E-Z Pro Dovetailer Dovetail Jig Any Good ???

i have it, it works pretty good and is easy to set up. i cut a pretty nice half tail on my second practice cut once i figured out how to set up the wood, i didnt read the instructions right otherwise it would have been perfect on my first try

only thing i had problem with is i overtightened the little clamps and warped the alluminum. i had to mess with it for awhile to get it straightened out. i put some sticky sandpaper on the jig to hold the wood so i wouldnt have to tighten it as much and all is good.

i like that you can use it on the router table or with a hand held router either way works

Gotta be more than one of these jigs out there

-- E J ------- Always Keep a Firm Grip on Your Tool

Never heard of it…

-- Randy "You are judged as much by the questions you ask as the answers you give..."

I had one and works great out of the box for the first 2 uses then the bearing starts to just disinegrate, the jig becomes sloppy and just not a pretty sight. I suggest the porter cable 12” or 24” i have met some people with these jigs and they couldnt be happier.

-- http://aewoodworks.webs.com

What bearings ? I just see a cast aluminum piece and some threaded footed clamps. You must be mistaken. Here it is: http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=30221

-- If you're going to stir the pot, think BIG spoon or SMALL boat paddle. David Grimes, Georgia

There is a half-inch 14° dovetail bit included, with bearings on it, look close David it is in the picture

-- E J ------- Always Keep a Firm Grip on Your Tool

I was looking at this too. I can live with replacing the bit.. IMO it looks worth a try for $40.
If you use a smaller/larger bit with the same size bearing or a collar will it make other sizes? i guess that doesn’t come out right.
I almost impulse bought it this morning online (it’s my payday..) but I found that some other places have it for the same price with free shipping. Look around.

-- "Measure Once, Curse Twice"

General Tools 860 dovetailer EZ Pro dovetail Jig
Price: $39.97 & eligible for free shipping with Amazon

-- E J ------- Always Keep a Firm Grip on Your Tool

oh yeah… it has been awhile since i used this. i forgot to mention i added a second bearing to the router bit because i wasnt comfortable with the way it looked. a second bearing was like $0.10

btw the jig will do through dovetails but you have to buy a different bit then the one it comes with and the pins are rounded so it doesnt quite look right. works great for half blind dovetails though

Mike Gager

I downloaded the manual, from general tools website, it shows in there to use a spacer to avoid rounding over the tales

-- E J ------- Always Keep a Firm Grip on Your Tool

Yeah I saw the bit bearing, but the post said “2 uses then the bearing starts to just disinegrate, the jig becomes sloppy and just not a pretty sight” and I was/am having trouble visually following cause and affect here. Wow, the bit bearing is cheesy ? I never thought about that. Honestly, I have never had a router bit bearing disintegrate. I usually have good ones that either get dull or rarely used… nothing in between. Huh. And when they disintegrate they make the jig sloppy?

I’ll be having me one of these. If I get my four drawers I need out of it, I’ll call it even.

-- If you're going to stir the pot, think BIG spoon or SMALL boat paddle. David Grimes, Georgia

I bought this from Harbor Freight. With a 20% off coupon, it was about $25. It only does half DTs, but several different sizes can be made using templates purchased from Grizzly. I think box joints can be made too, but I’m not sure .

Tedstor

I have seen this ,and it looks like it is not a bad jig for the Bucks

-- E J ------- Always Keep a Firm Grip on Your Tool

I think my attraction to this cheap jig is that it can be used at the router table or with the freehand router brought to it. Most can’t do the router table thing. Also, it does dovetail and box joints, half blinds and full through. It will do wider than 6” but not at one setup, but easy to do. 6” will do my drawers most of the time. 12” will do them all.

It is made of machined aluminum that is 1/2 inch thick and 1/4 inch thick. The only plastic is the depth gauge, clamp feet and the alignment tool.

If it lets me use the router table and does a good job, then I’ll get good quality dovetail bit and box bit for it. Would you really expect a General router bit to be any good ? Just like great tablesaws and bandsaws come with crap blades, we toss them immediately and go get our $100 Woodworker II or whatever.

Yeah, I got one today and will post a review with pics after I use it awhile. And if it IS crap, I’ll try to put a scratch and sniff on one of the pics (meaning I’ll tell it like it is).

-- If you're going to stir the pot, think BIG spoon or SMALL boat paddle. David Grimes, Georgia

The whole problem with jigs of this nature is the setup and maintaining that. I had one of the entry level jigs about 25 years ago and it worked ok but was time consuming, it didn’t have the cam locks so you had to crank knobs all day. That and it didn’t take long before some ‘play’ showed up. Each piece of it didn’t feel like it had much lost motion, but at the end of the cut those little variences ‘stacked’ as it’s called and the work did not line up as it should. The wider the work the worse it got.
The one pictured above looks like a Jet knock off but the Jet uses plain shank bits and a guide bushing. The real diff is that the Jet is @90% steel, the KO 90% aluminum. Unless you’re talking T-1 or other exotic aluminum alloys the steel will out last it several times over.
Setup is about the same for any of the jigs out there, that is to say a pain in the ass. I use my Jet ($60.00 new in the box- ebay) so much that I have a dedicated router just for it. Another thing of note is that a template from one jig doesn’t always fit another. Most often the screw spacing is off and the part doesn’t have enough ‘meat’ to redrill, not to mention the said operation would have to be pretty accurate or you’d destroy the template. This I found out the hard way- I bought a box joint temp from a Woodcraft showroom that fit their jig which ‘looked’ just like my Jet. Wrong, it wouldn’t bolt up. Rather than take it back I built a new jig out of 3/4” OSB and used toggle clamps. It bolts or clamps to the bench so it goes back in the corner until I need it again. I keep another router setup for it too, when you’re trying to make a little money in this game setup time will kill you.
With all that said- if you’d only use one occasionaly buy the lower priced one, it will work fine.

-- A TOOL JUNKIE- There, I just admited it to myself...