# Porter-Cable Dovetail Jig avaliable in the UK



## Mistro Moulder (May 12, 2011)

Hi 
I just started a woodwork shop in the East of England, any ideas on aquireing a Porter-Cable 5116 Omnijig 16-Inch Dovetail Machine here in the UK please?


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## Ralph Barker (Dec 15, 2008)

The 5116 is the old Omnijig, not manufactured for a number of years. Thus, finding one would be most likely on the used market. The current 16" model is the 55160.


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi

You can get them in the states ,new in the box...

Porter-Cable 5116 Omnijig 16 Dovetail Machine | AceTool.com

16'' Porter Cable OmniJig Dovetail Jig 5116 | eBay

Porter Cable 5116 16 Inch Omnijig

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Mistro Moulder said:


> Hi
> I just started a woodwork shop in the East of England, any ideas on aquireing a Porter-Cable 5116 Omnijig 16-Inch Dovetail Machine here in the UK please?


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Welcome to the forum, Ed


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## istracpsboss (Sep 14, 2008)

Hi Ed

I think you can forget PC in Europe, unless you want to import it. Whilst it is well known in North America, so far as I know, no-one imports PC into the UK. Again, as far as I know, they don't produce equipment to European voltages, so the bulk of their range would only work here if you got a transformer. It wouldn't really be worth someone's time to bring over just the non electrical items commercially.

Cheers

Peter


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## Phil P (Jul 25, 2010)

istracpsboss said:


> ....as far as I know, they don't produce equipment to European voltages, so the bulk of their range would only work here if you got a transformer. It wouldn't really be worth someone's time to bring over just the non electrical items commercially.


True, Peter, but at least quite a few of the single speed routers are designed to operate on 25 to 60Hz, so they will work on a yellow site transfomer (110v). I ran a couple of P-C 691s that way for a while without problems. They weren't CE marked, though, so technically I wasn't insured when using them.......

I've seen the Omnijig dovetail jigs in the USA and I was mightily impressed - they really are a solid piece of kit - however, they weight a ton so shipping would be extremely expensive. Leigh jigs are, however, available through their UK distributor as an alternative. I have to ask the OP, though, just what percentage of your customers will actually clock that you've used dovetails in a piece?

Rehards

Phil


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## istracpsboss (Sep 14, 2008)

It's probably just as well that Leigh jigs are available in the UK. It is my understanding that they were invented in the UK but couldn't get the development finance locally so they went to the US.

Cheers

Peter


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## Leigh Industries (May 18, 2011)

istracpsboss said:


> It's probably just as well that Leigh jigs are available in the UK. It is my understanding that they were invented in the UK but couldn't get the development finance locally so they went to the US.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Peter


Hi Peter, I hope you don't mind but I wanted to set the record straight about the beginnings of Leigh Industries.

My father Ken Grisley was born and raised in the UK but emigrated to Canada in 1975. He didn't invent the Leigh Dovetail jig until 1980-81. If your interested in the whole story, I recently did an interview with Woodworkers Journal which you can see at this link. Ok, as i'm a new user it won't let me post a link. But if you go to Woodworkers Journal.com and search Leigh, the interview will be the first one at the top.

Happy Woodworking!
Matthew Grisley
Leigh Industries


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## CharleyL (Feb 28, 2009)

Welcome Matthew,
It's great to have you join us. Welcome aboard.

Charley


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Welcome Matthew

A Peek Behind the Curtain | Woodworker's Journal - Blog

Search Results | Woodworkers Journal

Leigh Industries: A History of Evolution and Revolution in Jig-based Joinery | Articles | Woodworker's Journal eZine

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## Phil P (Jul 25, 2010)

Leigh Industries said:


> ....if you go to Woodworkers Journal.com and search Leigh, the interview will be the first one at the top.
> 
> Happy Woodworking!
> Matthew Grisley
> Leigh Industries


Hi Matthew and welcome to Router Forums! Thank you for the reference (the link is here for anyone interested). I found the history of interest, but one question; why D3 as a model name?

Regards

Phil


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi Phil

I posted the link above 

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Phil P said:


> Hi Matthew and welcome to Router Forums! Thank you for the reference (the link is here for anyone interested). I found the history of interest, but one question; why D3 as a model name?
> 
> Regards
> 
> Phil


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## istracpsboss (Sep 14, 2008)

Hi Matthew

Thank you for joining us. I'd been carrying that story around erroneously for twenty years and never realised until now that it wasn't true. Thank you for setting the record straight.

Best regards

Peter


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## Mistro Moulder (May 12, 2011)

Hi Peter
looks like the Leigh Dovetail jig is the way forward, the old Omni Jig weighs 25kg + apparently as Phil mentioned shipping costs and import duties very expensive? I will try my contacts in the US about maybe shipping a PC Omni jig first, PC are supposed to be an excellent brand, but I would not invest unless I had contacts in US for spare parts etc. Good point that Phil made about the insurance difficulty for non ce rated routers. 
What about Dewalt dovetail jig?
Thanks 
Cheers
Ed


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## Leigh Industries (May 18, 2011)

*Whats in a name*



Phil P said:


> Hi Matthew and welcome to Router Forums! Thank you for the reference (the link is for anyone interested). I found the history of interest, but one question; why D3 as a model name?
> 
> Regards
> 
> Phil


Good question Phil, here’s a bit of history on the models.

TD515 was the first model, a 12" width capacity jig. "TD" stood for Through Dovetail and "5" was for half inch (.5") the depth of cut, we quickly realised that it could also do 3/4" but the name was already done. "15" was for fifteen degrees, the angle of the bits used.

TD514, we realised shortly after the introduction of the TD515, that 15 degree bits were not as commonly available as we initially thought, so we changed to 14 degree bits.

TD514L, the "L" indicated that it had a 24" width capacity.

D1258, "D" meaning it was for through, half-blind and sliding dovetails. "125" meant that it could do 1-1/4" depth of cut. "8" means 8 degree bits for through dovetails.

D1258R, "R" we made some revisions to the D1258.

D3, we made some more changes to the D1258R and stopped producing the TD jigs. So we decided to call it the 3rd generation jig or the Leigh D3 dovetail jig.

Our naming has basically followed the same tradition, as we went to the D4, D4R, and to date the D4R Pro.

Matt


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## Phil P (Jul 25, 2010)

Thanks for that Matt

Regards

Phil


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