Review on Milescraft 13190003 1319 JointMate Handheld Dowel Jig - Black/Red by Byron Patil

I've thought about how to rate this product for a while after using it to drill dozens of different size dowel holes on a number of different projects. In the end I decided on 3 stars. Right in the middle. Here you get what you pay for. Whatever the cost, it gets the job done and does it well enough IF you know what you're doing. Note that I said "if YOU know what you are doing", not "do what the instructions tell you". Using this product as directed will only make you angry. Self-centering pins work great in theory, but in reality it's nearly impossible to hold a piece in place while drilling, no matter how many clamps help. Even the slightest misalignment can result in a wobbly dowel hole and a loose fit. I also found that the self-centering posts and corresponding centering line on the sides of the product were not really centered. I made half a dozen test holes in a spare piece of wood when I first received the product and only one of them was really useful and centered. However, if you tailor this product with a little knowledge and careful measurements, you can get a lot of use out of it for what it is worth. Rather than using self-centering posts to center the jig's holes on the edge/end of the board, I opted for the red edge guide that comes with the kit and a couple of clamps to secure the jig to the workbench and slide Then slide the board in and out by clamping the board, drilling and pulling on. This worked much better than trying to fiddle with a manual jig. Since the center line on the sides of the template was even remotely inaccurate, about 1/4-1/3 of the hole diameter, I took a little time to figure out where the center actually was on all axes and marked it. with silver marker for reference. I then used the same sharpie to mark the board's depth gauge for the red edge guide. At the end of the day, for $11 and a few hours of trial and error, I made a more than usable dowel head. Can't beat the value but prepare to work on it for good results and under no circumstances would I try to do fine woodwork with this unit. For an additional $50, you can work much better right out of the box, saving you a lot of time and effort. If you're just trying to put together a closet or some sort of infrastructure in your store or something and are on a budget, this is perfect.