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LEIGH D4 Jig

Geschrieben von: CONGER - The Irish diaspora in Munich
Datum: Samstag, 13. 12. 03, um 11:02

Mein Bericht ist leider nur auf Englisch. Für die die Fragen haben... bitte per E-mail -- CONGER@gmx.net.

LEIGH D4 Jig – 2nd report

I reported my first impressions some weeks ago.
To summarise from then:
1. The router guide bush needs to be centred with a mandrel – not really described in the manual.
2. The mounting arrangement for the router guide bush in the base plate makes it difficult to stabilise the router in use… a potential user hazard.

I have now used to jig for 2 ‘projects’ (a chest for the jig using 18mm ‘solid’ maple sheet from the cavern, and a table skirt using Tasmanian myrtle) and have some more to add.

The chest walls were quite large (I dovetailed top and bottom in one piece), and so it was not easy to position them accurately in the jig… I had to get help, and even then it was not really satisfactory. The DTs were medium quality... some breakout... maybe due to the wood.

The table skirt was easier. The pieces could be placed securely and accurately. The cut was excellent.. the DTs fit together with just hairline gaps.... the wood was sized by handplane!

Concerning the jig, I must say that I am disappointed with the finish.
I found out that the reason for my first debacles was a small piece of casting flash on the side stop bumpers. This meant that when the side stop bumper was tightened (using the setscrew) to the ‘side stop assembly’, the bumper moved! Not really a good thing for a ‘fine adjuster’!!

A similar problem exists with the jig fingers; the casting finish leaves a nasty unevenness (flash from the casting process) on the finger surfaces, such that the router does not ‘glide’ over the fingers… it has to be moved from ‘bump’ to ‘bump’… and lifted over each ‘bump’ to get by…. another source of inaccuracy. I tried vaseline and ‘easing’ the edge of the router base plate. This brought little improvement. The entire finger assembly will have to be levelled correctly. Perhaps it will be sufficient to rub the fingers with a fine sandpaper??? Any suggestions?

LEIGH should finish their castings correctly, and remove the flash from the casting process properly. What s stupid source of dissatisfaction in such an expensive tool!

I addressed the router base plate instability and the manual improvement (use mandrel for collar centering) to LEIGH support.
They admitted that the instability could be solved by a better base plate; they are "not in the base plate business". They did not react to my suggestion that the operator hazard should be mentioned explicitly in the manual; it is currently covered by ‘DO NOT TILT THE ROUTER ON THE JIG’, and ‘KEEP THE ROUTER FLAT ON THE JIG ASSEMBLY’.
The centering issue is vaguely mentioned in the manual… it could be pointed out clearly that better results are achieved using a mandrel… and perhaps LEIGH could offer a suitable mandrel as an option.

To summarise…
Not a ‘fussy’ jig to set up and use, as many have suggested… mostly due to the mostly excellent manual.
Dovetails of a quality that reflects the jig price could be achieved with a little effort and attention by LEIGH.
The hazard reference (tilting) must be covered better in the manual.
LEIGH could put some effort into an alternative router base plate / guide bush solution, and achieve a much better and SAFER jig.

Servus Chris! -g-

Beiträge in diesem Thread

• LEIGH D4 Jig -- CONGER - The Irish diaspora in Munich -- Samstag, 13. 12. 03, um 11:02
  • Re: LEIGH D4 Jig -- Christian Aufreiter -- Samstag, 13. 12. 03, um 14:06
    • Re: LEIGH D4 Jig -- CONGER - The Irish diaspora in Munich -- Samstag, 13. 12. 03, um 20:34
      • Re: LEIGH D4 Jig -- Luk -- Sonntag, 14. 12. 03, um 12:20
  • Re: LEIGH D4 Jig -- Barry -- Sonntag, 7. 3. 04, um 21:11