# Inaccurate holes with the Jessem Dowel Jig?



## bigbuddha (Aug 2, 2009)

Hello,

I was excited to start using this new jig with all the glowing reviews. The hole position drilled seems to be inaccurate and not sure if it's because it's end grain? I've marked lines for the mating pieces and it's offset. I redid the jig and positioned it directly in the middle of the line again (after the holes were drilled) and inserted the dowel into the hole and it goes in but it's obviously offset after removing the jig and trying to line it up with the mating piece. I drew a line down the end grain and it is not in the middle. The whole jig fixture is clamped pretty tight and I checked that there were no gaps anywhere. Any ideas? Gave up fiddling with this and did pocket holes in less than 5 minutes . Would like to fix this so I can use it for another project down the road, given the money I spent on it.


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## BlasterStumps (Mar 13, 2017)

I have one that I sight just to the left of the line on the jig when matching it up to the line on the wood. That seemed to solve it for me. I don't have the Jessem jig though. Could you make another reference mark that is closer?


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## bigbuddha (Aug 2, 2009)

The gap was huge though, it was about 1/16" off!! But it seems to be okay for the bottom piece (that is edge grain)?!


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## BlasterStumps (Mar 13, 2017)

what type of drill bit are you using with the jig? 
edit: I think they include a twist bit with the jig. I doubt if a brad point would work in the jig.


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## Kazooman (Jan 20, 2013)

Quick question: Did you ask Jessem?


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## bigbuddha (Aug 2, 2009)

It is a twist drill bit from the kit. I just shot them an email, was hoping you guys might have seen this!


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## RichT (Oct 14, 2016)

I have the JessEm. The trick to using it is not to align it by sight, but to use its indexing capability to align based on a dowel inserted into the mating piece when drilling the second board.

For doing face frames, the jig can be awkward to use as it's intended because of the design. I built a fixture to solve this problem. Read my blog post and you'll see all of the issues I found and how the fixture addresses them.

Do it right, and the holes will be perfectly aligned.

Even without the fixture, these two photos show the indexed alignment I'm referring to:

Drill the rail ends first and insert a dowel into one of them:










Then use that dowel in the jig's slot to align the stile. As long as the boards are flush, the holes will be perfectly located:


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## bigbuddha (Aug 2, 2009)

Thanks, Rich! I will check out the blog entry! I couldn't use the indexing part since it was a face frame piece (doh)! Thought it would be an easier way to do the face frames since I had the jig out already but it turned out to be way longer than I wanted to spend LOL!


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## NormG (Mar 5, 2010)

Great solution Rich


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