Why I’m Starting a Jig Series

I love making things.

I do not love misaligned things.

There’s nothing that makes my eye twitch faster than a design that’s 1.5 mm too high. Or slightly rotated. Or “almost centered.”

Almost centered is not centered.

For a long time I eyeballed placement. I traced. I measured. I nudged. I hoped.

It worked… until it didn’t.

The real problem wasn’t my laser.
It wasn’t my settings.
It was repeatability.

If you can’t put the blank in the exact same place every single time, you’re guessing. And guessing is expensive.

So I started building jigs.

Not fancy ones at first.
Not permanent ones.
Just simple systems that remove the guesswork.

Cardboard. Tape. Cut a hole. Drop the blank in. Burn.

And suddenly things stopped being stressful.

This post is the start of a jig series. I’m going to walk through different levels — from absolute beginner cardboard hacks to more permanent shop setups — all focused on one thing:

Making alignment boring and predictable.

Because boring and predictable is profitable.

A few photos from my newest jig

Next up: Level 1 — the cardboard method. Anyone can do it.