Side by Side Comparison of: General Tools & Instruments vs Powermatic

this item is excellente
and the support it's wonderful

Probably the Wise's money that I have ever spent, this jig makes making tenon and mortise joints so easy, I do believe that anybody who can read can make a perfect joint , I absolutely love this jig, I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS TO ANYBODY I KNOW......

takes some practice to get it right but worth the money. Buy some replacement bits. you'll need them.

Great time saver highly recommend. The price I got it for around Christmas was at least half or more off cost at hardware and wood working supply stores.

Love it. makes life a little easier

Incredible product. Clamp is a bit awkward sometimes but I just use one-handed bar clamps.

Finally a very easy and fast way to cut tenons works great.

Excellent tool was as advertised delivered on time well pleased.

Product as described, delivered on time.

Best of the group, also the most expensive

Powermatic really made this one right. From the moment one opens the box it's obvious that this jig is first class.Packaging is great and includes all he tools required to assemble the jig.Fit and finish of the jig is first rate, with high quality parts....it looks and feels great, (ergonomics are spot on). The thing just exudes quality.Only thing I had to do, that wasn't included in the instructions, was remove the miter slot bar washers, but I have a 1940 Delta Unisaw so no biggie.No more laying out Tenons, just select the mortise size, by using a chisel of the same width and then use the same stock that you're going to cut the tenon into and you're ready to cut!Even though I have a couple of different table saw jigs in the past couple of years I have been using my Incra router system & Freud Tenon bit along with a sliding router table feed to cut all my tenons. My router system produces very precise tenons, but no more precise than the Powematic Tenon Jig.Now I can cut tenons in about 1/10 the time it use to take me and they are just about prefect.....Hesitated to purchase this jig because of the price, the picture does not do it justice, and if I had been able to handle the jig there would have been no hesitation.Would be surprised if anyone is disappointed with this jig....

This works great for some types of projects, but it has size limitations. Mounting this is not easy .

Ok but only suited to particular size wood pieces.

does as stated

Very good

I am as green as it gets as far as cabinet making/wood working. I had to make a pair of linen cabinet doors being one of them was missing and there was no "standard size" I could have had them made for me but would have cost more than the General jig. I gave it 4 stars being I feel it is for the do it your self amateur that wants to do an occasional project. Don't expect to make perfect joints with this and do expect to practice with it to get your joints to fit fairly decent. then use an orbital sander to finish. my doors came out nice and I'm proud to say I made them myself and I own the tools to do it again.

Expensive but easy to set set and get going. Clamping is a bit awkward and should be re-visited by Powermatic engineering folks..

The tenoning jig body is heavy, large, and well machined. Extruded handles are conveniently positioned on body. The screws are stainless steel.Assembly was straightforward following the “Operating Instructions and Parts Manual”. A metric hex key wrench set was included.The magnified angle indicator was offset, so it was not accurate. It’s more accurate to use square to set workstop. In my opinion, the workstop is too short for most routine tenoning.The clamp locking lever bar is undersized for the clamping assembly. The clamp has a swing arm (knuckle), making it more versatile for different sized workpieces. The clamp pad is made of good quality rubber, but it’s too soft.Therefore, it requires several screw rotations tighten the soft clamp pad securely against workpiece. (Leaves a black ring on the workpiece.) The clamp bar bends considerably at the point when the workpiece does not move against the fence and the workstop. Because of the clamp knuckle, it’s a three-hand job securing the workpiece against the fence. The clamp assembly was over engineered and doesn’t function for what it was designed…simply holding the workpiece so it does not move.I tested the jig using 2-3/8 wide flat sawn white oak. Although I really tightened the clamp on the workpiece, the blade pushed (rotated) the workpiece slightly. Therefore, the cuts were not square using a new Forrest blade. I fabricated a sliding block and attached it to the fence, sandwiching the workpiece tightly between sliding block and workstop. This prevents any workpiece movement and makes it easier to clamp the workpieces against the fence. I‘m replacing the workstop with a longer one.The “Micro Adjust System”, did not function as designed, carefully following the instructions. Tightening the fence locking level knob did not prevent the fence from moving freely. The insert (PMTJ-80) was not thick enough to grab the guide rod. So I called Powermatic customer service to confirm my problem. Unfortunately, it was an unpleasant experience. Although, the service rep implied I could not follow simple instructions, he did not have a clue how the Micro Adjust System functioned. He read the Instruction Manual to me. He put me on hold for almost 15 minutes. When he returned, it sounded as if he a jig in front of him. He finally agreed I had a problem after he figured out how it worked, and then he told me to return the jig to Amazon.The replacement jig arrived three days after requesting it from Amazon . The Micro Adjust System functioned properly on replacement jig. I noticed the serial number on the replacement jig was higher. So I don’t know if Powermatic modified the insert on later jigs or if my first jig insert was just defective.Overall, the jig is a dramatic improvement over the cast iron jigs, but it should be for the price. I have made 23 doors with the jig without any issues using my fabricated sliding block. When I find the right bar clamp, I will replace the current one. It a shame to spend over $300 for a jig, and then have to modify to get a 100 percent out of it.

