Review on Enhanced Mortise and Tenon Jig - Precision Drill Template Set with Hollow Chisel Bit Attachment by Brian Thuo

The purpose of a woodworking jig is to allow the user to make repetitive cuts. The bottom line is that every cut is the same. Not nearly the same, but exactly the same. A fixture that allows the wood to be moved or that depends in any way on how well the cut is visible is not a good fixture because the cuts will not be equal. I struggled with this jig for hours and was unable to make accurate cuts with it due to two major design flaws: 1) inadequate wood clamping - the wood will move unless the clamps are very tight, and 2) there is no way to hold the wood. Tree from time to time in the same place. General Mortise and Tenon Jig is pretty well done; However, there is a downside to its holding power. The internal clamps that hold the wood in place don't do the job. Even if these clamps are very tight, the wood will move, especially at the spikes. If someone had sandpapered the inner clamps or made them larger it might work; However, having paid so much for a device, I don't want to tweak it here and there to make it work well. It should work fine out of the box. The second design flaw has to do with how the user levels the wood before cutting. The assembly instructions tell you to mark each piece in the middle of the cut. The user then places the wood in the fixture, visually aligning it with the centerlines of the fixture. There is no stop to adjust, so the wood hits the same spot every time. No matter how careful I was, the parts never lined up exactly. The difference in tree orientation was at least 1/32. Usually there were more, sometimes much more. My problem is that I'm 65 years old and even with my glasses and lots of light the marks on the mount and the marks on the board were misaligned. The key here is the lack of stops. Additionally, the focus on wood depth is primarily on 1/2, 3/4 and 1 inch shanks. It is not suitable for metric sizes (plywood type). If the allowance is slightly smaller or larger than the standard gauge, it is not possible to center the allowance on the depth gauge. Even after numerous attempts at alignment, the shaft was at least 1/32 off. The system just doesn't work. If your headroom is exactly 3/4, 1/2 etc. I think it might be possible to even out the depth size in the long run. If your stock doesn't fit into "standard" UK sizes, brace yourself for trouble. The inner clips were quite small and the handles to close the clips are small. I have arthritis and it was hard to turn the little knobs. To top it off, these knobs need to be tightened firmly to be able to hold the wood in place. There are two knobs for each clamp and the user must tighten both over and over until both are REALLY tight. Blow on one seems to make the other blow harder. With a playing card or two, I could probably set the depth right to the center of the tree, solving the depth problem. Then I could cut the inserts to length and just trim off the excess to get an exact fit at the joint. By cutting out the pieces a bit larger, I was able to make the frame (or whatever) square after building. But why am I paying $100 to build a frame that won't fit to begin with? Should I build every joint like this? The whole point of a device, especially an expensive one, is to make cuts in the same spot on your butt every time. So the wood needs to be held firmly, the clamps need to hold the wood in place so I don't have to apply extra pressure when sanding the front of the clamps etc, and the jig needs to be easy to use. It should be remembered that the bracket can help the user to cut 20 or more joints in one project. Any extra work to straighten the joint or fix "small" problems becomes a big headache. I can make a shopfitting that does so much for practically nothing. If I start paying over $100 for a light these problems should be completely gone. This device cannot do that. The device has mostly well-made parts. The router bit and template guides are very good. The small wrench to tighten the jig guide at the base of the router didn't work on my router, but that was a minor issue. I found the cutter centering very good. The instructions are good enough if you read them once or twice before you start. Why the internal clamps weren't better is beyond me. Why make clamping surfaces smooth? Why not make the screws that advance the clamps bigger and either make the handles bigger or different so they tighten with ease? Why make alignment lines so thick? If they were a lot thinner it would be easier to level the wood properly. Why not design a stop for the pieces of wood so every cut is the same? It would be very easy to make this device much better. And I don't think the ideas I've laid out will be worth that much. However, the jig fails the test. A star.AD2