Wasted $150 on a cheap dovetail jig from an online auction

I saw this dovetail jig selling for cheap on a local online auction last spring. Figured I'd save some money compared to the name brand ones I usually use. Well, the aluminum was so soft the bushings wore out after just two projects and the bit guides were all off by nearly a millimeter. Ended up taking three times longer to fix the gaps than if I'd just cut them by hand. Has anyone else had luck with those no-name jigs or should I just stick with the expensive ones?

2 comments

2 Comments

rileygonzalez4d ago

Laugh at that hardware store special and throw your money into a bonfire next time. I bought one of those once and the thing worked JUST fine as a paperweight and a lesson in being cheap. My advice is to stick with the expensive ones or learn to cut them by hand like our ancestors did with less swearing.

spencer_bell4d ago

Learned this lesson the hard way with a bunch of different tools too lol. Seems like every time I try to save a few bucks upfront, it ends up costing me more in time and frustration later. Stick with the name brand stuff man, it's just not worth the headache.