good

Mortises that I cut on this machine were uniformly not parallel to the face of the wood. I carefully clamped the wood per the directions, but each 2" mortise was non-parallel by about 1/8 inch. Easily seen. The tenons, however, were parallel, so they didn't offset the problem with the mortises, and the faces of the two pieces of wood did not match up when joined.
Setup and directions were relatively straight forward. But for the problem with the mortises, I would have kept the machine and been satisfied.

Great tool, esay to use

not really as easy to use as assumed.

Before you get this in your hands it looks like a very useful thing to have. It is pretty good up to a point but the previous reviewers have made the important points. It IS difficult to line up the centers by eye. I've worked round this to a point by using a square across the jig because it makes it easier to see, then putting a stop into the jig to make sure my materials (especially for cutting the tenons) is REASONABLY in the same position every time. It also ensures that the work piece is perpendicular to the cut in ONE direction (but only one - see below.)

I have three other "complaints" one of which has already been mentioned several times where the clamping device is not really sufficiently accurate. I would also like to have seen the actual clamping plate increased in height (towards the top of the jig) to accommodate material smaller than 2" without the necessity for using spacers. The 1/2" clips supplied to be used as spacers are not good - difficult to attach and not really reliable. I use a 1/2" metal spacer bar to improve that.

My MAJOR issue is with the pieces to vary the length of the cuts. They are made of a plastic which is not sufficiently strong to resist the pressure from the Allen screw intended to hold it in place. This is specifically a problem when you're cutting a mortise or tenon which is not at the maximum or minimum length. If you tighten the screw so that it doesn't crush the plastic the adjustment piece is loose enough to move. If you tighten the screw sufficiently to prevent it moving it starts to deform the plastic. Also the plastic guides move from side to side within the track intended to hold it in position. It's simply not a tight enough fit. If these guides had been made in Aluminum and the dimensional fit improved to the track location they would have been far more effective and reliable.

The third issue (which MAY be solved by increasing the height of the clamping plate) is that the jig does not keep the work piece perpendicular in the front to back plane which is quite frustrating. I have had to resort to adding a piece to my work bench to correct this.

I've only done two projects with the jig, 36 mortises and tenons in Poplar, and the 1/4" bit included is already worn out.

On the whole, for the price, I do like the jig. Once you've got it set up it's obviously a LOT quicker than cutting the joints by hand. It takes quite a lot more setting up than I expected but compared to the cost of a drill press and mortising attachment this is a very inexpensive option. Unfortunately that cheapness is somewhat reflected in the performance. I think some fairly minor changes in the construction might correct some of these issues and turn it from a 3 star to a 5 star purchase. It's OK for the amateur / intermediate skill woodworker but it's not rally an option for any kind of larger scale production.

I'd recommend it to people at that level with the provisos regarding set up time and accuracy.

