Customer Reviews

DELTA 34-183 Tenoning Jig

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I was impressed with the weight of this jig - I would guess over 15 lbs. The castings are good quality and thick. Don't drop this on your toes! The weight keeps it firmly planted in the slot during use. It has two handles that keep your hands well out of harms way as you push your work through.

Setting up and trueing the jig was a bit of a pain. Having a left tilt saw required me to move the cleat to an alternate set of mounting holes in the shoe. Not too difficult once you take the whole jig appart. I reassembled it to do the squaring proceedure which is difficlut with the supplied allen wrenches. You have to access two screws through holes in the sliding upper base. These can only be reached with the long side of an allen wrench. I ended up using a long socket wrench mounted one to get enough torque to loosen and tighten the screws adequately. The rear screw can only be accessed if you remove the micro adjusting mechanism AGAIN on left tilt saws.

The stop screws for the verticle alignments are difficult to fine tune. The push block has only a threaded rod with a jam nut on it. I had to back the screw off its final position to allow for slippage while tightening the jam nut. I will probably still check it for square each time I use it anyway.

It does have a stop screw to keep the jig off your blade which does adjust fairly easily. You can also mount a sacrificial wood block on the verticle face if you plan to cut with a dado set. You supply the screws to fit the predrilled holes.

The instructions are not very easy to follow and are illustrated with smudgy B&W photos. Delta should take a cue from Incra and hire someone to draw the illustrations and write clearly.

Overall, this is a good product, but it's kind of like a '71 Ford pickup - slow to start unless you know how to finess it.

I bought this jig in tandem with the inexpensive Delta mortise attachment jig. At the time I was ordering, I thought it was funny that the tenoning jig cost more than the mortiser. The reason became apparent on delivery. This is a HEAVY DUTY precision jig. After unpacking it and setting it up, I was greatly pleased with its performance. I use this jig exclusively for simple mortise and tenon joinery, on a right-tilt 1 1/2 hp contractor saw. I have had flawless results, and highly recommend this jig to anyone.

This jig puts them all to shame! This jig does exactly what was promised, accurately and quickly. It is extremely easy to set up. It also keeps it's settings. I mean, this thing is right on the money. I build furniture for a living. I needed something that would be easy to use, and also quick and accurate. This beautiful jig is a breeze to use. It requires a table saw that has a T-slot in the mitre gage groove. If you have a Delta 10" table saw or larger, than you already have what is required to use this fine piece of equipment.

It comes packed in grease to avoid rust. This is easily cleaned by setting it in a bucket of mineral spirits for about one minute. Pull it out, dry it off, and you're ready to go. This has to be one of the easiest and most accurate pieces of equipment that I have ever used. If you're an experienced woodworker, you will love this jig. The new yankee was right. THIS ONE IS THE BEST. Delta out did themselves on this one. I'd buy another one in a minute.

I recently purchased the Delta 34-183 Tenoning Jig as an accessory to my Delta Unisaw. I want to say immediately that I am extremely happy with my new jig. It turned out to be exactly what I had hoped it would be. I made the right decision in purchasing this device. I wasn't too happy however with the packing and shipping or with Delta's assembly instructions. With that said I want to make this review as useful as possible to those who may read it so I have divided it into four paragraphs, 1: My motivation for buying the tenoning jig, 2: My thoughts on the packing and shipping, 3: My thoughts on the assembly of the jig, and 4: My experience in using the tenoning jig.
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Motivation for Buying the Tenoning Jig

In the past year I have done close to two hundred mortise and tenon joints. My procedure is always the same. I hog out most of the mortise stock with a Forstner bit, and then square up the corners with a mortise machine. I then use a table saw to cut the shoulder cuts on the tenons, and a hand held back saw to do the cheek cuts. Although the finished joint was always tight, and it was always functionally correct, the hand made back saw cuts were never the best, they were time consuming, and there was little uniformity from one tenon to the next. In a sense each tenon was custom made for each mortise. I was looking for a method that would allow me to streamline more of the tenon making effort. In short, I wanted a jig that would both eliminate the tedium of using the back saw, and would also allow me to use my table saw to make identical cheek cuts on successive tenons. I have had my eye on the Delta Tenoning Jig for quite a while. After reading and then re-reading all the Amazon.com reviews, most of which were favorable, I finally decided to make the purchase.

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Packing and Shipping

Shipping was extremely quick, just a couple of days, which is saying a lot when you consider Delta's history of very slow response when it comes to deliveries.

[...]

Assembly

The assembly of the jig took about an hour and a half. A good portion of that time was spent trying to make sense out of Deltas assembly instructions and trying to decode the unfocused and blurry assembly photos. The assembly instructions were poorly written and not what a company or its customers should expect from professional technical writers.

During assembly, I ended up having to dismantle the entire jig to clean off all the packing grease. I recommend that you have on hand a large can of mineral spirits and several red rags if you decide to purchase this jig, believe me you will need it.

