Porter Cable Half Blind Dovetail

11/10/19, 8:49 PM #1

Stuart Johnson
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Porter Cable Half Blind Dovetail

Stuart Johnson

I'm having an issue when making half blind dovetails with a Porter Cable jig. The tail board is 1/2" with face 3/4". They are the exact same width. With them set up properly in the jig they are not fitting correctly after being cut. One side is high by about 1/8" and the low by the same amount.

I know how to fix the depth and how tight the joint fits but I can't figure out how to adjust so the sides and front match. Any ideas?

Re: Porter Cable Half Blind Dovetail

11/10/19, 9:08 PM #2

roger lance
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Re: Porter Cable Half Blind Dovetail

roger lance

Please identify which P-C jig you have and owners of that jig will be able to easily answer your question.

I have an old P-C Omnijig which has adjustable tabs that dial in the correct offset.

Re: Porter Cable Half Blind Dovetail

11/10/19, 9:26 PM #3

David Yoho
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Re: Porter Cable Half Blind Dovetail *LINK*

David Yoho

I have an old model 4112. Here's a link to the User's Manual that should help. I think page 7 will help answer your problem.

instruction manual model 4112, 4113, 4114, 4115

- - -

I live in Mechanicsville, VA (not far from Richmond) and I've been building furniture and cabinetry for well over 20 years now. It all started with my frustration of not being able to cut a straight line with a hand saw. About this same time, a guy named Norm appeared on my local PBS station. The more I watched, the more I learned. I also started thinking, "Hey, I can do that"! And so, I began with small projects and soon found myself moving up to increasingly advanced work. Word of mouth started the ball rolling and before I knew it, I was building all kinds of things for people. While this is not what I do to pay the bills, it has provided me with a means of equipping my shop over the years. The main downside to all of this is when my wife looks at a finished project and says, "I want one of those" and I know I don't have the time to make that happen right then. I take advantage of any slack time between commissions to work on things we want and this seems to keep her "on my side". She even surprised me one day with a new Tormek sharpening system. Sometimes it pays to leave that tool catalog lying around open! For me, woodworking is a type of therapy. I can go out to the shop and totally forget about the world outside. There have been days when I get out there early and before I know it, it's dark outside and I have no idea where the time went! I also enjoy challenging my skills and learning new things. Most of the time, since the majority of my work tends to be custom pieces, I'm working on projects I�ve never built before. While this takes me longer than if I were doing production work, I find it more appealing because there's always something new to learn. I haven't had any formal training in woodworking. My teachers have been experience, the many books and magazines I've read, WoodCentral, and of course, a guy named Norm.

Re: Porter Cable Half Blind Dovetail

11/10/19, 10:29 PM #4

Lee Schierer
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Re: Porter Cable Half Blind Dovetail

Lee Schierer in McKean, PA

The stops for the slots and tails are not aligned properly OR you have some debris that is pushing the pieces to the side which is causing the offset you see in your parts. Make sure your pieces are pushed tight to the stop each and every time. If the pieces you show were run on the left side of the jig as you face it the stop for the slots is about 1/16" to far to the left as compared to the stop for the piece with the tails. Run some scrap pieces after you make slight adjustment.

Lee

Porter Cable Half Blind Dovetail

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