Trend KWJ700 Worktop Jig - have I gone wrong?

[Artrax]

Hi,

I'm fitting a new utility room worktop and brought a Trend KWJ700 to ensure the good joints. Its my first time using a jig and so I tried to follow the instructions to the letter.

Something has gone wrong though, and the recessed bolt holes are not aligned (the joint itself is snug). I've gone back over my work and the instructions and cannot see where I went wrong. On looking at instructions for other jigs, as well as Trend's own how-to video guide, I believe the instruction manual is incorrect.

Can someone with some experience of these jigs please review this with me and either confirm I'm not crazy or point out where I might have gone wrong?

I've attached a copy of the page I was working from, and I believe that at step 3d, the jig should be flipped so the peg was against the 'unformed' (or rear) edge of the worktop.

The photos show where my pegs were (circled red), and the preformed edge of the worktop (red arrow) on both the female and male joints. I've additionally included measurements showing that as a result, the first bolt recess from the preformed edge is 16cm on the female and 12.5cm on the male (and the opposite on the rear edge of the worktop)... meaning the recesses are off by about 3.5cm.

Regardless of whether I was wrong or the instructions were... is there any way to fix this without buying a new worktop? Routing the recesses in the correct position will 'overlay' them partly on the incorrect ones, and I worry that a lack of material here will cause early failure of the joint. Is there anything I can fill the recesses in with that would strengthen the joint?

Thank you for your time!

 

[foxhole]

Maybe you turned the jig around instead of over ? You could glue in a strip of timber along the slot full length, it’s not going to fill the rounded section completely but that should not effect fit .

 

[Diver Fred]

Sorry no advice on how to recover the situation.

What I do suggest is that you mark out the proposed cuts with a pencil on each piece before routing out to make sure you will rout out at matching locations.

Think when you routed out the joining bolt slots you referenced off the wrong edge of the male worktop. Would have been better to mark a line at 110mm from unfinished edge on both pieces of worktop and use that line as reference for the jig slot.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

You seem to have set the jig for the female section by registering off the back edge of the worktop, but you appear to have set the male section by registering off the front edge. You always need to register off the same edge (normally the back edge, allowing for the fact that there may be a slight difference in positions caused by out of square cuts, etc)

When you offer the worktops together how far out of alignment are they? It should be possible to glue some material into the holes and re rout one side of the joint. I'd suggest routing a slot, say 22mm wide x 12mm deep across the worktop, gluing in a piece of 2 x 1 PSE softwood (this needs to be a very snug fit), planing flush when the glue has thoroughly set then re routing the joints. Marking the expected joint positions in pencil as @wgt52 suggests is always a good idea to validate your cut points before you rout them out

 

[Artrax]

Thanks everyone for responding. I've actually confirmed with Trend Customer Services that the instruction manual was wrong, and that I should follow the guidance on their video... Unfortunately that's too late for me!

Noted for next time though to make markings etc and not just trust the instruction!


So just onto the remedial work unless I can recover the cost of the worktop from them. I like the idea of the slot across the length...