I had to spend some time filing down the burs on the jig base plate that rides along on the surface of the table saw. The burrs were pronounced enough to slice your fingers if you were to rub them along the edges of the jig base.

I give this task a grade of "D", due to the lack of quality in the assembly instruction manual and due to the lack of quality assurance that Delta apparently uses in its manufacturing process. The end user should never have to machine down any parts on a piece of purchased equipment just to make it useable.

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Using the Tenoning Jig

After all is said and done, and after assembly is complete, I have to say that this jig is all that I wanted in terms of making identical "production line tenons" quickly and easily.
I am glad that I purchased it and I would definitely purchase it again if it is ever necessary to do so.

After assembly I inserted the tenoning jig in my table saw T- miter slot. Fortunately my de-burring of the jig base prevented it from scratching my saw table when I pushed it back and forth in the miter slot. The jig fits in the slot snugly in the miter slot. I tried to move it from side to side and could not detect any sideways or lateral movement. The jig is also very heavy. The tightness in the miter slot and the weight of the jig makes it a very stable cutting platform.

In my first use of the jig, I spent about 2 to 3 minutes setting it up, and then I used it to make the cheek cuts for 9 tenons for a project I am currently working on. All the cuts on every tenon were identical. After I had completed all the cuts, I lined all nine pieces of stock with tenoned ends up against the table saw fence for inspection. All tenons looked identical. You couldn't tell one tenon from any of the others. This really made my day.
See the "share your own image" link under the jig picture for a photo of these tenons.

The real beauty of this jig is that it makes doing repetitive cuts easy. I cut all 9 tenons in a few minutes. All the cuts on all the tenons were clean, accurate and above all they were all identical. The jig is easy to use. Adjustments are quick and easy. I am very happy with the operation of this jig.

One thing that does bother me though is the adjustment of the clamp arm. The clamp arm holds the Clamp screw that is used to hold the working stock against the vertical table during a cut. The clamp arm can be adjusted either forward or backwards so as to accommodate different sizes of stock. The clamp arm is held tight by a hex head Allen bolt. This means whenever you use this jig you have to have an Allen wrench nearby to make the clamp arm adjustments. This is a major inconviendnce. All the other adjustments on the jig are made and locked into place with hand tightened levers. I wonder why this one adjustment which is probably made at least twice for a particular setup is different. Even with this problem I am very happy with the jig and it will get a great deal of use in my shop in the years to come.

I give an overall grade of "A" for this jig. I would have given it a grade of "A+" if it were not for the clumsiness of the clamp arm adjustment. Now I can only hope and pray that I receive my replacement jig handle some time soon so I can grip the jig a bit better when making cuts.

After having read the reviews I have to agree with everyone who had a problem setting up the 183 tenoning jig and complained about the quality. I guess Delta's quality assurance personnel don't read the comments of their customers. Although the packing oil/grease was annoying I wasn't pleased with their quality control. The quality of the castings and the precision machining was not great. I was unable to adjust the movable fence due to the fact that the casting was not properly machined. This required filing on my part. The knob that adjusts the fence actually hits the casting when in the 90-degree position. Some of the hex screws were over tightened at the factory. One screw came stripped. The threaded hole for the handle that clamps the stock to the face of the jig was not machined with any sort of precision. I originally thought the screw was bent in shipping until I removed it and found the machined hole out of alignment. When I complained to Delta they told me to go to a service center. I contacted one of the service centers and was told that if they got the product they would probably have it for about 30 days. They additionally advised me to send it back to Amazon as defective rather than bringing it to them due to the fact that it was new. After experiencing the quality of this item I was not going to try to repack it and risk getting another jig of the same or worse quality. A product like this should come set up with the name of the person who inspected and aligned it. Perhaps that would improve the quality.

This jig is very well made with heavy castings and accurate machined surfaces. When it is adjusted and set up properly it stays that way. As with the other reviewers I will say that the directions leave something to be desired. Be patient. I am meticulous about setting up and keeping my equipment adjusted and this jig took me about two hours to assemble, set up, and fine tune after I cut a couple of sacrificial wood blocks with it. I would recommend that you get a micrometer or thickness gauge to accurately establish the vertical face of the jig parallel with the blade and miter slot on your saw. My only gripe about the jig is that the "stop" for presetting the vertical clamping face doesn't really work. Depending on how hard you push against the jig the face of the jig moves out of square. I noticed that the stop screw is wearing a "hole" in the paint and flexes in its mounting. This whole set-up is not confidence building so I just went out and bought a small machinist's square and check my workpiece after it is clamped in place. For the price, this addition to my tool shop was well worth the time savings and accuracy it provides for cutting tenons.

