PORTER-CABLE Dovetail Jig, Woodworking, Mini Template Kit for Precise Alignment (4216)

I love this jig. Granted, I was previously using an awful $20 jig from Home Depot that would make ANY jig seem amazing. But still, I'd be hard-pressed to level a criticism against this one. It's an easy-to-use, intuitive jig. The jig arrives fully assembled, save for some minimal assembly required for the extra templates (<5 mins.). That was a welcome surprise. It worked fairly well right out of the box, and with one, quick round of minor adjustments, I was making tight, flush joints. There are three features that I appreciate most about this jig: 1. Aligning and clamping boards is a cinch. The guides make it easy, and once the knobs are adjusted for the thickness of your boards, you merely need to clamp with the levers to secure each board. It's a ridiculously quick and efficient system. No finger tightening or clumsy clamping apparatuses. While some jigs seem to be built for individuals with three hands, this one is easy to operate for those of us who were only born with two. 2. Basic instructions and guides are printed and/or etched on the jig and templates. If you don't make dovetails regularly, you likely spend a few minutes reacquainting yourself with your jig each time you dust it off. Having everything you need on the jig, rather than in a misplaced instruction book, is a nice feature that's easy to overlook. (And by the way, the instruction book is immensely helpful in its own right--more thorough than it needs to be. Basic operation instructions are supplemented with tips and tricks that make the process simpler. I doubt many other jigs' instruction books are as useful.) 3. Half-blind joints can be made w/ one cut per joint, rather than a separate cut per board. I know that isn't unique to this jig, but it certainly isn't a feature of every jig. Worth mentioning. I haven't had the opportunity to use the additional templates/bits (through, box, miniature), but if I have any problems, I'll update this review. The 1/2" half-blind bit and template worked wonderfully. The bushing fits the form of the template perfectly with no play, minimizing the potential for user error. Setting the depth is easy--I only needed one test cut plus a couple minor adjustments prior to making my final cuts. And my first pair of half-blind drawer boxes came out as good as I possibly could have hoped. I'm looking forward to experimenting with through-joints soon, I hope.

This gets 5 stars because it is exactly as advertised. I researched this carefully before I bought it, so I was not surprised when it lived up to most of the positive reviews on Amazon, in magazines, and elsewhere. I cannot compare the 4216 to others like the PC Omnijig or Leigh D4R except to say that it is much less expensive and works very well. The big limitation, mentioned by most reviewers, is the 12" workpiece limit and fixed DT spacing. Actually, you can cut longer pieces by using the templates out of the jig. (I have not had to do this yet, but it seems straightforward.) Through DT would be especially easy to cut this way. You can also use the templates on a router table. The fixed spacing is a fact, but I decided that variable spacing was not worth the extra bother in setting up the jig, and the large price increase. I prefer box (finger) joints for most of my drawer side/back joints, and fixed box joints are standard. You can break the fixed DT pattern by skipping a position. Anyway, I am not interested in fooling my clients, and the real sign of hand-cut DT is pins that are narrower than a router bit. The 4216 is a heavy, durable tool, with steel body and heavy aluminum templates. It comes with everything you need to use it except a router and a 1/2" straight bit, which is needed for box (finger) joints. You need a router that will accept both 1/2" and 1/4" bits and the Porter-Cable style guide bushings. It comes assembled (for half-blind DT) and works out of the box with minor tweaking, The instructions are so complete that they are actually a bit confusing, but once you go ahead and cut some test pieces, the instructions become very clear. There is no dust collection as far as I know, but the geometry of the jig puts the shavings on the floor and on your apron, so cleanup is not that difficult. Note that I said shavings. The bits come very sharp. Finally, I chose the 4216 (with three templates) instead of smaller kits because I wanted the versatility of half-blind, through, and mini joints, and it was a bit cheaper to buy all three at once. I will continue to cut half-blind DT by hand for top-line drawer fronts but this jig will serve me very well for other DT work. I have always cut box joints on a table saw, but this jig offers an excellent alternative if I don't want to tie up my table saw.

