# Porter Cable 4212 dovetail jig



## Kirk650 (May 8, 2016)

I've had one for 5 years or more. It works pretty good, though I have to 'relearn' it when I go to use it again. The biggest problem I had with it is that maximum width of a board is 12 inches. I was grumping about that while reading up on ways to dovetail (other than by hand) unlimited width boards. I found, to my surprise, that I could do it with my 4212 template if I used it like a Keller Jig. Wow! So I printed off the supplemental manual on the jig, read up on it, did the template set-up, set up the routers with the correct bits, attached the modified jig, and cut some dovetails. The tails were cut perfectly. The pins were wrong wrong wrong. So I reread that part, made the correct changes, and cut perfectly matching pins. Best fit on dovetails that I can remember. I seriously doubt that I'll ever use the template back in the PC jig. Much easier and logical doing it this new way. Not to mention that it's faster.

Every now and then I'll gear up with chisels and do hand cut dovetails, but I never get them looking as good as what I just did with the new jig set-up.

Now I can start on the blanket chest for the favorite niece. And I think I can quit worrying about the dovetails. Whew!


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## pintodeluxe (Sep 12, 2010)

Give us some pictures of your setup.


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## Kirk650 (May 8, 2016)

Pictures aren't worth the trouble. The template is now simply attached by screws to a wood base 2×3x19 inches. The wood to be dovetailed is clamped to the wood base. Truly nothing fancy at all. You can google it up for better pictures than I can provide. I think I found it under "supplemental manual for unlimited width dovetailing" or something similar.


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## runswithscissors (Nov 8, 2012)

Years ago I did something similar with a Sears dovetail jig. I found you can make your own templates to get any size or spacing you want. Not that hard to do.


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## muleskinner (Sep 24, 2011)

I think this might be the supplement he's referring to.

http://go.rockler.com/tech/RTD10000211AA.pdf

43 pages if you're going to print it. It appears that my PC dovetail jig is a lot more versatile than I thought.


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## Kirk650 (May 8, 2016)

Yes, Mule, that's what I printed off. I had no idea, till I saw that supplemental manual, that the 4212 was so useful. All this time I had been thinking I should have bought that 24 inch model made by….I forget.

I did find yesterday, when I set everything up and used it, that the router still slings mucho wood chips/shavings. No improvement there. I was so covered with wood bits that the wife wouldn't let me in the house till I vacuumed my clothes.


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## muleskinner (Sep 24, 2011)

> I did find yesterday, when I set everything up and used it, that the router still slings mucho wood chips/shavings. No improvement there. I was so covered with wood bits that the wife wouldn t let me in the house till I vacuumed my clothes.
> 
> - Kirk650


Ain't that the truth. I'm always amazed at how much of a mess you can make putting little notches in wood.


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## Kirk650 (May 8, 2016)

Ok, finally got the Hard Maple for the toy chest. My test cuts with the new jig setup were with white pine, so I was concerned that maybe the soft wood was the reason the dovetails fit together so well. So today I did some test dovetails with Hard Maple, and the fit was perfect. Quite honestly, the ease of use of the dovetail template set up this way was far better than using the whole Model 4212 jig as sold, and now there is no 12 inch maximum on board width.


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