Received my newly purchased PM-TJ tenoning jig from Powermatic on April 6, 2017. One of the setup instructions required the tenoning face plate to lay flush with the saw blade in order to zero out the jig. This is very critical in as much all accurate cut measurements are depended on it.However, my jig had a 1/16 gap between the blade and the jig’s face which would raise havoc with any accurate measurement. I called Powermatic’s technical group for any recommend solutions. Per the technician, if the measurement from the raised blade to the left miter is more than 5.70 inches than the jig will not work. Mine was 5.75 inches. He suggested that I use filler spacing to equal the gap during any cutting.That seemed to me to be a very awkward and confusing solution to the problem. So I decided to remove the face plated from the body and insert large washers which brought the plate flushed with the blade thus ensuring an accurate zero.My rating is predicated on three factors. The first is that nowhere in the operating instructions or any write-ups did they mention the 5.7 inch limiting factor. The second is that a better solution for correcting the problem, such as the washers, should have been known and offered by the technician. The third is if the company was aware of the 5.70 limiting factor they should have disclosed it and provided some form of adjustment mechanism.The rating as given is predicated is based upon the engineering of the jig (minus the gap problem). The rating may change after using the jig for a period of time…or not.

Parts missing. Instructions missing

This takes lots of setup time and there is great room for error. I wish I could offer a suggestion for improvement to reduce the amount of trial and error but I can't. Metal knobs would be an improvement over the plastic ones.

The clamping system needs improving. The knobs a small and difficult to tighten.

Good tool saves time using drill press & chisel. Mortise clamps limited for narrow stock (under 2 inches). Had to shim 1 3/4 cradle stiles, very frustrating. Centering a hassle.

Purchased jig after reading advertisement which was my mistake. Quality of the jig is poor. Difficult to center and square wood on jig. Clamps are flimsy allowing wood movement during routing. Tenons have excess wood remaining that requires a good clean up. The comments in Woodsmith (vol. 34/ no.201 pg13.) were generous too say the least. "Knobs are cumbersome and too slow... Lack of reliable ray to square stock... alignment is difficult" etc. etc. I went to the trouble of modifying this jig as recommended in the article which was an improvement but still the jig is a challenge to use. To get it right it takes lots of patience and lots of practice cuts.

The tenon part of the jig works great however, the mortise part of the jig does not work at all. The supplied bushing for the jig is larger than the what the jig will allow. The bushing will not even fit into the jig.

While the Jig is beautiful, the small nuts for adjustment stripped first time I tightened it. I only tried to use it once/ i bought it to work on a specific project. When I got to that point this jig became useless. Now i'm told thew return window closed on Jan 31st I ordered it Dec 19th, NO WARRANTY? That does not seem like Amazon, does it? I'm stuck with expensive, pretty, useless, junk!

i never write reviews but had to on this one. I saw the bad reviews and was wondering if it was just low skilled woodworkers not able to figure it out but it's crap. Takes forever to set up and configure. The tiny handles to turn to clamp the wood are a joke and do not hold anything. It's almost impossible to get square, there's nothing except a tiny piece to square off and I checked it and it was off. The plastic stops are terrible with the screws that barely hold. I started to make a homemade one at home before I bought this and gave up after a couple hours because I could not get it exact. Mine was closer than this one. Sending it back and I am sorry everyone that reviewed this before I will never not trust you again. We'll probably.

I received one of these jigs with one of the positioning arms so poorly placed that it could not be rotated into the measuring position.

Amazon promptly replaced it, but the replacement had a positioning arm that was 1.0 mm out of alignment with the other. Not as bad as the first one, but basically crudely assembled.

Besides that, it is almost impossible to align the tool to handle stock whose thickness is not exactly a multiple of 1/4", e.g., 3/4", 4/4", 5/4" up to 6/4". If you have stock that is, say, 13/16", 15/16", 1-1/6" etc., thick, you will be unable to center the stock in the jig. The adjustment "notches" are crude.

Plus, the "clamps" for holding the workpieces in place are flimsy. The whole jig is made of extruded aluminum.

This jig is a toy. Better to make your mortise and tenon joints by hand with saw and chisel, or else spend Big Bucks for a Leigh Super FMT or FMT Pro jig.... Or else, stick with hand-made chisel and hand-saw joints.

