Problems with K5

[Daniel Stephens]

Made my purchase yesterday of the K5 Pockethole Jig. I'm sure it will be a good thing eventually but a couple of problems, on reading the box in store it states Create strong, simple joints in everything from 1/2" to 1 1/2" thick lumber. I was wanting to use it on some 1/2" ply. I had a chat to one of the staff as to whether I needed the micro jig for this but he assured me I didn't, mind you I had to tell him how it worked. So I get home after the 2 hr drive one way and open the box up to find the instructions indicate anything to do with 1/2" requires the micro Jig, not happy. Next i start having a play around only to find the drill goes through 2 of the guide holes after removing some burrs of aluminium but the third hole the 2 parts are out of alignment and the drill won't go through. not really wanting to do this or will probably void warranty not to mention ending up with an angled hole. Being in Australia I'm not sure what sort of support I get on these issues apart from driving back to the store about $60 worth of fuel to replace a $50 part. And having to purchase the micro jig unless someone can tell me a way around this.

[Ken Darga]

Dan,

Please call Kreg Customer Service, 1 [phone], (toll free),

or email them, and

explain the problems you've encountered.

https://www.kregtool.com/customer-service/contact-us.aspx

Kreg Tools has one of the best customer support groups in the business---

and, you get to speak with a "real person".

[Daniel Stephens]

Tried calling but can't be connected, I am in Australia, I am assuming this isn't an Australian toll free number?

[Ken Darga]

Dan,

Try emailing them.

Daniel Stephens said:

Tried calling but can't be connected, I am in Australia, I am assuming this isn't an Australian toll free number?

[Jeff Metcalf]

Hi Daniel;

This morning I went to the shop and found some 1/2 inch plywood and started doing tests with my K5 and both the regular and my micro then took some pictures I have put the pictures in as a project so go look at the pictures. You can join 1/2 inch with the regular K5 but the heads of the screws are close to the surface I found the joint is stronger with 1 inch screws but you have to be careful not to over torque or the screw will come out the face of the plywood. The Micro works with 1 inch screws as well but as you can see the heads are well below the surface. The pieces with the R on them are with the regular K5 the pieces with the M are the micro.

Also if you can place the screws on the outside of a joint they will grab more wood and be even stronger.

Try playing with scraps different adjustments on your drill stop collar for your best results.

Also if you e mail customer support at Kreg if you can attach a photo of the defective part might be a good idea.

 

Hope this helps Jeff

[Daniel Stephens]

Hi Jeff,

Really appreciate the effort, as you say I will have to play around a bit does look a lot better with the micro. I guess playing with the depth of the stop collar will be the key. What had me confused to start with was that it suggests 3/4" screws but with the regular the small part of the drill bottoms out on the base before wider part even hits top of the depth setting gauge so I assume that is setup for the micro. I would rather the 1" anyway so I will experiment with that, but looking at your results think I will probably buy the micro and then use 1" screws with that.

Thanks Again Daniel

[KregRep]

Daniel, I am sorry to hear of the issues you are experiencing. You may email the Kreg Customer Service Team directly at [e-mail]. They will be in the office at 8am (CST) tomorrow to answer your email. Thank you for your patience.
KregRep

[Daniel Stephens]

Ended up having a job to do not far from the store so took K5 back and showed them the problem, the staff member I spoke to tried drilling it out with a battery drill and the Kreg bit even after I suggested it wasn't a good idea, if the drill bit was designed to drill out aluminium the guide wouldn't last long (sigh). After it screwed itself right through and jambed the drill he decided also it wasn't a good idea and replaced the block with a new one for me, also purchased the micro jig. Lets hope it all goes smooth from here, time to make some projects.

[Albert Li]

Jumping in late into this conversation. For Aussies, go to your local Carbatec store in Aus, they have some great advice. I went in today as I was told that using 3/4" pan heads plus glue will work as well, but Carbatec guys told me to adjust the collar depth.

[John Barr]

Daniel, I'm an Aussie too and I recently bought the K5 and microjig from Carbatec. I'll save you some time. Have a read of my experiments http://kregjig.ning.com/forum/topics/1-2-material-amd-my-experiments . I found the main jig really doesn't work with 1/2" ply. No matter what variable I changed I had a problem. The microjig gave good results with 3/4" screws but glue is a must and I didn't like using fine thread screws meant for hardwood. The best result was the microjig, 1" pan head coarse screws, 3 ten cent pieces for setting the stop collar instead of using their stop collar block. I hope this helps, however, you should experiment yourself.