhowe, 
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Just a quick How To Use the EZ Dovetail Jig :)

It's great little dovetail jig for the price and it's a very easy jig to use once you set it right.
The video(s) Demo are great but they don't press many important things that you need to do or not do to make great dovetails quick and easy..

The jig will do Blind dovetail in 1/4" to 3/4" thick stock just by adjusting the gray gauge on the right side of the jig..for the board thickness.

The 1st thing you want to do is NOT use the jig to set the dovetail bit (in the router table or your hand router) it's OK but not very true way, you want to use the brass bars, set the bit at 1" high, once you have that set move the brass bars to the right side and set the gray gauge to 1 1/4" for 3/4" thick stock.

Once you have that done don't move the router bit up or down and don't readjust the gray "gauge" one also, it's one time thing needed, set it and forget it thing.. :).

Now you are almost set to cut the dovetails pins, you can use 2",3",4",5" wide stock very easy,,move the pin board over the template pins and have some stock hang over the pin, template pins, just a little bit,on both sides ,once you are happy with that clamp a small stop block on the front of the jig,see picture below, this will take the guess work out on the next board settings.
Now cut all the pins on both ends of the sides boards for the box/drawer,once you have all the pins cut for the box remove the stop block on the front of the jig..

Now take the pin boards over to the other side of the jig and place a blank board in the jig, line it up just like in the video, but b/4 you cut the pockets, clamp one more stop block on the inside ,front of the jig, see the blue screws in the picture below, now cut the pocket holes on both ends of the front and back parts , the stock block will help you set up for the next board....quick and easy.

Many forget you don't need the sides of a drawer to be the same size as the hole, 3" or 4" works great without guides, you just need some wood guides in place so the drawer will side in and out easy but not drop out or down once you pull it open..

You will note the pins are almost sq. unlike many dovetail jigs it's almost a box joint but it's good dovetail joint that you can only see the one part of the joint like many dovetails are..

And yes this is done with a trim 1/4" router no need for a big router with dovetails.. :)

One more note::::: be sure to check the pocket holes b/4 you remove the board ..that's the only part of the jig that's hard to do right...you just can't see what's going on at the mill work time.. :) if you have burn marks in the pocket you are running the bit to fast and staying in the pocket to long..it should go 1,2 and 3 ,your done with that hole..


EZ-Pro Dovetail Jig from General Tools (Part 1 of 2) - YouTube
EZ-Pro Dovetail Jig from General Tools (Part 2 of 2) - YouTube

Amazon.com: General Tools 860 dovetailer EZ Pro dovetail Jig: Home Improvement


http://www.routerforums.com/bargain-bin/29324-brass-set-bars.html

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DesertRatTom
Interesting old string. I was watching some older season programs of the Woodsmith Shop last night and they made a great little shop made dovetail jig, very much like the Katie or Incra jigs that sit on top of the table. I prefer this to the old Porter Cable style which must be used regularly to remember how to set it up and adjust out all the small errors.

I have a Rockler dovetail jig with dust collector which are still in the boxes. It's the PC type jig and I'm thinking of selling it. Box contents: and details https://www.rockler.com/rockler-s-complete-dovetail-jig-with-dovetail-jig-dust-collector-combo-offer. Thinking $90 plus shipping. PM me if you're interested. Cleaning out the never used stuff.
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DesertRatTom
First, is this the jig you're talking about? If it is and it's warped, return it. Dovetails are very precise and a warp will make them impossible and ruin a lot of espensive wood. In general, it's very helpful to mark the inside of the parts of the box, and mark the corners that fit together, Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd. That will make it easier to determine which gets what cut. The A would be pins, the lower case the tails. Organizing that way will make it much clearer. I found this jig at Home Depot, so returning it should be easy. Here's the pix.
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DesertRatTom
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I have the Sommerfeld jig. It is also meant to be used on a table, and it is far more predictable than the more common PorterCable unit. I once watched someone use the PC in a demo. She was an experienced woodworker and she simply could not cut a dovetail joint that fit. Tried for more than an hour with prepped wood.

The thing about the General jig is that it's pretty short, so you're limited on the depth of box you can make. I for one will enjoy seeing how your project comes out. The bigger jigs, like the Sommerfeld Katy Jig, and the very similar Leigh, which is available in a longer version so you can make bigger boxes and deep drawers. But those jigs are definitely more expensive. This is just for your information.

I did find a favorable review of the General jig: 5 Best Dovetail jig of 2021 - Top-Rated Reviews & Deals It fared pretty well. But it didn't address the other type of jig. I like being able to move the wood over a fixed router rather than the other way around.

I really don't much like the look of boxes with dovetails showing. I prefer box joints, which are just as strong and with the iBox jig are simple to make and fit on a table saw with a dado set. Personal preference, far less fussy about setup. Here are some pictures of the Leigh dovetail jig and the iBox jig.

Leigh Dovetail jig on router table
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Incra iBox jig Adjusts to the thickness of the dado stack. Very simple setup.
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DesertRatTom
I use the Sommerfeld Katy Jig, and I like it. The Leigh jig is very similar. I do know the Sommerfeld jig has the ability to set odd spacing for the joints by replacing the fixed fingers with individual ones. I think both Sommerfeld and Leigh jigs are much more logical to use than the Porter Cable type. I had and was happy to be rid of the Rockler dovetail jig, which is the same as the PC. I know a lot of people like the Leigh but I can only speak to the Katy jig.

A key thing is to mark the inside of each piece, and lay them out and label the ends that fit together. Use a capital letter for the tails, lower case for the pins. So the four corners are marked Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd. Fairly easy to work it out from there, and there are lots of videos of each in use. I keep the Sommerfeld video on hand so I can review it because I don't us it very often.

Here's a video on using the Leigh jig, quite similar.
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