[LGLDSR71]

Greetings,

Great Forum here!

I currently have a Rockler Dovetail Jig which I purchased about a month ago. I'm not all that wild about it. Circa 2004 I worked quite a bit with a Porter Cable jig and have decided to return the Rockler and buy a PC 4216 Dovetail Jig.

I have a Bosch 1617EVS Router and in speaking with their Tech Support the only item I need (which I already have) to use the PC guide bushings is the RA1129 Quick Change Template Guide Adapter Kit. Can anyone second that information?

The main question I have is Rockler includes a 1/2" to 8mm Collet Adapter with their Dovetail Jig. Is this specific to the bits they include with their jig, such as the 1/2" 14 degree for half-blind dovetails? From 2004 - 2008 I cannot recall ever having to use a Collet adapter when using bits, including with the PC jig I had at the time.

Many thanks,

Lyman

 

[DesertRatTom]

Hi Lyman. I feel for you. I had a Rockler dovetail jig, almost identical to the PC. I gave up on it. Too tricky to set up and a slight error means do it all over again. So I used the money to buy one of the new jigs, in my case, the Katie jig by Sommerfeld tools. It is completely different because the router is stationary and the jig with wood attached, moves. Setup is far simpler. Leigh also makes a similar dovetail jig.

I'll speak to the Katie jig because I'm familiar with it. It is ingenious. For example, you can set up as many fingers or pins and tails as you want. You use a square to make sure the moveable guides are 90 to the jig and voila', done. Sommerfeld's is 12" long. I'm partial to Marc Sommerfeld's products, and no I don't get a toaster. I suggest you check out his videos because Marc is an old cabinetmaker who got into the router bit business. His technique is simple and very effective.

Here's a video that covers the Katie jig:

 

[old55]

Welcome to the forum Lyman.

 

[jw2170]

Welcome to the forum , @LGLDSR71

 

[LGLDSR71]

Tom,

Thank you very much for the highly detailed reply and the video! I sincerely appreciate it. You are absolutely right about the Rockler, the slightest error and you are back at square one. That gets on one's nerves after a while especially with the price of lumber being what it is today.

Again, many many thanks!

Best,

Lyman

 

[LGLDSR71]

Welcome to the forum , @LGLDSR71

Thank you!

Best,

Lyman

 

[LGLDSR71]

Welcome to the forum Lyman.

Thank you, Ross!
Best,
Lyman

 

[LGLDSR71]

Welcome to the forum , @LGLDSR71

Ross and James,
I just noticed that you are both from Australia. In 2016 I took a never-ending flight from Boston, Massachusetts to Sydney where the company had sent me for training. It's corporate offices are located in Melbourne. I absolutely loved the Country but was shocked by the prices of goods.

It took me 3 days to get used to your coffee down there but after that I was wondering how I was going to get used to the coffee we have in the United States. Your coffee is second to none!

The company had a very nice apartment down there for employees to stay at and a few blocks down was a rather large store which sold food, beer, etc. A pack of cigarettes was $28 and upon my return I tried expensing those and it was rejected. I submitted that expense five times and five times it was rejected. I tried a sixth time which got me a personal email from the President of the company informing me that they were not going to pay for it and I was to "...cease and desist immediately.".

Great Country you have, really enjoyed my time down there.

Lyman

 

[jw2170]

Thanks, Lyman. Of course we know it is a great country. I agree about the coffee. We toured the USA in 2012 and could not get used to that mud that you guys call coffee.....LOL...

 

[old55]

Thanks Lyman.

 

[LGLDSR71]

Thanks, Lyman. Of course we know it is a great country. I agree about the coffee. We toured the USA in 2012 and could not get used to that mud that you guys call coffee.....LOL...

Isn't that the truth....when you were in the USA you also would have noticed the size of our Large compared to your Long. I still would have taken the Long over our Large.

One thing that bothered me about the 14,000 miles over the Pacific were the two engines on the 787 Dreamliner. While it can fly fine on one engine I kept wondering how much stress one engine could handle with, for example, seven hours to go. Would have felt better in a 747 with it's four engines.

 

[DesertRatTom]

One thing that bothered me about the 14,000 miles over the Pacific were the two engines on the 787 Dreamliner. While it can fly fine on one engine I kept wondering how much stress one engine could handle with, for example, seven hours to go. Would have felt better in a 747 with it's four engines.

I'm with you, I'd much rather have four engines, although they promise the 87's engines are just not going to fail. It is comforting to remember that when both are running, they're no where near full power, about half from what I've read, so they're not under much stress during normal operation.

The glide ratio of a powerless 787 is about 20:1 (20 ft forward for every one foot drop), which is pretty darn good, about half the ratio of a sailplane! So a 787 flying 5 miles high can glide for about 100 miles. I believe the routes across the pacific are set so that there are landing strips (military or commercial) within that distance from the flyway all the way across. The 787 has a new wing which allows it to fly faster, near Mach 1, so if both engines were to fail, you have a lot of momentum working for you, and with the APU emergency power on and satellite navigation, the pilot can pretty easily glide to a safe spot and land. The only issue would come if the engines exploded and damaged some vital systems or jammed a control surface, which might interfere with the glide. But 87 pilots are the cream of the crop, and if anyone can handle an emergency, this is the bunch who'll get you there safely.

As for me, I will never fly on the big, double-decker Airbus 380, even if it has four monster turbofan engines. If I suddenly got switched to one of those gross monsters, I'd rebook my flight, even if Quantas was the airline. Too much weight, too many people, too crowded.

 

[jw2170]

We did 3 trips to USA between 2012 and 2015, All the flights were on 737's....You have to trust that a plane of that size has been tested over time....