Warning: My dovetail jig decided to become a modern art piece mid-project

So I'm working on a walnut jewelry box for a client, right? Everything's going smooth until I set up my Porter Cable dovetail jig for the last drawer. I go to make the cut and instead of a clean joint, it starts making this awful grinding noise and spits out a piece of wood that looks like a beaver went to town on it. The guide bushing had somehow worked itself completely loose and was wobbling all over the place. I spent the next 45 minutes just staring at this messed up drawer side, trying to figure out how to salvage $80 worth of walnut. Ended up having to recut all the pieces from scratch and push the delivery back a full day. Has anyone else had a jig just totally fail on them out of nowhere? What's your go-to fix when a tool decides to quit mid-cut?

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3 Comments

dylan6046mo ago

My old jig did that too, @rose_craig97.

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rose_craig976mo ago

Had a router table fence shift on me once. Ruined a whole panel. Now I do a full tool check before any important cut. Tighten everything, even stuff that shouldn't move. It adds five minutes but saves hours of rework. That grinding noise is the worst sound in the shop. Means money just flew out the window.

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kim1886mo ago

That grinding noise is the worst. I hear you, rose_craig97. I'd argue the sound of a board kicking back is worse. That sudden bang makes you jump out of your skin. The router table fence is bad, but a loose riving knife on the table saw is pure terror. Both mean you're starting over from scratch.

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