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.
