X-mas in November

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DaveO

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DaveO
My parents came to visit for Thanksgiving this week. The fried turkey came out absolutly perfect!!!! Before they leave tomorrow, my wife suggested that we do our Christmas presents now, so we all can get the pleasure of seeing the recipient open their gifts. So after some major arm twisting, I agreed, and presented my parents with their presents and they gave me their's. Well, I only got one thing....But it was a Leigh D1600!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOHOOOO! :eusa_danc :eusa_danc I have wanted one for so long, now I have two more days of weekend to play around with it. I'll have to get it set up and then build a storage/support box for it like Insmoniacs. Any D1600 owners out there that can offer any insider tips to sucess? Dave:)
 

Big Mike

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Mike
Nice gloat, Dave! Of course we would all find it more believable with pictures, pictures of something built with the new toy.... So let's see some pics!:p :lol:
 

Monty

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Monty
Awesome! Congrats on the Leigh - it's a great design! The 16" model should be great - big enough for almost anything but lighter and much easier to store. I know you'll be playing -- er, I mean -- working on it this weekend!
 

DaveO

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DaveO
I will post some pictures as soon as I get it assembled, for all you skeptics. Insom. do you understand the part about asymetrical DTs, does that refer to uneven spacing, or more like ones that don't end in a half pin? It seems from what I read that you can space the middle fingers however you want and not have to work about setting up the inverse arrangement on the other side of the jig. I probably just need to mess around a bit, and it will make more sense, but I wanted to start off my long list of questions to you. Dave:)
 

Monty

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Monty
Asymmetrical - this refers to the situation where the dovetails aren't a mirror image from one end of the joint line to the other.

Example:

Code:
Symmetrical:[FONT=Courier New]
 |                 |
 [U]V  V     V     V  V[/U][/FONT]


Asymmetrical:[FONT=Courier New]
 |                 |
 [U]V  V     V    V   V[/U][/FONT]

In that example, try to image the tail panel in the same plane as your screen, with the pin panel perpendicular to the screen (coming up at ya). This is exaggerated, of course. Each joint has the same width, and the pins are pretty nearly arranged the same way. But in the second example, that pin next to the right end is not exactly "symmetrical" compared to its mirror image pin on the left side. Although this example is a little exaggerated, this is actually EXACTLY the situation you get with one of these Leigh jigs. Since you layout the pins by eye, there will certainly be some minute asymmetry like this. You can do it intentionally for effect, or you can try to line things up as exactly as you can. Either way, it doesn't matter, there will still be some degree of asymmetry with this jig.

Now, here is why this is important: you can see how this creates a unique situation where the side panels are not interchangeable... you couldn't flip the tails board over and expect it to still fit over the pins in the pins board. This is probably a little hard to visualize, but believe me - when you make a sample joint you will see immediately why this is true. This is why you have to figure out ahead of time which face is the OUTSIDE/INSIDE face for each panel and MARK each face accordingly - BEFORE you start cutting!

It's hard to see, but I did this on my D4 storage box. Look at the bottom joint - you can see it more clearly. The pin on the left end (front of the box) is wider than it's mirror image pin on the right end (back of the box).

IMG_0544.jpg



I did this intentionally so I could make room for the groove for the sliding door. But you can see how I couldn't take that end panel and flip it over (inside for outside) and still expect it to fit. Hopefully this all makes sense... I know I need more coffee. 8-O
 

DaveO

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DaveO
Insomniac, That makes perfect sense. I use both sides of my HB DT jig when I make drawer boxes with 4 DT jointed corners. So basically if I was making a storage box similar to yours I would want to make the right side top and bottom on one side of the jig and the left side top/bottom on the other, correct? I do plan to make a box similar to yours after several test joints, but I am gonna use hinged frame and panel doors instead of the sliding door on yours. The DT layout to allow enough room for the groove, sounds to be more complicated than I want to tackle right off the bat. I am sure that I will require more advice after I get into it today. Thanks, Dave:)
 

Monty

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Monty
Everything references off of the left end of the jig - the stop on the left side. I didn't have to use the right side of the jig for anything. The wider pin on the front of the box was made simply by moving that first pin spacer over a little (1/2" over). I also moved the 2nd pin over slightly, too - so it would look more evenly spaced. I left the middle pin in the middle, and all the other pins as-is. If you're not going to do a groove like mine, you should be able to do all four corners with one set-up.
 

DaveO

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DaveO
Once you cut a few it is really easier to understand. Check out my results in my newest thread "First thru DTs". Dave:)
 
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