Draper pocket hole jig - review so far!

I have wanted a pocket hole jig for quite some time now but I kept putting it off because I basically thought the one I wanted (the Kreg K4MS) was too expensive. Then I decided to do some research and find a good but cheaper alternative - after all a pocket hole jig is a pocket hole jig right? Well not so much, as it turns out!

After much research I decided on the Draper jig and at a cost of £50 it was considerably less than the Kreg K4MS at £96.
Mr CH never understood the theory behind this, as far as he is concerned you buy the product that you want because an alternative is never going to quite live up to your expectations - wise words!

My jig arrived and I was so excited to get going with it on some coffee tables and a sideboard I was making a new top for but when I opened it up it was obvious that the company had sent me a used product - all the parts were loose in the box, some of the pocket hole screws were missing and the part you drill though actually had some damage to it.
It took a few weeks for Draper to send me a replacement because I went away on holiday but I was still excited to get going with the new product when it arrived.

In the box

• Clamp assembly and base
• 75mm square recess drilling bit
• 150mm square recess drilling bit
• Drilling depth stop collar
• Drill bit
• Drilling depth stop collar
• 2.5mm hex key
• 5mm hex key
• Replacement drill bit collars
• Drill guides
• Pocket hole screws
• Instructions

At this point I have to say that the instructions are naff, really seriously naff! If you're an expert with pocket hole jigs then you'll obviously know what you're doing so it won't matter (though I seriously doubt an "expert" would be using this jig) but if you're a complete newbie to them you're gonna have to find your info elsewhere. The problem with that is I scoured the net looking for a tutorial using the Draper Jig and couldn't find anything - the Kreg jig had loads but it isn't relevant to using this Draper jig.
Eventually I figured things out by wasting time and wood and seeing what does and doesn't work and when I eventually got the hang of it I was looking forward to producing professional looking pocket holes!!

I'm not sure what these pocket holes are supposed to look like but to me they looked very rough though it's not a problem because you don't actually see them and yes, the join is exceptionally strong.
Along with naff instructions this jig came with no info on how to figure out where to set the drill stop and it makes no mention of screw sizes and how to work out what to use and what size wood to use for each screw size.
The problem I had that really reaaaaaaally annoyed me is that the clamp kept leaving dents on the good side of the wood. Even when I had the clamp open as much as possible and used only 3/4" wood there were still dents on the good side which are going to take time to get out.
The dents haven't shown up too well in the picture but honestly they are really evident and spoil the finish. The wood I use for my projects is pallet wood so it's never perfect anyway but these dents are really annoying.

The other problem I encountered is that the drill guides kept loosening on the jig plate and it made it harder to drill and the finished drill hole wasn't accurate. It was a simple solution to keep retightening the drill guides but very annoying.
I haven't yet completed a project using this jig because each piece now needs alot of time sanding it to get those darned dents out.
Basically I wish I had followed my husbands advice and just bought the Kreg jig, I really do not like this jig for many reason however I should point out it's good points as well as its bad

PROs

• Metal construction
• Cheaper than Kreg

Seriously that is it!

CONs

• Poor instructions
• Poor clamp design
• No versatility
• Dents on work!
• Wobbly unstable parts. 

I may learn to like this jig the more I use it but I seriously doubt it and I can actually see me purchasing the Kreg jig I originally wanted and selling this one.

Pocket hole jigs and combi tools.

I feel as though I'm really letting this, my first blog site, down due to the lack of posts however I have many projects ongoing but nothing finished yet to actually post, it's slow progress at the moment.

Among my current projects are a coffee table completely from pallet/scrap wood so it's going to take a hell of alot of sanding but needs to be ready asap due to the new sofa arriving, a mahoosive clock for the wall - I think it's about 3ft round - which has been sanded and needs the numbers adding but I've just realised I should have checked that I can obtain the correct size clock arms first and also a round pergola for the garden. When I say round it's actually several pieces set in the ground to give the illusion of being round.

To complete the coffee table project I treated myself to a pocket hole jig. I've wanted one of these forever but absolutely refused to pay Kreg prices for what is essentially plastic, no matter how many DIYers rave about them. It was kind of cutting off my nose to spite my face though because my projects just never had that finished look that they could have had. In the end I decided to have a go at making one having watched a 'youtube' video on how to do it but the end result was me almost losing my hand to the miter saw and that's when I decided the expense of a jig was nothing compared to the loss of a finger or limb!
I did a bit of research and found another pocket hole jig that does exactly the same as the Kreg jig but is half the price AND it's of a metal construction plus the reviews on it were awesome, so I'm now waiting for it to arrive and hoping it will do so before I go on holiday next week.
The jig I chose was this Draper model

Once I have used it for the coffee table project I will post a review on it as I think it's important that we have info on all the tools available and not just the most popular ones - which for some reason are more costly also.

Another new piece of equipment I have that I will shortly write a review on is this Makita combination table / miter saw

Ordinarily I wouldn't have entertained this tool because I prefer individual tools as opposed to combi's but Mr CH bought this for me because he could see it would be useful to me as a space saver.
One of the few power tools I have never really used to any great extent is the table saw - hubby has 2 of them with long tables but they scare the bejesus out of me. I mean, they literally terrify me though I have no idea why. I have an irrational fear of me falling on one face down while it's in use but where that fear has come from I really don't know.
I'm currently making an extension table with stop block for the miter part of the tool but will then be making a few table saw sleds to be able to use the top saw, so far I've used the miter part alot but haven't even had the guts to switch the table saw on yet - I'll be making plenty of push sticks and push blocks for using this!