Leecraft HT-1 Zero Clearance Insert

I’ve always made my own zero clearance inserts, and on the old Craftsman table I used previously, it was a pain to make them correctly. With my new Porter-Cable saw, it looked to be even more painful. This time around, a purchased ZCI seems like the way to go. A quick search showed one manufacturer appearing multiple times in the search results: Leecraft.

A couple blanks were purchased from, and fulfilled by, Woodcraft via Amazon.

When received, I was surprised by how heavy and solid these phenolic inserts are. They sit completely flat and when the leveling screws and tension screws are adjusted, there is absolutely no movement. The only thing about this particular insert is the odd color and pattern on it. The second is more of a DayGlo orange.

A piece of 2×4 was clamped across the insert and then the blade was slowly raised until it was fully through. A similar process was followed for the dado cutter, but the blade was raised much slower. It took about a minute to raise the 3/4” dado up through the phenolic material.

Several test cuts were made and it worked as expected, well worth the price of $25 (each).