Thread: Leigh or Gifkins

The D1600 is now $407.45 at MIK. I noticed they also have a new store in Emu Plains in NSW. Must be somewhere near Felder.

Originally Posted by mat

The D1600 is now $407.45 at MIK. I noticed they also have a new store in Emu Plains in NSW. Must be somewhere near Felder.

That is a good price, they're normally $499.00...........

I have both.

The Gifkins for smaller work like small boxes etc. Of course you need to get a different template for thicker work/different spacing too.

I'm pretty comfortable with the leigh now. Like others said, a bit fiddly to set up but once done its great. Don't need another template for thicker work either like the gifkins.

Horses for courses.

I bought the Gifkins jig at the Brisbane show. I had always avoided doing a dovetail joint but thought I would buy a jig and have a go. I am more than pleased with the quality of the jig and more importanttly, the quality of the dovetail joint itself. It took a couple of attempts (my fault not the jig) but if you follow the video included in the package, its easy. Believe me, if I can do it, anyone can do it.
Or if you want to see a demo before buying the jig, download Gumby's video from this forum, shows you how easy it is to use.
Incidentally, Leigh are now producing a new 12" jig but dont know if it is available in Australia yet.
Here is a pic of my first attempts, just used pine to practice with.

Originally Posted by mat

I went through this process and chose the Leigh. Mainly because my projects were mainly larger than small boxes where the Gifkins excels.

Although others deny a problem with large draw or box parts on a gifkins the weight can easily exceed the gifkin jig causing problems with stability on the router table.

Mat
the Gifkins is "just" a template for guiding the router bit.
It excells for small parts like box sides, but for longer/heavier parts why don't you support the part in a vice and clamp the jig to the end of the work and use a hand held router guided by the Gifkin's template?


ian

Originally Posted by ian

Mat
the Gifkins is "just" a template for guiding the router bit.
It excells for small parts like box sides, but for longer/heavier parts why don't you support the part in a vice and clamp the jig to the end of the work and use a hand held router guided by the Gifkin's template?


ian

The Gifkins jig wasn't really designed for that type of application but I guess it would work but I think if you were doing long pieces repeatedly, the Leigh would be the way to go.

The most common "complaint" when comparing the Leigh and the Gifkins is that it can be difficult and/or dangerous to attempt long pieces in the Gifkins.

But on the other side of the coin, is it possible to do small, detailed work on the Leigh 1600? That is, the 6mm pins that can be done easily on the Gifkins, is it easy to do these on the Leigh?

I'm trying to ask if the Gifkins is more suited to smaller work such as boxes and drawers, and is the Leigh jig restricted to larger items (ie: not detailed boxes)?

Thanks for your help,
Nathan.

Gifkins cannot do half blinds need for drawers, the leigh 1600 can work any (almost) board up to 13/16 for through dovetails and 1' for blinds.

Have used 8mm and 19mm boards in it for through dovetails with no trouble, for gifkins you need a few different guides to be able to do this.

The ability to place 1, 2 or as many pins as you can fit on the board is also there with the leigh.


For ease of use, the gifkins is unbeatable, for versatility the leigh is hard to beat IMHO.