Using LEIGH question

[tonysa]

After much deliberation I ended up with D1600 and the Triton template guide (and yes, the guide for the smaller Triton does fit its bigger brother). If using the Leigh template guide, just make sure its done up VERY tight. Mine worked slightly loose first time round, no damage done.

After setting it up (easy and very good manual) I had a go at test piece using couple pieces 19mm pine. I was very pleased with my first attempt, now just gotta perfect the method, which is where you guys come in :2tsup:

When cutting the PINS I had trouble knowing when I'd cut through the workpiece, any tips or just practice and feel of the router/ sound of speed ? I had to keep stopping and starting to see if i was through. The leigh finger support board (the horizontal one) got well and truly chewed up and contributed to a heap of extra shavings.

Thanks

Tony

[Stevenp]

When cutting the PINS I had trouble knowing when I'd cut through the workpiece, any tips or just practice and feel of the router/ sound of speed ? I had to keep stopping and starting to see if i was through. The leigh finger support board (the horizontal one) got well and truly chewed up and contributed to a heap of extra shavings.

Thanks

Tony

G'day Tony, I also have the D1600 and go for the sound of speed theory.
have a look at the piece before you take it out of the jig to make sure they are all done, easy Peasy.
They sure are a nice jig, I also have the Gifkins but prefer the Leigh due to the adjustable fingers and the ability to do Half blinds.
Cheers Steven

[tonysa]

thanks for the info Steve, I'm gonna have a couple of hours in the shed now with the leigh and will see how it goes this time :)
cheers
tony

[tonysa]

yep, that worked well. I also ended up moving the horizontal support board back away from the wood I was working on and took it very slowly. Very thin skim across front and back, around the sides and then the bulk in the middle. Considering i have next to no skills using hand held router I was very pleased at first attempt. Anyway this is of the best side of test piece after i applied some DO. I'll do some more pine pieces and then had a go at something a little more exotic and something functional.

Tony

[lesmeyer]

Tony,
that is a great first attempt. I also found it quite easy to produce great looking dt's on my first attempt when a D1600 on loan from CT. I have since purchased the D4R. I also purchased a set of Leigh router bits, and as stated elsewhere on this forum, the shanks could do with an extra 3 - 5 mm in length. What I did was to get a mate of mine (Gatiep - a member of the forum) to mill the reducing collet by removing 3 mm. This results in not having the lip of the collet protruding too far thus robbing one of depth of cut. The problem with the Triton setup is that the guide bush is sunken about 4mm below the phenolic base plate. Now when using in the Triton router, I can get full depth of cut with 22mm of shank in the collet. It makes for safe routing when having at least 19mm of shank in the collet (so the books say).
I am very happy with the outcome.
Regards
Les

[Stevenp]

yep, that worked well. I also ended up moving the horizontal support board back away from the wood I was working on and took it very slowly.

Tony

Tony, I think if you move the support board back away from the workpiece you get the risk of tearout. It doesn't matter if the support gets cut up, that is what it is there for.:coolio::tequila:

[mat]

To secure the brass guidebush more securely use a bit of white plumbers tape. If you want a collet reducer without the collar they can be purchased from McJing or other router bit sellers.

[tonysa]

I was wondering about the depth of the cutter, I'll investigate other collet reducers at McJing at Matk suggests.
White ptfe tape sounds like the go too.

regards tearout, i was very very careful and took it slowly and wasn't too bad but as steve says i think i'll be putting the horizontal board back in when i do it for real. probably some mdf.

Not sure yet what the 1/4" to 1/2" graduations on the ends of the finger bar are for. Quick flip through the handbook didn't say much but i could well have missed it.

For the test i was using 19mm pine and as suggested started at the 1/2" mark for the pins. I was thinking it was to do with thickness of board but that theory seems to be blown.

Anyway thanks for the help guys, very useful :)

Tony

[mat]

As far as collet reducers and bits go remember 8mm is exactly 5/16"

To reduce tearout I have purchased a spiral upcut to do the straight cuts. LV have US made onsrud carbide spiral upcuts at the best price I have seen.

[Stevenp]

I was wondering about the depth of the cutter, I'll investigate other collet reducers at McJing at Matk suggests.
White ptfe tape sounds like the go too.

regards tearout, i was very very careful and took it slowly and wasn't too bad but as steve says i think i'll be putting the horizontal board back in when i do it for real. probably some mdf.

Not sure yet what the 1/4" to 1/2" graduations on the ends of the finger bar are for. Quick flip through the handbook didn't say much but i could well have missed it.

For the test i was using 19mm pine and as suggested started at the 1/2" mark for the pins. I was thinking it was to do with thickness of board but that theory seems to be blown.

Anyway thanks for the help guys, very useful :)

Tony

Tony,.....the 1/4" to 1/2" graduations are indeed to do with the thickness of the timber. Check out the manual at about page 19 onwards.
When I got mine I sat in a very quiet corner and watched the DVD that came with the jig. I assume you got the DVD? You know what they say, "If all else fails.......read the instructions.:rolleyes:

[tonysa]

found it, if all else fails RTFM

does anyone who know what brand router leigh use in their demo coz it sure beats have to remove the template everytime to change bits on the triton, unless there's a workaround I haven't caught onto yet .... ?

Tony

[Pusser]

Porter Cable - fabulous routers.

Pusser

[sea dragon]

Porter Cable may well be fabulous routers, I do not know, but my belief was that De Walt featured on the DVD. In other dealings with Leigh, one of their reps used the same De Walt as me. I thought I recognised the yellow colour, but may be wrong.
Regards,
CJ

[Pusser]

As I have said elsewhere, there may be other videos but my DVD and the Videos on the Leigh website ( or at least the D4R and a couple of others I checked) were grey and Porter Cable. Mik used to demonstrate with Porter cable until the became unavailable and were using festool at least at Canberra.

Pusser

[tonysa]

i checked out dewalt and porter cable and others and from the demo dvd that came with the jig they were using the porter cable, but thansk for the replies
cheers
tonysa

[martink]

As I have said elsewhere, there may be other videos but my DVD and the Videos on the Leigh website ( or at least the D4R and a couple of others I checked) were grey and Porter Cable. Mik used to demonstrate with Porter cable until the became unavailable and were using festool at least at Canberra.

Pusser

I know the MIK guys were using the triton router (the small one) when I saw them demoing the FMT a couple of years back at the WW show. Guess that this thing supports so many different routers (the M&T and dovetail jig) that the type of router is just window dressing.

Ciao,

M.