Kreg produces a wide variety of tools capable of making pocket holes, everything from a $22 jig to a $9,800 industrial machine with 5 spindles. Using the jigs means making holes with a hand-held drill; the machines are much faster because the “drill” is built-into the table and moves in response to a hand-pulled lever or foot-operated pedal. The gap between Kreg’s top of the line manual model, the K5 Pocket Hole Jig ($139) and the company’s least expensive machines, the Foreman DB110 (electric $849) and DB55 (pneumatic; $849), is currently quite large. But it’s about to get smaller because later this summer Kreg will be releasing the DB210 Foreman, which will be smaller, lighter, and at $399 less than half the price of the previous Foreman models (the electric DB110 will be discontinued).
The new model differs from the old in a number of ways. It has a smaller motor, a simpler fence and hold-down system, and contains more plastic and aluminum than the previous model (the machines are compared in the spec table below).
But not every change had to do with making the machine less expensive. This is the first Kreg machine capable of making all three types of Kreg joints: standard, micro, and HD. Like its predecessor, the DB210 can be used with material between 1/2 and 1-1/2 inches thick. It has a dust-collection port and built-in bit storage (under the table), and will be available in August 2014. The machine comes with an adjustable fence with spring-loaded stops, dust-collection attachment, Kreg stepped drill bit and drill guide, drill bit setting block, 6-inch square-drive bit, and Owner’s Manual.
