Customer Reviews

Porter-Cable 77240 24-Inch Omnijig Joinery System

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Well, after months of waiting, and several projects that needed dovetils, I finally have this jig. The overall fit and finish of the jig is acceptable. It is well thought out, and well made up to a point. My only quibbles would be:

1. The variable finger template was poorly assembled which resulted in it being bowed along its length, and the two end castings were not of uniform thickness. There was actually about .065" of bow, and this resulted in a pretty imprecise mounting on the machine, in particular since the end castings are used for a reference in setting router depth for through dovetails, this was unacceptable! The assembled aluminum castings were bowed both across the length and width. This was caused by the machining, or lack thereof, of the two halves of the aluminum castings on each end of the template. The steel bars did not fit into these halves when assembled, and the castings are held apart, and actually bowed. The interior of these castings had some casting nipples still in place where they mate with the steel bars, and the castings themselves were actually deformed in every direction by the factory assembly against the bars which didn't fit. I first had to re-flatten the castings in a precision vise, and then machine the bar mating surfaces inside the castings flat. With several trials of reassembly and additional machining, I was able to reassemble the ends of the templates to a uniform thickness, and surface flatness. I reduced the nonlinearity of the template to less than .010" in all directions, which was quite an improvement.

2. The mounting bars (where the template and stabilizer bar are mounted) were not parallel to each other or the horizontal surface of the jig. The right was 0.1 degrees up at the outside end, and the left was up 0.4 degrees. The left bar outer tip was about .07" higher than the right side mounting bar! This resulted in an inability to flatten the template against a piece of wood, and having the stabilizer bar up above the template fingers surface by about .010" on the left side, which interfered with the router base making contact with the template on the left side. I had to remove the mounting bar on the left side and shim it to become parallel to the right side bar and the horizontal table of the jig. That leveled the stabilizer bar and made it parallel to the template in both possible mountings of the template.

3. The stabilizer bar itself was also bowed across its length about .020". I elected to simply flatten it against a 36" lapping table. I also added a pair of UHMW strips on the mounting surfaces of the stabilizer where it meets the mounting bar, and the result is an easier assembly and a stabilizer which is parallel to the template and about .005" below the template surface throughout its length. It now provides more reliable router base support which will help eliminate cutting errors caused by router tipping near the ends of the template fingers.

4. I was a bit disappointed that the machine came with such a limited number of stops and router bits. I need it to cut some through dovetails in a cabinet carcase with .875" thick material, and I can't use it without purchasing extra stops and bits. Guess what.. those accessories aren't even available yet!

5. The through dovetail router bit depth setting bracket was not mounted correctly on the machine frame. It mounting screws were actually only partly in the bracket, and I had to remount the bracket correctly, and reset the depth stops. Of course, since they had been originally set with the bowed template at the factory, I would have needed to do this anyway, but it still shouldn't have happened.

You may have guessed that I'm a perfectionist when it comes to these tools, but its worth it in the end. Once these things are set up properly the results are worth it. A precise joint every time with little effort. Those jig and template errors of up to .070" I corrected are pretty noticable in an assembled dovetail joint! A little attention to detail now will save a great deal of frustration in the future. Of course this degree of inaccuracy is common to almost every woodworking machine I have ever purchased. I've ended up tuning them all. The factory assembly is rarely as accurate as I can achieve myself, and they end up out of alignment due to shipping as well. Buy some digital calipers, some machinests squares, a depth gauge and some precision straight edges and start looking at your machinery. You'll find a lot of room for improvement!

In order to fully utilize its capabilities, you'll need to shell out a few hundred $$ extra to buy all the other stops and router bits. The extra jig fingers for the small variable through and half blind joints is over $200 by itself!

I've done a test cut with some 3/4" maple scrap, and the result was very good. The joint was a bit too tight, but that is easily corrected by a 30 second adjustment to the factory setting on the stop. I've uploaded some photos to show my first test cut. The pins and tails are about .020" proud of corner surfaces, and that is how many people will want to use it. I'll probably adjust it for a more flush fit that will require less sanding, and preserve the assembled dimensions of the pieces I've cut.

Overall I'm still glad that I got this jig, since it is quite a bit nicer and more capable than anything else on the market (including the leigh), but the steep price after including all the accessories I'll need, and seemingly endless delays in getting the jig and accesories, are annoying.

I have been a professional woodworker for the last 12 years and in that time, I have had the chance to cut dovetails every way possible. Among the dovetail router jigs I've used (Akeda, Leigh, the OLD PC omnijig, and the Keller system), the Omnijig has got to be my least favorite.

Two years ago I started working for a small upstart furniture company. The newly redesigned Omnijig was among one of their first purchases. I was skeptical. It looked like the variable spaced "fingers" were bowing across their own weight and the aluminum resting bar was not coplanar. It looked like the cheapo piece of pewter the set-screws tighten against would strip after a few months. It looked like tightening ANYTHING would nudge something else out of alignment. It looked like raising and lowering the template armature would be super awkward. BUT.... I gave it a shot. Two years later, I stand by my initial reaction: This jig is missing two recommended accessories: a sharp set of chisels and a letter of apology from Porter Cable.

If you want to cut variable spaced through or half-blind dovetails by machine, buy the Akeda jig. The only limitation is your pins and tails are limited to 1/8" centers. All issues I've had on the Omnijig with SQUARENESS, clamping, repeatable setup, STRIPPING SCREWS, etc. are non-issues on the Akeda.