I tend to review a lot of things high, but I think that is because i spend a lot of time researching before I buy something. I bought this because of all the templates it came with and the nice clamping mechanisms, etc.. I've never done dovetails before. This thing makes dovetails easy. It does take a little while to do your first ones, but this jig has so many things built in that make it easier to setup. You just learn it fast and start doing things in no time. I've done half blind and through dovetails, and I've used the sliding dovetail jig to make dados that don't go all the way to the end of the board. First, it has router bit stops to set the depth of your router bit with pretty much no thought. Just look out for the router bit stop on the through dovetail jig. This one actually messed me up, the manual wasn't too clear on it. I ended up setting it based on trial and error. All the other stops go to 3/8 below the jig and work great. There are lines on the templates to line up to your boards, so easy. You have to see how they did this to appreciate how easy it is to line up. There is a board edge guide on the left side, you center your vertical board and then just move this edge guide to be flush with the vertical. Then the horizontal board just goes to the guide. The clamps work great, hold the wood in place without damaging it. Besides setting the through router bit depth stop being a pain, the only complaint I have about this jig is the maximum board thickness. I've found many times I wanted to put some dado'a in 2x2s and couldn't use my jig because it doesn't support that thickness. It is kind of pricey, buy you can do so many kinds of dovetails. AND what was not apparent to me is - It comes with 4 router bits to do every kind of dovetail it supports. It also comes with template guides, pretty nice ones. So it actually came with more than I was expecting. I would definitely recommend this to anyone.

I have been waiting to get this for a long time. It is great, making sawdust and creating precision wood crafts is awesome

Easy to use when you get the hang of it. Would buy again!

Porter Cable makes quite a few dovetail jigs; enough that the choices are quite confusing, especially if you find some of the discontinued models somewhere. Currently they make two lines of jigs, the 4200 series that I am reviewing here, and the new Omnijig Joining System. The differences boil down to this: 1. The Omnijig costs about twice or more than the 4200 series. 2. The Omnijig will machine wider boards. 3. The Omnijig has some really slick convenience features. But this does not mean that the 4200 series is inadequate for most woodworkers. It is easy to use, sets up and adjusts easily, and in the 4216 model will do a lot of different joints. These include 1/4 and 1/2 inch dovetails, half blind and full, box joints, and a sliding dovetail joint. The 4216 is wide enough to joint the sides of almost any drawer. It won't do the sides of a deep chest. Here is my take on this: If you have plenty of room and a lot of money and intend to make a lot of chests, by all means buy the Omnijig. You won't be sorry. However, if you primarily want to make standard size drawers and will only make a few chests with dovetail corners, purchase the 4200 series. I would prefer to hand-cut the dovetails on chests anyway, as the handwork makes the chest look better to my eye. Prepare to cut at least one test joint when you first get this unit--and for each of the different joints your model will make. The 4216 makes all of them, but even if you buy the simplest unit, you can add the templates for the remaining joints. It isn't tricky to adjust things, and they give clear indications of the direction to adjust to fix problems (loose or tight joints) in the instructions. One thing I particularly appreciate is that this jig will put dovetails on plywood that is thinner than 1/2 inch. On a previous jig I owned, this required all sorts of efforts, a huge amount of thought, and very tricky sequencing. The instructions are clear, and the results worked first time and just as easily as full thickness. Some other items you might want to know: 1) considerable "blow-out" can occur when routing these joints. Make certain that all cuts are adequately backed up with scrap. The instructions tell you this, very clearly, so take our word for this and do it. 2) This unit will cut very nice box joints. I don't like to cut box joints with a router, I prefer the table saw, but I could see benefits for using this method on longer boards. 3) This unit will cut a sliding dovetail joint. It is a pretty neat joint, and far easier to cut than the hand-made jig I used before. 4) The instructions provide an interesting method to cut skip-tooth joints that look a little more like a hand cut joint, but this unit does not have adjustable fingers. Buy the Omnijig if you want to do a lot of that and don't want to hand cut the joints. I prefer to cut the beautiful joints by hand. 5) There are a lot of parts to the 4216. You will be surprised when you unpack them just how many. After assembly, you cannot repack the pieces in the box using the styrofoam without disassembly. However, after discarding the packing materials and adding a plastic bag or two, all of the pieces will fit into the shipping box. I recommend building a small box to keep everything in, just about the same size as the shipping box. It is a great project to practice using the jig. I made mine from scrap and it is very convenient. 6) Make certain that the plywood you use for drawer sides, etc. is void free. That is, you don't want to run into "air" in the middle of a dovetail joint. You can fix the problem by inserting a "dutchman" but it isn't worth it. Pay for the better material. I love this tool. It isn't as great as the Omnijig, I admit, but it is a lot smaller and easier to store. Unlike every other jig (except the Omnijig) it is realy easy to use and the instructions are clear. You can get going in minutes. One warning: if you have a Bosch router, as I do, and want to use it with this tool, purchase the BOSCH Templet Guide Adapter, RA1100 (2 610 995 080) which permits installing the PC-style template guides in the Bocsh "twist-click" base. The 4200 series templates come with PC-style template guides. The provided bits are 1/2 inch diameter shafts except for the 1/4 inch template, which has 1/4 inch diameter shafts bits. Use the provided template guides with the "Templet Guide Adapter" and not the Bosch equivalents. And as a parting comment, this is a great excuse to purchase a second router. Having two routers set up makes cutting a lot of joints a whole lot easier and with greater precision and repeatability. You do not need a plunge router for this tool. Bosch RA1100 Threaded Router Template Guide Adapter UPDATE: As a comment indicated, a couple of typos in the "One warning" paragraph made that paragraph confusing. Hope it is more clearly stated now.

