Leigh D1600 Dovetail Jig: Discontinued — What to Buy Instead
The D1600 was Leigh's 16-inch variable-spacing jig. It is long retired, and the D4R Pro is where that design line ended up.
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Leigh’s jigs have always done one thing that comb-template dovetail jigs cannot: variable spacing. Instead of a fixed template that produces evenly spaced, identically sized dovetails, each finger on a Leigh jig slides and locks independently. You set the pin and tail widths where you want them, so the joint looks hand-cut rather than machine-made.
The D1600 was the 16 in model in that line. It is discontinued, along with the rest of the D-series numbering that preceded the D4 and D4R.
Is an old one still worth using?
If you have one set up and cutting good joints, yes. The principle has not changed and neither has the geometry — a D1600 will still produce a variable-spaced through or half-blind dovetail that a comb jig cannot.
Two practical checks. The guide fingers must lock without creep: a finger that shifts under router pressure puts an error into that pin and nowhere else, which is maddening to diagnose. And the clamp bars need to still pull the stock tight along their full length, because a bow in the middle shows up as a joint that is tight at the ends and gappy in the centre.
Leigh, now part of the Lee Valley group, still publishes manuals and sells spares for older jigs through leightools.com. That is the place to look for a finger assembly or a clamp part rather than a general retailer.
What replaces it
The Leigh D4R-PRO, linked below, is the current 24 in jig and the direct descendant. Compared with the D1600 it is wider, the finger assembly is faster to set, and it handles through dovetails, half-blind dovetails and sliding dovetails on the one body, with box joints available through accessories.
It is also expensive, and worth saying why that is not automatically the right answer. If you cut dovetails occasionally and are happy with evenly spaced joints, a fixed-comb jig costs a fraction as much. If you cut them by hand, you already know a Leigh is a production tool, not a replacement for a saw and a chisel. The D4R earns its price when you need variable spacing repeatedly.