How can we improve your Kreg Experience?

[KregRep]

At Kreg, we make it our top priority is to ensure that our customers get real use out of their Kreg products. The tips and tricks provided in the Kreg Plus Newsletter, Kreg Jig Project Plans, educational videos on YouTube, and the forums found right here on the Kreg Jig Owners Community are all designed to add to your woodworking success.

What we'd like to know from you, is how we can improve...
Do you find the Kreg Jig Owners Community helpful?
Could you have used more detailed instructions with a product?
How was the product packaging and materials included?
Are there any tools you need that we aren't yet offering?
Is it difficult to find accessories at your local store?
Is the newsletter content too simple? Too complex?
What other content would you like to see included in the newsletter?
Were the Kreg Trim Carpentry videos useful to you?

Please use this thread to give the Kreg Family a better idea of what you need in order to advance on your woodworking journey, and to let us know where we're succeeding so far. Thanks!

[Tim T]

Hi
New to Kreg and the forums but must say what a great resource it is to have. Peoples contributions are inspiring to say the least. A forum running well will generate lots more interest from newbies like myself and can only benifit Kreg long term.
My suggestion to improve it even more is to run a podcast with this. A weekly podcast where an expert is interviewed about using Kreg, where tips can be given out, where new products can be analysed, where threads in the forum can be discussed. With so many members here and on facebook it is already clear that the internet does not scare Kreg woodworkers!!!
A podcast could also deal with woodworking in general-types of wood to use, where to buy, product reviews for different tools and that type of thing. the more knowledge newbies like me get the more DIY products get sold and the more satisfaction we get using them afterwards!! Which will prob end up with more of our friends owning a Kreg!!

[Hugh Marshall]

hi, my name is Hugh and i'm a Kreg Jig user.....
i just recently dove into using a Kreg Jig....i got a Jr for christmas and i LOVE it.

two things i want to ask about.
1. on the Jr., i think that in the production of this jig, the underside that goes against the wood, should have a more textured surface. although i do clamp it down before i drill, it still seems to move around if you're not careful. just a thought.
2. i have several drill bits at my house and a couple of years ago, i got a drill doctor and i've never looked back, but my question is......how in the world would you re-sharpen the step drill that come with Kreg Jigs?

oh, btw, i love this forum....thanks

[John P. Stombaugh]

How do you resharpen a Kreg Bit? You send it back to Kreg and have it done - and correctly so. I don't remember the cost but it is a heck of a lot cheaper than a new bit.
John Stombaugh

[Steve Gronsky]

I would be interested in having the Kreg plans placed into SketchUp also. Or at least make a file available that I could "load" into SketchUp.



Andrew John McConville said:

Hi, as a new user from the UK most european countries are now metric, including the UK, unfortunatly!!. I am lucky it was all feet and inches when I was at school. However, as Kreg is international I feel there is possibly a market out there being (missed) left out.

Regards

Andrew

KregRep said:

Kevin said:

not sure how much of a suggestion it is, but many cabinet companies among countless other types of companies have "groups" or "libraries" of drawings in the Google SketchUp library..
SketchUp is pretty user friendly and drawings are alterable, you can spin them around and look at them from every angle and as close as you want. What if Kreg put together maybe 20 or so assorted projects in a SketchUp format? Not that I'm her advertising for Google. Man, is that a joke or what. But I recently found it and really like it. Any of us could access the SketchUp drawings, and say you had a bookcase on there that we liked but wanted it 6" taller and a foot wider. Seems like it would be easy enough to print out the drawing as is or alter it and be able to construct it from there.
Another suggestion: we call this a "community", right? How about a place on here where those of us who could use a little help with a design just ask? Surely there are some of us on here who could throw together a basic drawing for the ones that could use the help?

Kevin,
The SketchUp suggestion is a good one. I'll talk to a few people and see what I can do on that front. Is there anyone else here who might be interested in downloading some SketchUp versions of the Kreg Plans so they can be adjusted, etc.?

As for the community questions regarding design/drawing help, I would suggest using the forums! They should be perfect for these types of questions!



Andrew Cargin said:

It would be great if you could include metric measurement on the jig as well as the imperial.

Andrew, good suggestion. At this time, there are no plans to implement this change on any of the current Kreg Jigs. It's just not requested enough, and we want to keep the tool as simple as possible for the most Kreg Jig users as possible.




Thanks for all of the suggestions, everyone, keep them coming! We're working very hard to make sure your Kreg experience is top notch!

[Rich Designs]

Tool is a ABSOLUTE treaure to use. Easy, compact and down right perfect. I live here in Alaska, and allthough Lowe's sells the Kreg screws, they seem to really up the price from your web site. BUT, you must not of heard about FLAT-RATE USPS Priority mailing boxes from the post office and they're FREE. Yes if it fits--it ships. No extra pricing for Alaska either. Might be a rather novel gesture to offer us alliens of the lower 48 a cheaper way to use/abuse your offerings. Just a thought. Keep up the excellent work otherwise. Thanks,
Rich

[kenny from Sundre]

