The Bottom Line

In a day when so many products seem to make all kinds of promises but come up short on delivery, it is a pleasure to encounter a product that does exactly what it claims. The Leigh D1600 is one such tool. Set up and tuning is relatively quick and once you've grown accustomed to the settings, cutting accurate and beautiful dovetails consistently becomes quite easy. This is one tool that I'd be happy to use in my shop on a daily basis.

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Pros

• Sturdy aircraft aluminum base
• Well-written manual and helpful DVD
• Cut through, half-blind and sliding dovetails with ease

Cons

• Clamp bar mechanism feels a bit flimsy

Description

• Both the user guide and the DVD are quite informative, with step-by-step instructions for cutting perfect dovetails.
• After you adjust the jig to get exactly the right fit for the pins on through dovetails, they'll fit cleanly every time.
• I found cutting blind dovetails even easier. I had a perfectly fitting set of blind dovetails within ten minutes.
• To say that the clamp bar mechanism is flimsy is probably being nit-picky. It held the stock firmly without any movement.

Guide Review - Leigh D1600 Dovetail Jig

I'll be honest: my first impression of the Leigh D1600 was a bit frustrating. As I opened the box and went through all of the parts, I couldn't find the three router bits that the book said accompanied the jig. Not to worry, as I had plenty of bits of my own. However, as I was putting the jig together, I found the bits in some small black containers that I had overlooked the first time through the box.

As it would turn out, this oversight on my part would be about the only thing I'd find disappointing about the jig, and it was entirely due to a mistake on my part.

As a writer who has experience in writing product manuals, I must say that the user guide that accompanies the Leigh D1600 is exceptionally well-written and easy to follow. I wish all product manuals were so well laid out. The DVD that accompanies the unit is also very informative, and would be a great help to first-time dovetail jig users.

The base of the Leigh D1600 is machined from what appears to be aircraft aluminum, and is very clean and sturdy. Assembly of the parts is very easily accomplished, as you should be able to go from opening the box to tuning the unit to machining your first dovetail within an hour.

Start by machining some through dovetails. Set the fingers to the proper depth and cut the tails first. Then, flip over the finger mechanism to cut the pins. You'll need to manually adjust the pin cutting side of the jig to get exactly the right fit, but once you know how to set up your particular jig for through dovetails, they should fit cleanly and precisely every time for that thickness of stock.

In my opinion, the clamp bar mechanisms seemed like they could be a bit more precise, as they tended to have some wobble that felt a bit unstable. However, that is really quibbling over a minor detail, as they held the stock solidly and didn't mar the board.

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