New Product - "Akeda Dovetail Jig"

For months and years, thousands of woodworkers have heard snippets of a new dovetail machine — The Akeda. The manufacturer explained that they were working to get every detail right. Many thought it was a "myth" until it appeared as a full page ad in Fine Woodworking last August. Then all of a sudden there were real, live units at all the Woodcraft Stores and in their catalog. Akeda was no longer a myth but for real.    The unit is suppose to do through dovetails, half-blind dovetails, box joints and even sliding dovetails. And it would allow for variable spacing, and built in and effective dust collection — in fact, there were many, many features promised in the early ads.
	Now it is time for me to see what it can really do. I received the basic model DC-16V jig, the full accessory kit, and the box joint cutter. I should be able to do everything.    I have the main package in my hands, and I will tell you that it is heavy. I had gotten the mistaken idea that the unit was made up of components of aluminum and plastic. There are some of those elements, but the main assembly is heavy steel. This is a unit that will hold its own in any production shop.
The company has quite a few useful PDF's available on line, so the Manual that came with the unit is nice to have, but not new to me. [click here for pdf.]    There is very little space given to installing the unit — but I soon realized that it was because there is so little installation to do.
	The hardest task is to cut a base board to the size shown in the manual and then drill four holes. I do this with a scrap of 3/4" MDF.
I have mounted the jig on the baseboard as directed and can now clamp the unit to my workbench. The jig is extended out over the front edge to allow for drawer sides to be clamped in the device.    I am trying out the built-in clamping devices. They work like a charm. There are adjustment holes on both left and right sides, but the jaws are parallel and work together. You simply choose the one that is most convenient at the time.    The jaws are padded and give a very positive hold to the work piece without any marring.
	A key part of the Akeda Jig are the guide fingers. There are several of them to match the profiles of the various degrees and sizes of dovetails. It takes a little practice in inserting them into the guide rail. You can insert them from above or below — this somewhat depends on where you will be clamping your workpiece. In any case, it took me about 4 guides and a couple of minutes before I was comfortable with placing them properly.    The back guide is grooved every 1/8" so you can locate your tails anywhere along the workpiece in 1/8" increments. This really doesn't limit the variability at all.
Since I am hooking up the unit to a shop vacuum, I follow their instructions in installing the front plastic window.
	I have rotated the unit so that I can access the bottom to install the dust collector nozzle and a filler gasket.
The kit includes some "shutters" that fit behind the horizontal clamp. They can be used to shut off the back access and make the vacuum work better. Of course, when you have to mount a board horizontally, the shutter has to be moved. I opted to try the unit without the shutters first.
	Rather than to switch back and forth between bits, I have installed 7/16" guide bushings on two routers. One will be for the dovetail bit and the other for the straight.
There is just enough play in the screws attaching the base plate that I can center the bit in the adapter. The closer this is on center, the better and more repeatable, will the dovetails and box joints be.    Guess what — I am actually near ready to make my first Akeda Jig joint.