You know what else is better, THE OLD OMNIJIG DESIGN! Yes, no kidding, they had a perfectly good jig for all those years, but they needed a new look to compete?! The new Omnijig is the Windows Vista of dovetail jigs. It's that bad.

So, in conclusion, don't take my word for it. Go Google some independent reviews. Buy this and the Akeda or the Leigh and try them head-to-head. Return the one you don't like.

I've had a chance to cut a few joints with this and find it acceptable. I enjoy the design, the heavy aluminum. Machined surfaces in some places. Lots of easy to make adjustments to fine-tune the joint. After tweaking some mis-alignments, it is cutting nice joints.

Things I don't like:

1. The front face wasn't 90 degrees to the top face. Easily corrected, but not documented. Remove the three cover plates on the front piece and you will find locking screws. The locking screws are really tight. Once loosened, the front piece will rotate.

2. The support bars weren't parallel to the top face. I had to shim the back of each. Warning: the screws holding them are loc-tited.

3. Probably my biggest complaint is the pin-fingers are higher than the out-board support. This causes the router the hand up as it moves from finger to finger (I cut widely-spaced pins). Low-tech, but I put wooden coffee stir-sticks under each side of the out-board support to shim it up.

4. If you cut widely-spaced pins, the router isn't supported between finger-pins. 1/8" spacers between the finger-pins provides the necessary support.

5. The finger-board wants to move as it is tightened down. One side wants to pull close to the stop, the other wants to pull away. Result of right-hand threads on the clamp knobs.

Things I like:

1. Very easy to fine-tune the joint. Micrometer adjustments in the right places.

2. Intuitive to use. After you have cut a few joints! A little intimidating at first.

3. The base is extremely well made. Heavy aluminum, machined sufaces.

4. The out-board support is very stable. There is a feeling of solid support as you move the router around.

Summary:

If you treat your tools as kits, which need to be finished, this is for you.

This isn't the right tool if you just want to cut dovetails out of the box. The Akeda (which I haven't used) may be better.

John

First I would like to say that this Jig was never a 1000 Dollars in retail stores. Don't fall for the imagined savings that is pure bull crap. (Kind of like some moron charging $1000 for a Red stapler that has just come out that Staples or others are selling for $13 to $19.) However the Jig is very good. It does take some effort to get things dialed in and some practice using it. To me that was half the fun. I found some use for all that scrap wood I had laying around. Also for the guy who asked if this item is being discontinued the answer is: No, it is not being discontinued. I was thinking of buying the Leigh dove tail jig for about 100 bucks more than this one but after having a chance to look at the two I made a personal decision to go with the porter cable. Mostly because of changing out the templates. I bought mine from a Woodcraft store. I believe you can find them closer to the $500 - $549 range now in local woodshops.

After more then 100 test cuts trying to align the single-pass half-blind dovetail template, I gave up. Each time I would do a test cut the results were different, even though I had made no adjustments.

One time the pin board sits proud - recut without adjustment and now it is recessed.

One pass I will get loose fitting dovetails and the next pass - no adjustment - I will get dovetails to tight to pound together with a hammer.

When I tighten the knobs for the height adjustment, the single-pass half blind dovetail template is flexed out of shape. It's as if the base and the height adjustment matting surface weren't aligned when the jig was manufactured.

All in all this jig is a big failure. Save your money and find another jig that is more consistent and reliable.

A real big disappointment considering its endorsements on New Yankee Workshop and American Woodshop. I guess I will rethink products used on these shows and get real world comments and feedback before I jump in.

Don

So I did have to do some tweaking to get it dialed in for depth, etc (when have you bought a tool that didn't need a little fine tuning out of the box?), but now that it's done I love this jig. It is very heavy duty with nice machining of all parts. The depth pod and stop sets are such a cool way of giving fast repeatability to go back and forth among different set ups. Plus, all the stickers on the jig walk you through the set up for any of the joints. Finally, it comes with a really well written manual plus a DVD with Norm. What more could you ask for? I am really happy with it and can't see needing another DT jig.

I have a copy of a press release from Porter Cable announcing with great fanfare the arrival of their 77240 24-Inch Omnijig - Dovetail Jig Joinery System. It was to have become available in early 2007. I was excited, as I'm a big fan of their product line, and have wanted a dovetail jig with adjustable dovetail spacing capability for some time. Later, as I visited the Porter Cable website, I noticed the available date had changed to August of 2007. As August approached, I went to their site again, anxious to see when it was scheduled to begin shipping. This time, the jig was no longer anywhere on their links to new products. I couldn't find a mention of it anywhere.

So, I e-mailed Porter Cable and asked why it was being delayed and whether it would eventually be available. The answer: the jig was not available, and there was no expected date for shipping.

Just in case, I signed on at Amazon to be notified if and when it became available. I just opened an e-mail from Amazon that says the jig is now ready for shipping. As I visited their site, I read that it usually ships in 4-6 weeks, and is being sold by Amazon.

Great, I thought, until I scrolled down the page to read the answer to the question as to whether the product had been discontinued by the manufacturer was a big fat Yes!

Sure wish someone could tell me what's happening with this thing. I've resigned myself to the fact that the best thing to do is go with the Leigh, a jig that receives rave reviews from just about anyone who has used it...