first-timer Kreg jig questions

The blue plastic shavings are normal. I've had mine a couple of years and still get one occasionally. They're coming off the ejection port in the top of the jig, where the wood shavings come out. They don't represent any harm to the jig, which is mostly metal lined anyway.

The drill has stopped driving the screw further because you've reached the torque limit. You can increase the torque fairly safely. The setting on my drill marked for screws seems about right for drywall screws into drywall, but not for driving wood screws.

Also, when you need to buy more screws, consider mail ordering them. Rockler sells a much more affordable screw that works as well or better than the Kreg screws. They may be marked as Robertson screws, which is what they're called in Canada.

Great, I'm glad I'm not already screwing things up!

Now that I read your response about the torque limit on the drill, it seems so obvious - I've experienced this before when screwing into studs. I guess because it was my first experience with the Kreg, I immediately thought I must be doing something wrong. The manual screwdriver works just fine, but then it's a 2-step process. I'll have to experiment with changing the settings on my drill and see if I can find one that works.

Thanks for the tip on buying screws. I got a box of 1000 of the Kreg brand at Amazon for $21, not terrible, but I noticed that the prices on smaller quantities are pretty high. Looks like there are definitely better deals to be had from just a quick Google of "Robertson screws."

You need to make sure that the screws you buy have the flat base on the head (the underside, where it meets the wood). The angled base like you'd get on a wood screw won't work with the stepped drill you get with a Kreg kit.

Here's an alternative system as well, that lets you use a regular wood screw (not a deck or drywall screw though): http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=42329&cat=1,180,42311

I thought it was interesting, but maybe not interesting enough that I was going to drop money for it. Interesting though that it's an American made tool. And that you need to buy it from a Canadian company.

if youre going to buy more screws, i just put a thread in this section with the 60% off kreg screws link!

as for the blue shavings, ive had that a couple of times too, most were my mistake. i had forgotten to adjust the sliding bit you drill through to the new thickness of the wood. it was basically going straight down into the bottom, made a couple holes but no real damage

I have a huge box of 1 1/4" screws, but I am thinking about something else that will require shorter ones, so I appreciate the discount!

In my case, the blue shavings issue seems like it was just a breaking-in thing. I definitely had everything adjusted correctly, and the shavings decreased with use. I'm completely in love with it, so it's had plenty of use already! I still get a few shavings now and then, but it is minimal, seems unrelated to anything I'm doing, and has no negative effects.

I loved mine so much after I first bought it that I used it to assemble the wall for my fireplace. Overkill, but I wanted to make sure that it never even thought about coming apart, since I put a lot of effort into putting slate tiles on that wall.

I used my KJ for the first time today and a couple things:

1. I didn't realize that I WAS NOT supposed to drill all the way through :( Now I am going to have to modify my plans for after I cut all of the ends of all of my boards off. . . but, how do I set it so that it doesn't go through. I'm using 3/4 board thickness and 1 1/4" screws.

2. After doing quite a few, it just stopped working, meaning, the drill bit would not go into the wood At.All. Would a drill bit run out after only using it, like 24 times, or did I do something wrong to break it? If that's not normal, then I will take it back and replace it.

The kreg jig comes with a guide for how to set the depth collar. You definitely need the depth collar or it won't work right.

As for stopping working, that doesn't seem right. It's possible for the bit to dull, but it's something you'd notice over time, and not that early unless you were drilling through an abrasive material. Possibly you have reversed the direction on your drill. You'll have to check specifics of your drill, because they're all a bit different.

Okay, I NEVER thought I would say this about a tool that looks like it's advertised on late night TV infomercials... but I FRIGGING LOVE this Kreg jig! I used it for the first time today after watching the DVD and I'm sold. the Kreg jig is doing for my joinery what my sliding compound miter saw does for my cutting vs using a circ saw... it provides power, precision and simplicity.

no more ucky gluing for me!

I just bought the Kreg Jig and started to assemble but ran into a HUGE problem. I can't get the drill guide block to release from the base. It came already attached to the base and not as a separate component. I can't adjust the height at all. It has two plastic lock tabs but I'm afraid to press on them and damage the whole thing. I have a project waiting to start and I can't even make the first PH. Help!!

I recently bought a Kreg Mini Pocket hole. The instructions and videos look pretty straight forward like setting the collar, correct placement of jig, and screw length. I clamped the jig down after looking at various videos. But the drill just won't follow through the jig. It barely hits the wood and won't proceed. I've tried backing off a little and reappling force but nothing seems to work. I tried smoothing down any roughage in the jig, but still won't work. Any ideas?

I just bought the Kreg pocket hole jig.  Seems to be very straightforward, with one exception:  when joining two wood pieces with the special Kreg screw, does the Kreg screw require a full-screw-length pilot hole?  I see that the provided Kreg bit starts the pilot hole for the Kreg screw, but in my first scenario the screw is joining to a hard wood.  I will be using a fine-threaded Kreg screw, but without the typical pilot hole running most of the screw length, I fear that the hard wood will split.  If a full-screw-length pilot hole is required, how do I drill an accurate pilot hole through the Kreg jig?