Porter-Cable 4212 (29550) instruction manual Board Thickness, Optimal Board Widths, Board Lengths

WOOD PREPARATION

Properly preparing the materials for your project is the key to good-looking and tight-fitting joints. You must cut your wood at perfect right angles (Fig. L1). Cuts that are off even one degree will not align correctly (Fig. L2). Also, your workpieces must be flat and not cupped.

Orient your wood so that end grain is joined to end grain (Fig. L3) to make the joint strong. Using the long grain (Fig. L4) in the workpiece will result in a weak joint.

L1

L3

L2

L4

BOARD THICKNESS

NOTE: You can join two workpieces that are different thicknesses (Fig. M1).

The clamps on the 4200 series jigs will hold wood from 1/4" to 1-1/8" thick. Use the following information as a guide to help you decide the thickness of wood for your projects.

Standard through dovetails Tail Board Range1/4" to 1"

Pin Board Range 1/4" to 3/4"

Miniature through dovetails Both Tails and Pins 1/4" to 1/2"

Half-blind dovetails Standard and Miniature 1/2" to 1-1/8"

Half-blind dovetail with a lipped front (Pin board will change depending

on the size of the lip). 1/2" to 1-1/8"

Standard Box Joints (Limited by router bit length) 1/4" to 1-1/8"

Miniature Box Joints 1/4" to 1/2"

Dovetail Dados1/4" to 1-1/8"

M1

OPTIMAL BOARD WIDTHS

The 4200 series dovetail jigs are capable of making joints up to 12". However, some widths will produce a more attractive joint than others. The optimal widths for creating dovetails are in 1" increments plus 1/4" (1-1/4", 2-1/4", 3-1/4", etc.). Other widths will work, but will not be as attractive.

NOTE: If you are using the 4215 miniature accessory kit, the optimal widths are in 1/2" increments plus 1/8" (5/8", 1-1/8", 1-5/8", etc.).

BOARD LENGTHS

For through dovetails and box joints, cut your workpieces to the same length as the outside dimension of your final project. However, cut the drawer sides (tail board) of half-blind joints as indicated below because the wood does not go all the way through the joint.

To calculate the length of the half-blind tail board, take the inside dimension of the final project and add the router bit depth of cut. If the tail board has a half-blind on both ends, double the added dimension. The length of the pin boards (drawer front) remains the same.

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