2023 Product Showcase: Armor Mini-Jig

Paul. We got another showcase to do you. Excited George. I'm so fired up. I love tools. I love seeing the innovation that is happening in the industry and it's fun to get together and talk about well being in the position we're in where we get to talk about it amongst ourselves. But then also share that with people. You ready to look at one. Let's do it. Here we go. So I know a guy who recently did a bunch of work on his kitchen. Did you uh did you drill any pocket holes for that? Well, uh yeah, I mean, you got me going on pocket holes 10 years ago or more and I have just really, really gotten into it. And uh so yes, I did many, many, many, many uh pocket holes in that project. One of the things um I don't know, we started this, talking about innovation and products and um I think that in the armor jig it's, it's very clever the way they figure this out with the slide and then this looks like Vernier Calipers and they kind of are in that when I release the release and I squeeze this together. Let me get oriented the right way here. So I can, there we go. That when it looks like I'm measuring my material, what we're really doing is setting this jig to that specific thickness and not just setting where the screw holes go. But the other thing that was happening is that, that stop collar was sliding on the dovetail bit to get that depth of cut in exactly the right spot. Whether you're in three quarter inch stock or inch and a half stock, it's gonna locate the drill bit so that it's drilling the hole, right. It's so brilliant designed by someone who definitely has done a few pocket holes. Yeah, they, they understand where we're going with this. Let's let's look at the video so you can see what we're talking about. Pocket holes are such a great way to put a lot of different projects together. I use them on face frames, on cabinets all the time. And there's things that have to happen here to optimize the strength, we can get out of a pocket hole joint. And this jig is a really good device to make sure that we're optimizing that strength. So let's talk about what I'm talking about here. What we can't see inside here is that those pocket holes come in at an angle. So to make that easier to see I've done this for optimal strength, what we want is for that pocket hole to come in such that the screw is gonna exit an approximately the center of the thickness of the wood. So not too high, not too low, close to the middle. Now, this is going to change as we get to thicker stock like this. So same deal when that screw comes across, we want to make sure that it's going to exit close to the center of the material. So that's where when you're using a pocket hole jig, we want to make sure that we're accommodating those different material thicknesses as we work with the jig. So in this armor jig, here's what's going to happen. We've got a push button on here. The push button is what engages to make sure that this jig, the guide component is in the right spot when I release I can open that up. And then of course, I can also close it. This, these calipers on the end are what we use to measure your material. So if we open this up, grab the stock, we're gonna punch a pocket hole in, put that between those two jaws and then close that has auto set everything to the thickness of that material. So one aspect of this is where the hole is gonna exit relative to the jig. Another aspect is making sure that the drill is correctly set. So what was happening as I slid this, the stop collar on the bit is sliding along with all the other components. So if I come back and open that up, close it, that gets the stop collar in the right spot. So when I tighten that and do that, the whole jig and the bit are now correctly set for this material from there. This part of the jig is a stop pivot that out. It's gonna engage me against the edge of my material. So I'm in the right spot there. This is a magnet. So the clamp pad is gonna grab there. So now when we're ready to punch a hole, the clamps ought to adjust to thickness. So great convenience factor here like this convenience factor, no screws on this. I have to mess with it, auto engages, auto adjust and we got our holes in the right spot relative to the thickness, which means they're also going to exit in just the right spot. Now, if we go to thicker stock can open up the jig, get our material in there and the same as before, close the jig and all the same stuff is going to happen. Of course, I'd want the drill bit in here with the stop collar loose so that it's also auto locating the stop collar on the drill bit. Now, the other thing that's happening here, let me go back to my three quarter stock right here. There's a pointer that's showing you what the right screw is to assemble this joint. So as we change material thickness, we're also going to change screw length, same to optimize the strength we're getting from the joint. So the pointer is pointing to the right screw we're going to use. Notice that all those screws have different colors assigned to them. That's because when we grab armor's kit of screws, the screws are color coded. So that yellow on the jig is telling me that this is the screw, I need to assemble that particular joint. So as a system, everything comes together here to make sure that the jig is correctly set for the thickness of the material that we're using the right screw, that everything that's supposed to happen here is happening so that we get the strongest possible pocket hole joint when we work with this jig and we're putting stuff together with pocket holes. So when you set the jaws and you get the thickness right and you get, that gives you the whole location on the right spot and it gives you the right setting on the stop collar, on the drill bit. The other thing it gives you is an indicator of what length screw you should have. So when looking inside that slider, there's a little white pointer right there and that's pointing two inch and a quarter and that's yellow. So then the other thing that's cool out of that is when I open this box, the screws are coordinated are color coordinated to the indicator on the jig itself. So it makes um it makes screw selection very easy because there's, have you ever had that occasion where you've used a little too long, a screw for what you're doing? And where does it show up in the face of the adjacent piece? Which is no good. So just making this completely bulletproof where you squeeze it on your material, it gives you the right setting and the stock power, it also points out what screw length you need to use. That really does a nice job of bringing the hole package together. And I know that in your shop too, you have been using the self adjusting clamps for a while. I was, I was hoping you were gonna talk about that. Yeah. So you talk about them because it's, I know somebody that got you these for Christmas. Yes. Well, there, there's two things that I love about them. One, the, the reach is fantastic. Uh particularly on this one. It's got to be a six inch mouth on it. Uh But also just the self adjustment, right? So you can just throw it on pretty much any thickness within its range. Whack it down and it's right there. No adjustment. It's, it's brilliant. Yeah, I love the versatility of them. And in the application we're looking at here, it's used as you saw to hold the jig to the work. But then it's also used when you're assembling, it's so critical that you hold those pieces flush when you're assembling pocket hole joints and the, the face rim clamps are just, they're excellent for that for that. I also, I just can't believe how many times I go dig these out for a variety of different things that I would have never thought of unless they have. And they've got a lot of, you know, they've got a, they've got a lot of, to a lot of squeeze. So, um, and the ability to go from one inch stock to inch and a half stack to three quarter inch stock without turning a thread in order to get there is, uh, it's a huge convenient that's, they're worth their weight in gold just as clamps alone. Another great product from our very cool stuff. Absolutely. Another showcase in the can, Paul. Did you have fun? I had fun. I've got a lot of good ideas to take back to my shop. Cool. And that's part of this is getting those ideas out in front of people so that they can maybe take them back to their shop too. Take them back to the shop and go shopping because you can never have enough tools. Thanks so much for watching.