Akeda Dovetail Jig

[CPeter James]

Saturday I went out shopping for a new dovetail jig. I had read and read on the net about so many different ones that I did not know what I really wanted and started with an open mind. On the way, I stopped a fellow woodworker's place and he showed me his Incra fence set up on his router table and how that worked so that added another option to the list of choices. First stop was a Rockler store where they had the Leigh jigs, both the D4 and the D1600. Kind of impressive and I wanted something that would do other things besides fixed spacing half blinds. Unfortunately, no one in the store knew anything about dovetail jigs. (The guy who did had the day off)

Next stop was a Woodcraft. They had the Leigh D4 and the Akeda and they had someone who knew dovetail jigs. He showed me the Akeda and how it worked and how easy it was to set up and use and to make a long story short, I bought one. (It was on sale at $70 off, too).

After I got it home, I read the instructions and looked it over and Sunday, decided to try my luck. I had a couple of drawers waiting to be assembled, just needing to have the dovetails cut and so after one test cut on some pine, went for it on the real thing in oak. Great fit on the first cut, never did make any changes. It worked right out of the box. My old cheapie would cut a dovetail only after 20 or 30 test cuts and adjustments and then it might not be right. The repeatability was a selling point. It has 1/8" increments in the spacing and they have clear indents so going back is easy, as I found out. One drawer was perfect, but the sides on the second had been left long to cut down later and I for got and did the dovetails on the over sized piece. After everything had been put away, I had to redo 2 of the tail cuts. A ten minute setup, redo the two cuts and another perfect fit. This works so well it is really fun to use. I highly recommend it.

CPeter

[Dev Emch]

Congrats on the new tool.

I looked at this jig at the woodworking show and made two observations.

First. This is the best built jig of the whole lot even surpassing the workmanship of the porter cable omnijig and esp. the D4. You will not be sorry with this tool.

Second. There are quite a few sets of plastic or nylon filled fingers and these fingers fit in registration pips that allow for about 1/8 inch adjustability or registration.

This does make repeat setups easy. But is also restricts you to some degree. I guess you can shrink the size of a half pin by 1/8 inch and not worry about it to much. But, bottom line is, it does not have the infinite adustibility that the D4 has.

Third. And this is the reason I did not buy one. It is limited to about 16 inches. The D4 is limited to 24 inches. I personally feel that if you only use this to make drawers, then the 16 inch size limitation is not an issue and that is why Leigh came out with the D1600.

Overall, I feel that the D4 has the best idea; however, its built a bit on the cheesy side. Not bad but not as nice as this new jig. All things considered, I would say that the market belongs to Leigh and Akeda. Another item to point out is that the Akeda solves a number of old problems such as dust collection. Had I not already had the D4, I could see myself using the Akeda for the kitchen drawers.

[Craig Zettle]

Was the discount you refer to on just the jig or the jig and accesory package? If it was the package, was it stuff you really need? Curious as I am ready to get one.

[CPeter James]

The Jig was $260 and I bought 3 bits at $18 each and the dust collector at $30. It comes with the fingers for HB and one set for through that you can use for 1/4" to 3/4" through with the 7º bit. You can get more but you can get by with what I got.

On the D4 Leigh, you can go to 24" like Dave says, but there is not the indexed repeatability of the Akeda and I only plan to do drawers so this should work fine.

CPeter

[Gail O'Rourke]

I just bought 2 weeks ago the Akeda and am planning on using it this week. I will let you know how it goes, I demo'd it at woodcraft and loved it. More later this week.

[Dennis Peacock]

I have used the Akeda DT jig and really loved the ease of use as well as how repeatable it was as well as the dust collection worked better than I expected. My next DT jig will for SURE be the Akeda. I have used a PC Omnijig for years now and I'm getting very tired of spending signigicant time with setups and trial cuts.

[Jim Becker]

Although I'm not about to give up my D4, the Akeda has a lot to like about it and I'd recommend that anyone looking for a full-function dovetailing system consider it. Congratulations on your new tool!

[Craig Zettle]

CPeter, looks like you got a great deal on the Akeda. I called Woodcraft and they don't have any sales going on right now, so your's must have been an in store sale.

If anybody knows of any deals, post them. My jig is down and I need a new one ASAP.

[Doug Shepard]

CPeter, looks like you got a great deal on the Akeda. I called Woodcraft and they don't have any sales going on right now, so your's must have been an in store sale.

If anybody knows of any deals, post them. My jig is down and I need a new one ASAP.

One of their flyers showed up in the mail 2 days ago, and the back cover has the $70 off Akeda special (item #143580). The flyer says prices are good until 7/27/05. This flyer doesn't appear to be store-specific, but their website seems to be showing an older or different flyer when you click 'Sales Flyer' from the homepage.

[Dave Tinley]

I have had the Akeda for a little over a year now and it is great.Ease of set up and repeatability. I bought the jig and accessory kit and it was worth the investment. It even does box joints.
BTW- you can do boards larger then 16", just take your widest board, rip it to equal widths, cut your dovetails and edge glue it back together. If you space it right, you cant tell the difference.
The dust collector is ok, better then not having one, but it wont get all of the dust.
One thing I did that has helped out, I went to a couple of pawn shops and purchased a mid size craftsman and porter cable routers and put the dovetail bit in one and the straight bit in the other, makes it alot easier and faster to switch routers, then swap out bits.
Enjoy,
Dave

[Joe Snare]

The Akeda is fast and accurate. The customer service is superb also. I had a issue with mine and after talking with the folks at Akeda they repaced it with a new one NO QUESTIONS asked in less than a week. They paid all the shipping to and from Canada. THis speaks voumes for me since my one dealing with Leigh about a defective finger was several weeks in resolution and I paid the freight.

[Allen Bookout]

The Akeda is fast and accurate. The customer service is superb also. .

I will second that!!!!!!!!