JessEmPocket Mill Pro with Workstation

This system, with the workstation as of this moment I have to consider the best, fastest way to bring work to the tool. I understand the comparisons people make between this and a domino. And if you have one. Cool. But this is $1700+ cheaper. And while that alone should be a selling point, you have to decide what you’re using it for. I make tenons multiple ways. With splines. With a hammer and chisel as God intended. With the beadlock. And now with this. Today I had to make octagonal shelves. Which is 8 boards with mortises cut on each side, for a total of 16 mortises. Since the shelve isn’t huge I could easily bring the boards to the workstation and I was able to crank the cuts out at about 20 seconds each. This is something not even the domino can do. Actually, to my knowledge, no other tool can do. This wasn’t even me measuring or trying. I set up the workstation, put a stop block down on one side. Then used the other Microjig clamp to hold the piece. And again, 20 seconds per mortise. All perfect.The solid carbide (not carbide tipped) endmills should last forever.Because I liked this product so much I actually ordered a corded drill. They’re much better and if I have to batch out dozens or mortises (I’m building cabinets) I won’t have to worry about batteries.Also, for those who care and for those who don’t, you should. Dust collection was fantastic. There’s still a little sawdust left in the cut. But a quick tap and it’s out. I used a Rockler hose attached to a shop vac and you get a good 95% of everything. So if you’re trying to keep an area clean. This does a very good job. Not perfect. But significantly better than any dowel or beadlock system that i know of. Sure, festool has the best dust system. But that’s an add on.How this works on bringing the tool to the workpiece. Might be difficult. As is, the workstation alone doesn’t hand that well. But they had large milling stations as well as small. If those work as well as the workstation. I’ll be very happy b

I think most amateur woodworkers struggle with various types of joinery, and this is where products like the JessEm Pocket Mill Pro can help. There are probably better and faster options, such as mortising machines, the Pantorouter, various CNC solutions and things like the Festool Domino, but most of these are very expensive by comparison. Before going down this path, I decided to give the JessEm a try and hopefully save the difference.Out of the box, it's clear that the JessEm is very well made for what it is. The materials are heavy and well-machined, and it looks to me that it will last a very long while. Assembly isn't difficult, though I found the JessEm documentation to be marginal...it's detailed and attractive, but not very useful - the text refers to parts by their number, but the diagrams aren't labeled accordingly. Again, not the end of the world, but JessEm obviously spent time and effort documenting their product - would be good to just go that final inch and get all the value out of it. Another small suggestion is that some of the parts could benefit from being labeled "Top", "Front", etc.Overall, the body of the machine is quite solid and perfectly finished...there are no rough edges or imperfections whatsoever on mine, and the anodized finish is perfectly uniform. Better still, there's virtually zero wobble or play in it in any dimension - get it locked down and it delivers. It really puts cheaper alternatives to shame in raw quality.The optional wooden part of the jig comes mostly preassembled - pretty much all you need to do is screw on a few stop blocks that keep your projects properly positioned. I suppose you could pretty easily make a jig yourself and mount the JessEm Pocket Pro on it, but having one that can be ready in just a few minutes is appealing. It's made of a good grade of Baltic birch to the same high standards as the rest of the product, so I'm happy with mine.One small complaint is the small dust collection port. Unlike the rest of the tool, it's plastic, and when I connect it to my vacuum, it flexes somewhat, making me think it will not last long. For such a high-quality tool, I'd like to see this part made to the same standards as the rest. It actually works quite well - it's just the one part I think may not last very long.The jig uses dovetail-style clamps, and I'd definitely suggest buying the Microjig clamps JessEm recommends. At first, I tried using standard clamps I already had, but it's fairly awkward to use this way - everything works, but it took substantially more time getting workpieces positioned exactly right. I wish there was an option to get the jig with T-tracks instead of the dovetails it comes with - that would have saved me the expense of ordering additional clamps since I have a good collection of T-track clamps already.The cutting work is done with a special 6mm end mill provided in the kit. The cutter itself is carbide, and the shaft it long enough to work properly in the JessEm jig. They include a depth stop that helps you get precisely the correct depth, and if you prefer to use other sizes, JessEm sells different-sized bits that also work with the Pocket Pro jig. In my case, I've just been using a pretty basic DeWalt 20V cordless drill on high speed and that seems to work fine with the JessEm bits. It cuts precisely, leaving perfectly smooth walls and exactly the right-sized opening in woods from softwoods like pine or cedar to cherry, maple and walnut.For domino stock, I've been using standard 6mm beech dominos that are intended to work with the Festool Domino product. In my experience, they fit the pockets the JessEm creates precisely and seem to hold strongly when glued together. If you need something different, you can certainly cut your own stock with nothing more than a router and saw them to the length you need.If I compare to something like the Festool Domino tool, I mostly give the JessEm high marks for price - it's about 75% less expensive than the Festool would be. Overall, I'd say that the actual results you get are every bit as good with the JessEm as you can get with a Festool Domino, they just take longer.With a Festool Domino, you layout your pockets, align the tool and you're done...I've used one, and I can do a simple project requiring maybe a dozen pockets in under 10 minutes. With the JessEm, there are a few extra steps and the process takes considerably longer. The Festool Domino also includes controls that let you make very tight joints or joints with a bit of play in the width dimension - this helps you align parts that might not fit quite as precisely otherwise...this capability isn't possible so far as I can tell with the JessEm - it always gives you the same size cutout.Otherwise, with the JessEm, it's not enough to just mark the top of your workpieces where they will join - you need to transfer these lines over the edge. Sure, that just takes a few seconds, but it's a chance to make a mistake, and it adds time to every cut. Then, you need to precisely position your work in the JessEm jig...for smaller pieces, this is no big deal, but for large, heavy parts, it can be cumbersome. Finally, it takes several passes (like 15 or so) with your drill in the JessEm to get the results you want.None of this is terrible, but in my experience, I'm finding it to take maybe 3-5 minutes per pocket with the JessEm - not a big problem unless you have tons to do.For me, it's the results that count most. As an example, I recently made a door and wanted to use loose tenoning to strengthen the door's center panel. After running the wood through the jointer and thickness planer, I created about 24 loose tenon joints down the edges. After glue-up, the surface came out incredibly flat - most of the pockets were spot-on, and none was more than 1/32" off.In my personal case, I don't do enough loose tenon joinery to make the JessEm jig impractical. I'm thrilled that I can do perfect pockets without spending a fortune, and I have no regrets at all about this purchase. I suppose if I did loose tenoning all day long, I'd want another tool and perhaps that would justify something like the Festool Domino, but for my needs, I definitely give the JessEm a thumbs up...it's definitely the right tool for low-to-moderate volume loose tenoning.

This pocket mill pro makes cutting floating pockets really easy. With a little work the jig makes repeatable cuts easy. First project was making 16 drawer fronts. Cut 128 pockets, and all of them lined up great! HOWEVER, my shipment was missing some hardware that I had to come up with my own solution for. The reason I had to do that was because I sent JessEm 3 emails over 2 weeks asking for some assistance on getting the missing hardware. I have yet to get a response. Great tool, horrible customer service.

This is a high quality product but be forewarned that the instructions that come with it area little lacking. (use YouTube to get a pretty good idea of how this works). That having been said, it works very well and saves a LOT of money vs. the Festool Domino joiner which does similar things. I also like the workstation that came with it (don't think about getting it without the workstation!). The workstation makes using it pretty straightforward and, to me, is an advantage over the Festool.