Very sturdy construction. This comes with 3 templates that allows multiple types of dovetail and finger joints. The clamps hold the work piece securely. I've seen some criticisms of the complexity of operation. But once you learn the parts names, and their functions, following the instructions to achieve excellent results is simple. There is a learning curve, but worth the effort. I got great results on the first try, and continued use got me even better results. This jig gives me better joints than I can do by hand, in the fraction of time. And the way it's designed, it makes precision results very repeatable.

I wanted a dovetail jig for quite a while, but didn't want to spend the money. Also, I was never sure of all the components I would need, like bits, bushings, etc. This kit took all the guess work out of the purchase, as it came with everything I needed to get started, and more. It comes with various bits and bushings. You can literally be cutting dovetails in less than half an hour from the box. I already had a PC router. I don't know how compatible the bushings are with other routers. Setup wasn't bad. I spent about an hour making a couple of tests before I had it to the point where I could make an actual joint for a wall cabinet in my home shop. The biggest struggle that I had was getting the bit depth right. The instructions are good, though, and include troubleshooting tips for the various scenarios. In other words, if xxx is happening, then increase yyy, which was perfect for someone new, like myself. So far, I've only made that one cabinet, but it came out perfect. My neighbor came by recently and commented on it, out of the blue. These don't look like hand made dovetails, because of the uniform spacing, but we can't all start off making handmade dovetails. Nor do we need them for every project. Oh, one more important point. At least it was for me. These jig can make half blind joints, but they don't look like the traditional joints that are triangular on both faces. One face is rounded. That's the nature of the beast. EDIT: After using this jig a few times I'm slowly starting to get better with it. There are optimum board widths for each set (regular or miniature) to get the best results. This means you can't arbitrarily choose drawer heights that you like (for instance, when dividing up vertical space). The regular setup wants whole inches plus 1/4". For example, 3 1/4", 4 1/4", etc.