Kudos to Amazon for (a) sending me a replacement; and (b) taking back the "toy" replacement for a refund.

General Tools should be ashamed for marketing such a poorly made device. You will have a host of problems using it, unless your standards are not too exacting.

The purpose of a woodworking jig is to allow the user to make repeatable cuts. The key is each cut is the same. Not nearly the same, but exactly the same. A jig that allows movement of the wood or depends on eyeballing the cut in some way is not a good jig because the cuts will not be the same. I struggled for hours with this jig and could not make exacting cuts with it because of two major design flaws: 1) not clamping the wood sufficiently - the wood moves unless the clamps are super tight, and 2) not having a way to hold the wood in the exact same location time after time.

The General Mortise and Tenon Jig is made pretty well; however, there is one flaw in its holding power. The internal clamps that hold the wood in place do not do the job. Even with these clamps twisted down very tightly the wood will move, especially on the tenon parts. If one were to glue sandpaper to the internal clamps or make them larger it might work; however, after paying this much for a jig I do not want to tweak it this way and that to make it work well. It should work well out of the box.

The second design flaw revolves around how the user aligns the wood before cutting. The jig instructions tell you to mark each piece at the center of the cut. Then the user puts the wood into the jig and aligns it by sight on center lines on the jig. There is no stop to adjust so the wood goes into the same spot each time. No matter how careful I was the parts were never aligned exactly the same. There was at least a 1/32 difference in the alignment of the wood. Usually it was more, sometimes much more. My problem is I am 65 years old and even with my glasses and a lot of light the marks on the jig and the marks on my wood ended up misaligned. The key here is a lack of a stop. In addition, the stop for the depth of the wood is basically made for 1/2, 3/4, and one inch stock. It is not made for metric sizes (such as plywood). If the stock is slightly smaller or larger than standard sizing it is impossible to get the stock centered on the depth dimension. Even after numerous tries at alignment the stock was at least 1/32 off. The system just does not work. If your stock is exactly 3/4, 1/2 etc I think one could aline the depth dimension eventually. If your stock is off "standard" imperial sizes stand by for problems.

The internal clamps were rather small, and the knobs one has to use to twist the clamps closed are small. My hands have arthritis and turning the small knobs was hard. To top that off one must tighten these knobs excessively to have a chance at holding the wood in place. There are two knobs for each clamp, and the user must tighten both over and over until both are REALLY tight. Tightening one seems to cause the other to need more tightening.

With a playing card or two I probably could have brought the depth adjustment onto the exact center of the wood, thus solving the depth problem. Then I could have cut the mortise parts long and just cut off the excess to get an exact fit on the joint. By cutting the parts a little oversized I could simply bring the frame (or whatever) into square after it was constructed. But why am I paying $100 to build a frame that isn't right from the get go? Do I have to build every joint this way? The entire point of a jig, especially an expensive one, is to place the cuts in the same spot on the stock every time. Thus, the wood must be held against a stop, the clamping mechanisms must hold the wood tightly without me putting in extra effort to sandpaper the front of the clamps etc, and the jig should be easy to use. One must remember that a jig may have to help the user cut 20 or more joints on a single project. Any additional work to square up the joint or work out "minor" problems becomes a major headache. I can make a shop jig for next to nothing that accomplishes that much. When I start paying $100 plus for a jig it has to eliminate those problems completely. This jig fails to do that.

The jig does have mostly well machined parts. The router bit and the template guides are very good. The little wrench made to tighten the template guide onto the router base could not be used on my router, but that was a small concern. The centering process for the router bit was very good I thought. The instructions are good enough if you read them over once or twice before starting. Why the internal clamps were not better is beyond me. Why make the faces of the clamps smooth? Why not make the screws advancing the clamps larger and make the knobs either larger or of a different design so they could be tightened without a problem? Why make the alignment lines so thick? If they were much finer it might be easier to align the wood correctly. Why not design in a stop for the wood parts so every cut will be the same? It would be so easy to make this jig a lot better. And I don't think the ideas I have set forth would cost all that much. Nonetheless, the jig does not pass muster. One star.

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