Hello

I realize the name of this web site is Kregg Jig Owners Community, would like to see it called Kregg Owners Community. While the Kregg Pocket Screw jig is a great tool that I use with increasing frequency, there is a lot more to Kregg. I have seen other Kregg products in action at the woodworking show in Calgary and was more than mildly impressed with ease of use, the accuracy and the quality of the products. I have recently purchased a Kregg Router table and fence, a Kregg Miter jig for the table saw , micro adjuster as well s an extra stop fence. It would seem to me that it would be wise to include all the Kegg products on your web site. There is a great deal that I do not know about using my new toys and i think this would be an excellent site to learn new tricks in the usage of them. Each member shoould be allowed to add new Kregg products to thier profile as they are purchased. Keep up the good work.
kenny

[Anthony Lanting]

Gary- Sounds like my house! My wife now reads my woodworking magazines before I get a chance to even sit down.
I find ways to re-engineer projects so I can build them with the tools and experience that I have.

gary said:

Have been working with wood for most of my life... Still learning things though... Don't usually find something of the quality and design worth talking out about,,,, Till I purchased and used the Kreg Jig ... WoodCrafters in Jacksonville, Florida has all of your systems ... I will admit I was tentive about purchasing your jig,, ( have just the JR. Jig ) ... Wanted to see if all I had heard about your Jig was true.... It is all that and then some... I will be going back to purchase the Pro Jig ASAP....

To all those that designed and crafted the Jig systems..... THANK YOU!!!!! My only problem is my Wife,,, I used to be able to put my feet up and watch TV,,,, now She's showing me pictures of things to build.... She actually has gone out and purchased the wood to make it... And the worse thing is with this type of job foreman I can't even call in sick....

So from the two of us... Again thank you for the Jig systems

[Russ Scheer]

Hi; when I look at our members list I see a growing Canadian following. I would assume that most of my nothern brethern will like myself have learned of KREG online or at a US loctaion. Is it possible to generate some demo's through dealers and how do we go about it. Our most likely candidate dealer on the westcoast would be KMS Tools, BusyBee or Rona. Rona has some KREG product on its national website but I have yet to see any at our four local stores. KMS Tools has some and is prepared to order-in and uses product demostration days very effectively. Thanks

[Joe Luberto]

What I would like to see,and I know I'm not the only one.If possible to have a list of conversions of different joinery such as the dovetail,M&T rabbet etc...Would the conversions be different for different size stock?This would be VERY HELPFULL to make other project's that are out there.Of course more plans that fit the need of Kreg users.BTW I know some of you can do these conversions,however most of us can't and this is why we love the Kreg Jig.

[Jens Jensen]

Turn your jig over and there are two slots for the bits


mark cramer said:

Just bought my Kreg jig home from the store today. I've never used one, but I saw a pocket jig in action the other day, and knew I had to have one of these. Very pleased to see it is made in the USA, very annoyed to see a Chinese made knockoff on the shelf right next to it for the same price. I hate glue ups, and I'm immediately seeing how this tool will eliminate them for most of the projects I do. One thing I didn't like when I opened the box: I don't take my tools on the go that often anymore, but I appreciate a tool case having a specific spot for all the parts that came with it, in this case the allen wrench, drill bit, driver, etc. need a specific spot in the case so they're not just rolling around in there, wether it's in my truck or tucked under my workbench, so I can see at a glance I have everything when the case is opened up. Alot of my cased tools have spots reserved for accessories I can buy later, too. Just a thought, folks, I'm still a very happy customer, and looking forward to putting this bad boy to work

[KregRep]

Joe Luberto said:

What I would like to see,and I know I'm not the only one.If possible to have a list of conversions of different joinery such as the dovetail,M&T rabbet etc...Would the conversions be different for different size stock?This would be VERY HELPFULL to make other project's that are out there.Of course more plans that fit the need of Kreg users.BTW I know some of you can do these conversions,however most of us can't and this is why we love the Kreg Jig.

This is interesting, Joe. My guess is that there would be too many variables to make this work correctly, but I agree that it sure would be nice to have! The problem would be that you can have almost endless sizes of M&T joints, almost endless rabbet sizes, etc. It's not simply determined by the size of the stock. Interesting.



Jeff Ferguson said:

When I go to www.kregjig.com for Project Plans, I have to re-register all over again before I can see a plan. I would like to see more Progect Plans. Accessories are very hard to come by at the big "Box Stores" I have to drive a 100 mile round trip if I need something fast. I can go online to order, but the price of shipping and handling can really hurt, no matter whom you order from. I wish the screw assortments kits came in more than "one choice fits all". I would like to see a kit that would offer more of the larger screws. The one available now seems to be geared to the cabint makers.

Jeff, this is a problem we're dealing with actively. Keep a close eye on kregjig.com and kregtool.com in upcoming months to see a LOT of changes. This is one of the big issues that will be resolved.

As for the screws... yes, those kits are filled with our 'most popular screws' which happens to be mostly smaller screws. One good suggestion would be to buy one screw kit (to get your assortment started) and then refill the kit with regular boxes of Kreg screws after that. You can change out the sizes, it's cheaper to buy the screws this way, and you can still keep your carrying case!

[Chuck Brazie]

I was making some small drawers with 1/2" pine, I could not get the corner joint results I wanted with the Kreg jig. The 1" screws would usually finish up very close to the outside and a lot of the time show up at the edge. I tried adjusting the depth collar to not drill as deep, and that helped some but the exit of the screw was not near center.I tried a thin metal shim (see picture) and that would center the screw in the wood, but when driven in, the head then was not all the way in the pocket.

It seems like for 1/2" wood maybe a different angle of the jig and a 7/8" screw would work better...