Silverline Dovetail Jig 300mm - Manual (Page 6)

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5
633936 Dovetail Jig 300mm
Mounting
• This dovetail jig should always be securely mounted to the front edge of
a sturdy workbench before use
• The jig should be fixed to the bench using wood screws through the four
small holes in the jig frame
• If a permanent installation is not required the jig may be mounted to a
board that can be easily clamped to a workbench. It is important the
board is long enough so the clamps do not obstruct use of the jig
Operating Instructions
WARNING: The cutter must not contact any part of the jig. Always use the
correct-sized guide bush and cutter. Incorrect sizes will make an un-usable
joint and may damage the jig.
Configuring your router
Note: These instructions are specific to the recommended router
accessories to use with this dovetail jig. Use of other accessories to create
other joints is possible but beyond the scope of this manual.
The jig is compatible with both ¼
" and ½" routers including equivalent
metric sizes. The router may need an additional collet or reducer so it can
accept ¼
" router bits.
1. Fit a base to your router that will allow fitment of guide bushes
2. Install a guide bush of 11.1-12mm or
7 ⁄
16
" outer diameter so that the
router can move smoothly between the slots of the ½ " Template (7).
The guide bush depth must not exceed the thickness of the template
3. Fit a 12.7mm ( 1 ⁄
2
") dovetail 14° cutter with a ¼" shank. The dovetail
cutter height needs to be set so that the cutting blades will not contact
the template in use but the cutting blade starts cutting at the surface
of the wood. The dovetail cutter should be approximately 17mm
height from the base plate of the router. See Fig A
Preparation
This jig is suitable for the creation of dovetail joints needed for drawers,
boxes and chests. The information presented below is general guidance
only. Familiarisation with this jig over time is necessary to achieve the
desired results. Fine adjustment of some measurements is required to get
an exact fit.
The jig is used to create both the tails and pins of the dovetail joint in one
process. This is achieved by using an offset position between two clamped
pieces of wood. See fig B which shows the wood position for four tails of
the dovetail joint on the vertical wood before cutting and fig C which shows
three tails of the dovetail joints after cutting. The sides of the slots where
the tail fits into are the pins.
• Wood must be cut to the correct size, with square cut ends. Allow for the
depth of the joint when calculating wood sizes
• Use a pencil to label the wood indicating front, back, left, right, inside,
outside and any other information that might assist in cutting the wood
correctly. For example, write matching numbers on the ends of the
wood to be joined together, and note which end is for tails and which
part is pins
Important: The use of a square is recommended to ensure that correct
angles are achieved in all stages of setting up the dovetail jig. Accurate
alignment of the wood is crucial to achieving a good quality joint. Practising
with scrap material is highly recommended to develop accuracy when
using the jig.
Setting the vertical and horizontal stop bars
Note: A spanner (not supplied) is required to adjust the Horizontal Stop Bars
(6) and the Vertical Stop Bars (8).
1. Loosen the Horizontal Clamping Knobs (2) and Vertical Clamping
Knobs (9), and raise the Horizontal Clamping Lever (1) and the Vertical
Clamping Lever (10) to allow access to the stop bars adjustment nuts
easily
2. Set the left-hand Horizontal Stop Bar (6) to a position where the
Template (7) indicates a suitable place for the first dovetail joint female
slot for the size of the wood so that the dovetail joints are evenly
spaced across the wood. The left-hand Vertical Stop Bar (8) should be
set so that it is positioned 12.7mm (½") to the right of the Horizontal
Stop Bar (6). This is the offset which is approximately the width of a
finger of the template
• The initial horizontal stop bar position in relation to the template fingers
may vary slightly depending on how much border is required. The border
is the distance from the edge of the vertical wood to the first dovetail tail.
The offset between the two pieces of wood is always the thickness of a
template finger 12.7mm (
1 ⁄
2
") in order to line up two equal width pieces
of wood after jointing. Once cut, the wood in Fig B will have a smaller
border than that in Fig C
• Use the right-hand side horizontal and vertical stop bars to secure and
align larger pieces of wood more centrally in the jig. The right-hand side
stop bars can also be used in preference to the left-hand side or used for
another two pieces of wood secured at the same time as the left side so
two dovetail joints can be made in one operation
• When securing two sets of wood, the left-hand or right-hand side
Horizontal Clamping Knobs (2) and Vertical Clamping Knobs (9) can
be used instead of the Horizontal Clamping Lever (1) and the Vertical
Clamping Lever (10) to allow releasing or fitting of wood to the left or
right side only without affecting the position of the wood already fitted
on the other side
• Once the stop bars are in the correct offset position lining up the two
pieces of wood exactly level when jointed, avoid adjusting the stop
bar position again. This is only possible if the same size wood is being
worked on. Alternatively, once the correct offset position has been found
between the horizontal and vertical stop bars, an offset spacer can be
made from a small piece of wood to that exact measurement. This will
enable the offset position to be set quickly and accurately even when
using different size pieces of wood
Clamping and positioning the wood
1. Pull the Horizontal Clamping Lever (1) towards the back of the jig,
loosen the two Horizontal Clamping Knobs (2) and slide the horizontal
piece of wood into the jig from the rear
2. The wood should pass underneath the fence (5) and the Template
(7). The left-hand side of the wood should be lying against the left
Horizontal Stop Bar (6) and the front of the wood should be level with
the front of the main body of the jig to allow for the vertically placed
wood to be positioned in front of it (Fig B)
3. Tighten the Horizontal Clamping Knobs (2) so the clamp is very close
to the surface of the wood. Recheck the position of the wood and pull
the horizontal clamping lever towards the front of the jig to secure the
wood
• The clamp needs to be set so that operating the clamping lever allows
the wood to be inserted and secured without additional use of the
clamping knobs
• Do not force the clamping lever if there is too much resistance when
operating. Loosen the clamping knobs to adjust it to the optimum setting
that holds the wood securely but does not put unnecessary strain on the
clamping mechanism to prevent it being damaged
4. Pull the Vertical Clamping Lever (10) up so it is in the unclamped
position and loosen the Vertical Clamping Knobs (9)
5. If the vertical piece of wood has already been cut for the joint at the
other end, make sure the wood is inserted in the correct way. Once
the dovetail joint is cut the vertical wood in the jig fits to the horizontal
wood at 180° to its cut position, as if hinged at the cut position and
rotated 180° upwards
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