This jig is packed with a number of really nice features. Here are a few that stand out:

+ Heavy, solid and generally a well-machined device.
+ Made in China (if you care).
+ The fine adjustment knob works very well.
+ The main clamp is strong and easy to turn.
+ Has adjustable 90-degree positive stops where necessary.
+ The guide bar has side adjustment screws to fine-tune it to your slot.
+ The guide bar has front and back wheels designed to ride in the side groves (if you have them) of your table saw's miter slots.
+ The bottom and sides are dead-on flat.

But like most tools there are many deficiencies as well:

- The plastic knobs that lock the platform to the base are cheap. This really stands out considering everything else feels very solid.
- It racks slightly on my tabletop because the guide bar's slot wheels ride a hair too low in the slot. If I tighten the wheels then the whole jig refuses to slide on the table.
- If you own a left-tilt table saw you will have to completely disassemble the jig in order to move the guide bar to an alternate set of screw holes. You may also need to disassemble parts of it to align it parallel to the saw blade.
- The screws holding the guide bar to the base were tightened at the factory by King Kong. Be careful not to round out the hex heads when you attempt to loosen them.
- When tightening the screw for the back support the washer is too big and moves it away from a perfect 90-degree angle. You will have to either flatten one side of the washer or check it with a T-square anytime you decide change the angle.
- The adjustment screw for the 90-degree positive stop on the vertical clamp face is too sensitive and too small. This makes it difficult to consistently get the same perfect angle.
- The platform does not move all the way up to the blade so when the measurement gauge reads zero you are actually still 1/8" to 1/4" away. Zero should be zero. You will have to either allow for this gap, attempt to move the gauge's needle over to compensate, or not use the gauge at all.
- It takes a lot of different sized hex wrenches to set it up. The wrenches are included but I'd like to see it widdled-down to just needing two.
- Some of the paint is starting to flake off.
- Delta ships the jig with way too much oil covering the whole thing. It took a very long time to clean it off.

The jig is definitely worth the price of the ticket. Be prepared, however, to make some minor modifications and/or live with a few idiosyncrasies.

Unbelievable reviews this thing got here. Sheesh people, read the directions. Take the time to learn what you're doing with your $75 tool. It squares up fine, with full, reasonably well thought out adjustability. The screws and fasteners are perfectly adequate. Try using a proper bit next time. It snugs right up to the blade on my Bosch 4000, zeroed out, no spacer blocks required. Yes, it requires some adjustment, and some cleaning. It's cast iron, chugging across the Pacific in a shipping container. If it ain't gunky, it's rusty.

So here's the deal. If you need one of these, buy one. Prepare yourself to spend 45 minutes getting it ready to use. Fifteen minutes reading the directions, fifteen minutes disassembling and wiping everything off, and fifteen minutes reassembling and adjusting to your unique table. And then? It'll do precisely what it's designed to do, safely and securely holding stock squarely upright as you pass it through the saw. Nothing more or less.

My one minor complaint is the scale. It's crude to the point of why bother, but realistically, tenoning is a test and fit scenario anyway. Having tested and determined the cut you need, it's replicable. That's your money's worth right there.

This jig really makes cutting tenons easy and accurate. It is quite heavy and solid.

Switching it from right tilt (default) to left tilt was a bit of a pain. The manual could use some work.

After it was switched it was easy to true up square and adjusts for cuts very easily. First project had 18 tenons to cut and they went quickly and came out very accurate.

The mitre bar adjusts for mitre slot width, so it fits my table saw mitre slot perfectly.

The thickness cut indicator doesn't seem to do too well for left tilt saws, but that's not a problem because I use the mortise to set the tenon thickness.

This jig is worth the money. I've had my jig for about a month now and used it on several projects. In my opinion Delta has provided me with everything they said they would.

After reading the other reviews on this site I was a bit apprehensive about what I would receive. As things turned out the only complaint I have in common with some of the more negative reviews was the complaint about the excess preservative oil. To be honest I'd rather have that problem than rust on my new jig.

Setup was by the book. Delta's instructions are concise and accurate. Some of the pictures could use a better view orientation, and the language was sometimes obtuse, but I had my jig assembled and square within about 90 minutes. I had no problems with any of the screws being too tight or hard to access. Setup to my left tilt Grizzly cabinet saw was no problem. The miter bar fit well, except for a little rocking due to the washers for the T-slot riding a little low in the table saw miter slot. I fixed this by removing the washers and making the miter bar a little thinner on the bottom by about .015 inches. This took all the rock out, and the width adjusting screws eliminated the side-to-side play. To me this type of adjustment is to be expected for a universal jig.

Getting the jig square with my saw table was a simple process, and adjusting the maximum movement toward the blade was by the book. I believe that Delta has been reading and reacting to the reviews on this site because I had none of the other problems that many of the reviewers are complaining about. The tenons I have cut are as accurate as my layout. The jig holds everything in place square and tight. In my opinion Delta delivers as advertised with this jig. We'll see how long the plastic adjuster levers hold up. I'm willing to bet they're more robust than the cast pot metal ones I've seen on other Chinese imports. I'll buy from Delta again.