I own two Kreg jigs; one that's 10-12 years old and made of aluminum. It does a fine jog, but was limited to 3/4" lumber. It has no dust collection option and the two hole pattern is not adjustable. If I want to space the holes closer or further apart I have to unclamp the part and relocate it.
My second Kreg jig was purchased about two ears ago and is made entirly of plastic. It does not make provisions for dust collection, and though it requires me to take it apart and add or remove parts, it will allow me to drill stock up to 2" thick. It has three drilling locations, but they are not adjustable, so I still wind-up moving the parts between drilling operations. Kreg has since change this tool and has added a dust chute. I gave it a go one afternoon at my local Woodcraft and am convinced that the version I have is superior. They did relocate the clamp, so at least it's not on the opposite side of the stock from the drilling action.
Enter the Porter Cable Qick Jig:
This tool was introduced at the IWF show in Atlanta in Aug and it is purported to be accurate and repeatable. I can't believe with as slow as the show was this year that I was still unable to leave our hall and visit the tool hall, so at this point I have to take the word of my buddy Scott Philips. He says that you simply place the material in the jig, slide the guide mechanism into place, tighten down and drill.
Unlike the Kreg jig, there's a single location for the stop collar on the drill bit, and there's even a fixture built into the jig to help you set it. On my Kreg jig I have to change the stop collar for different material thicknesses and even have purchased a second bit and collar because it was such a hasstle.
It's got an automatic depth control that allows for different material thicknesses, so again, there's no adding and subtracting of parts.
One of the most interesting things about the jig is that you can adjust the distance between the drill holes with its Variable Spaced Bushings. No more clamping and unclamping between every hole.
The first time I watched the video it apeared that there was quite a bit of fumbeling between drilling operations, but upon further investigation it turns out that once you have it set for your project you simply lock and unlock the mail (lower) clamp between joints. The top clamp is only adjusted if you need to change the board thickness or the hole spacing.
And though it's not a huge deal, the dust that's created from a pocket hole jig does pile-up fater that you'd believe, so a dust chute would be nice. The PC Quick Jig has just such a dust port.
Click here to see (and buy) the Porter Cable Qick Jig from Woodcraft.com
Watch my buddy Scott Philips as Doug Harmon walks him through the new Qick Jig.
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