Incra vs Dovetail Jig

[marco 111]

Hi All

This is my first posting! Anyway need some advice - I want to buy a jig for making dovetails etc but not sure what to go for have about £400 to spend. I have a home made router table which is 38"x26" (see pic) and like the look of the incra ultra jig and sounds like you can do a lot of other joints also.

Any ideas or advice?

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[Vormulac]

Welcome to the forum, Marco.

I don't have any jigs of this nature, but this is something of a contentious topic and I'm sure there will be plenty of people along shortly shouting about rats (don't be offended, it's all good advice).

V.

 

[Adam]

Try a search for Incra in the search facility. I think quite a few members have posted, and from memory, its been quite positively received. I don't remember so much about its dovetail capacity though.

Welcome to the forum also.

Adam

 

[Escudo]

Welcome Marco,

I like your first question;

Rat or router table? specialised jigs or multi-purpose which is best?

Cheers, Esc.

 

[AndyBoyd]

I vote for a WoodRat - not only Dovetailing tbut scores of other joints too

 

[Lord Nibbo]

I've got a feeling this is going to be a long thread :lol: Rats v Leigh may the best man win. :roll: Remember though the man asked about making dovetails nothing more!

 

[Waka]

Marco

Welcome to the forum.

Theres a number of jigs out there that can do what you want and like most things they vary in price.

Myself I have the Incra and the leigh dovetail jig, but I prefer to cut DT's by hand, having said that if I was doing volume work then I'd probably do them with the jig.

A lot of members have the rat, which from reading all the posts appears to do what it says on the tin, I can't comment on this because I've never seen one in action, although results from the Rat have been posted on the forum and look OK.

The choice you make could depend on the volume/type of DT's you intend to make, your budget would seem to cover all the available methods. My advice would be to see if there is anyone local to you that has one of the jigs etc that you could try before purchasing.

Let us know what route you go down.

 

[Alf]

Welcome to the forum, Marco. To throw another spanner in the works - cutting them by hand is very rewarding...

Cheers, Alf

 

[DomValente]

Welcome Marco,

Have tried the Leigh jig, some years ago, not as simple as it looked when exhibited at a show. Maybe I'm just thick.

 

[Chris Knight]

Marco,

I seem to have answered this question before.. :wink:
https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/view ... =7724#7724
https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/view ... =7342#7342
https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/view ... 7783#47783
https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/view ... 7804#47804
https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/view ... 7878#47878
https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/view ... 8039#48039
https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/view ... 1187#41187

 

[marco 111]

Thanks for the replys.

Think I will go for the Incra! Any one know what size would best suit my router table as I am not sure?

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Marco

Welcome

i have the incra ultra and have owned the Leigh DT jig.

I have to say that I would not consider the Incra for cutting dovetails.

The leigh was great but once I practised cutting them by hand, I sold the leigh and cut them almost as quickly but have much more fun

 

[woodbloke]

Marco, welcome to the forum.....£400 to dispose of :-k ..... could get a very guchi LN dovetail saw for that and still have change left over for some other toys :lol:

 

[Neil]

Think I will go for the Incra! Any one know what size would best suit my router table as I am not sure?

There’s really not much point getting anything larger than the Ultra-Lite IMO - 12.5" is plenty of travel unless you make an absolutely gargantuan router table, and I can't think of many times that you would need even that much distance from cutter to fence - bear in mind that the Incra isn't ideal for dovetailing anything wider than drawer sides because of the way the stock is supported. Waterhead37 has the Incra, Leigh & Woodrat so it would be worth going through the links he posted to read his thoughts on this. You'll then have £250 left for other toys... :wink:

Cheers,
Neil

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hi Marco

Welcome to the forum.

It it's only dovetails that you are after then the Leigh is the best in the world, bar none.

Cheers
Neil

 

[RogerS]

Think I will go for the Incra! Any one know what size would best suit my router table as I am not sure?

There’s really not much point getting anything larger than the Ultra-Lite IMO - 12.5" is plenty of travel unless you make an absolutely gargantuan router table,l

I agree with Neil re size. The only caveat I'd add is that the Ultra and Ultra Lite don't come with a splitfence..which I do find very useful.

 

[dennyk]

I have the Incra Ultra, with the Incra Intellifence, I had a go at making dovetails with it, but to me it seemed a bit to finicky for my use, I now use the Trend D300, which does what I want

 

[marco 111]

Not sure now what I ll go for!

I am seriously considering the woodrat. How much wall space would a rat need and how deep is it when fixed?

Cheers

 

[RogerS]

Not sure now what I ll go for!

I am seriously considering the woodrat. How much wall space would a rat need and how deep is it when fixed?

Cheers

Way to go Much more versatile. Check out Aldel's site which is one of the best sites for the Rat.

Wallmounting...space to mount the Rat plus space on either side for the channel to move either way. I guess 2 metres in total but you can mount stuff underneath. You can see how I mounted my Rat here. It also gives you an idea how far out it goes.

 

[Escudo]

Say Roger, is it possible to use a rat on the side of a bench?

I do not have any wall space left in my workshop and was thinking it might be possible to mount the rat to my workbench when required - a sort of portable solution.

what do you or other ratters think about this idea? Esc.