Leigh’s dovetail jig gets major upgrade

Leigh Industries has made two significant upgrades to its D4R Pro Dovetail Jig, which now has the capability to perform single-pass half-blind dovetail joints and route two sizes of adjustable box joints using the standard dovetail finger assembly.

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Leigh's Barry Martens explains that because single-pass dovetails require the vertically mounted tail board to be offset from the horizontal pin board, a spacer was developed for the tail board offset. The dual function spacer is also used to precisely space the fingers across the joint. The D4R Pro can rout single-pass dovetails in five depths with dovetail angles from 8 to 18 degrees.

A second dual-function spacer was developed to space the fingers and offset the socket board when routing 3/8" and 3/4" box joints using the standard finger assembly. Additional finger joint sizes are available with the company's new F3 Finger Joint Template.

Design changes also include a patented stop rod concept to control router movement.

"To do this we've simply added a hole in the tail end of the fingers through which the stop rod would pass. Horizontal movement of the router bit is halted by the stop rod at the required tail socket dept," says Martens.

The DR4 Pro Dovetail Jig sells for $549. Accessories, including other joinery templates, are sold separately.

Contact: Leigh Industries Ltd., BC, Canada V3C 4K6. Tel: 800-663-8932. www.leighjigs.com

This article originally appeared in the June 2010 issue.