 Eight jigs I have built for my workshop using the match fit dovetail clamp system that's from micro jig and No, they do not pay me anything for this discussion or for this presentation Hello, woodworkers Paul Carson here small workshop guy quick shop update little discussion of some things I'm Doing in my small workshop in between major projects. I just finished my samurai carpet to work bench I'm going to do some deck furniture Basically a big comfortable chair and a footstool to go with it next but before I got started with that I thought I would build some new Jigs for my workshop all of these jigs are going to use this match fit Dovetail clamp system the beauty of this is you can make it really low profile for example, here is a Tall fence for my really inexpensive when Bandsaw so in order to put that fence on there All of these match fits are based on cutting your own Dovetail grooves into your jigs or work pieces those dovetail grooves are cut by using a 14-degree Dovetail router bit It's a half an inch on the bottom and a quarter of an inch at the top and so it creates a groove like this That replaces buying all sorts of t-track so you use that common groove for all of your jigs and Then these clamps are designed to fit into that groove So pretty neat system a lot of flexibility to it. Here's the eight things That I have done. Let me put this away. This is a when you do the groove You do it three eighths of an inch deep into the work piece First jig is a cutting guide designed for a router with the dovetail bit As you can see the clamps are completely underneath and nothing is above the surface to get in the way of the router So that's the concept Probably the first jig you want to do using that system is A jig to help you do these dovetails They talk about in their instructions when you're going to do these grooves that you cut them first With a one-quarter inch bit in your router and you plunge that I think 316s deep the whole purpose of that is to make it easier for your router with the dovetail bit to work You're not gonna stretch your router as much However, I found that to be very difficult to first cut the nice groove even with a nice fence of some sort Using the one-quarter inch router bit and then coming right back in perfectly cutting that same groove Now using your dovetail bit 3h deep. I did fortunately See in the instructions that if I had a Powerful enough router that I didn't need to do that line first with a quarter inch And that made it a lot easier fact is I had done a drill press table Using the preliminary slot first and then trying to match that with my dovetail slot I'm gonna tell you a lot of it didn't fit properly. I had difficulty sliding these clamps now When I went to the single cut obviously of going one time through the workpiece with my Dovetail bit with my larger more powerful router things come out beautifully and everything pretty well slides Occasionally you have to do a little bit of trimming with a chisel or a little filing if there's a little Point where your clamps get hung up But generally it comes out very well So I kind of recommend this that you have a big router for doing this or you have a lot of skill By doing the line twice once with a quarter inch once with another simple one, which is a guide To form my two different Circular saws This concept does not do it all these are just the slot dovetail slot I fortified it with some screws and stuff because once you cut that slot all the way through You've cut these two pieces separate And so then I don't have a lot of surface level here for these to hang on to this guide So I cut the guide and these are separate, but then I fortified it with a lot of screws Another jig that I did Using this system is a simple Zero clearance a plate that I can put on my bandsaw The way it works is I've got the slot in the back the dovetail slot And so when I need to get that on my bandsaw table and keep it secure instead of just relying on two-sided tape or something I there's a way that this then attaches And and tightens up against my bandsaw table A fourth device is a tall fence For my bandsaw and I've got some pictures of all of these in place So I just using the Fits that comes with the bandsaw. I need it to be taller So this going down in there and then closes up on that fence Concept is to have no clamps in the way of the cutting area Another jig And I actually have two like this This is a board straightener For my table saw. So I've got a perfectly straight edge up here that I've made very very careful with straight edge The clamping system then for attaching another board is I can attach The one that I want to straighten By using these dovetail clamps And then put my board in here it overhangs the blade Run this against the side. I'm going to get a nice straight cut on one end then turn it around Just slide the clamps in the dovetail slots and then when you don't need them pull them out and use them on other jigs I'm actually going to put another top on top of this Using the same dovetail clamps And that will be one that will shift back and forth and that will allow this to also function as a tapering jig Not only that This can work as a not only a straightener and a tapering jig, but as my tall fence for My table saw Easy peasy a two and one jig for your table saw I also have a much larger tall fence And I can also serve as a straightening board So if I want it to be a tall fence Then I turn it around put it over the The soft top fence and attach it with the clips and I got various places if I want it to be a Straight jig that I can flip it over Uh figure out which one is supposed to go against the fence And then use this as a large straightening by Sitting up with the clamps on the back on the fence. It's a tall fence put the clamps on the Slots with it laying down and it's a board straightener The smaller one doesn't always work if I have a longer piece that needs to be straightened out on one edge All right, so that's one two three four five six number seven Or eight or whatever. I don't know Is a drill press table. So what I did there was I have a number of these dovetail grooves So I just had two pieces and I have another video on this But I redid it after I did that video Where I'm doing this single cut with the dovetail Bit Because the one where I tried to cut it straight with a quarter inch bit first And then come back with a dovetail bit I'd get the things off a little bit and then my clamps were having a difficulty moving So I've decided to take the time to redo it do it with a single cut with a larger more powerful Rubber and just with the dovetail with no preliminary slot and now everything slides for me So I'm very happy with this. I've got it set up. So it goes around the Pole or the beam in the back of the drill press I have this side Cut out to accommodate the handle for raising and lowering and then I have Done an offset piece here where the drill bit And the drill press will come down into this corner So when that becomes worn out and and no longer supporting my work pieces I can just pull this out Turn it around put it back in so I can do that four times I'm probably not going to go all the way through that ever I might but if I do I turn it over So I've got eight places on this one and then I've got 10 more of them already cut out to the same four by four size So The beauty here is on the drill press table. I can set my fence. I'm going to modify this to give myself longer slots but then I can I put slots on the bottom as well I can secure it to my drill press table Very easy to use the dovetail clamp to secure a work piece when you're trying to do your drilling As you can see here you can go from a variety of different ways And here you can see how to use a dovetail clamp to secure the Work table to the drill press the other thing I'm going to do is I'm going to do a new Crosscut sled Just designed for my regular blade not my dado blade. I'm going to take my current Crosscut sled and just go ahead and use it for a dado stack But I'm going to create a new crosscut sled That's going to utilize these clamps And to be able to hold work pieces and to set up stop blocks So I'm kind of excited about that when I'm done with it. I'll share it with you All right. Well, that's my uh, micro jig match fit Dovetail clamps They're not inexpensive to get three devices of this type for Holding things and which fit into those dovetails And to get two of the clamps and to get a little measuring device and a couple other little things That was 90 dollars It's called the match fit dovetail clamp pro Then I uh, I'm going to use this with enough different jigs that I wanted to have Extra clamps around it and not necessarily want to take them off of another jig just to grab them for a quick purpose So I bought two more 45 dollars per pair I don't know if you get them cheaper somewhere else, but for me it's a long term thing That's the cost that I can advertise over a number of jigs And I really like the way they perform All right. Well, that's uh, what's going on in the small workshop guys small workshop I hope uh, this educates you a little bit more of the potential for using these clamps Obviously what you're doing is You're going to be able to do a lot of things just by drilling that dovetail slot Into a jig or a work piece And then using these and replacing the need for t-tracks of all sorts of various sizes And that's probably end up buying different t-tracks and then other clamps don't fit in them Hope you got some good ideas small workshop guy Signing off and heading to the hardwood store For my next project