Hello, prepare yourself for a very in-the-weeds post.

I'm a small time 3D print hobbyist and budding woodworker and I recently came across Microjig's Matchfit dovetail track system. This seems like a nice system especially for CNC workholding where the spoilboard could have limited metal hardware and lots of flexibility, so I'm looking to outfit my basement shop with a similar system. Since I have a 3D printer and too much free time, I figured why not reverse engineer all the parts myself and maybe even learn something along the way?

Modeling the parts has been pretty easy, granted I worked as a glorified CAD drafter for a few years. Making them printable is what I'm up against now, but it will come with time, thanks for asking. Once I have a system in place that I'm happy with, I'd like to post the files online for other cheapskates like myself to use. However, unfortunately for me I also have some experience in patent writing, so I've been doing some digging into Microjig's current patents. Looks like ol' Henry Wang has been popping off the last few years with a slew of patents related to the Matchfit system, including but not limited to clamps, cams, and this guy featured up top, the router indexing jig.

My question is: how are these things able to be patented? Woodworking jigs have been around for as long as woodworking has existed. Dovetail tracks aren't a new concept, and neither are clamps, cams, and jigs to make to make them. I could maybe see with the indexing router jig, the little router clamps to make it universal could be the main unique feature. But the cam for instance is literally just a cam, I've seen many different types just like it for workholding systems, though admittedly maybe they haven't been patented before?

Anyway, maybe someone out there will also be interested in this weird thing. I'd rather not go to court with Microjig so maybe in 2045 I'll post the files.

Patent numbers for anyone interested:

Clamp: US10,099,398

Cam: USUS12078197

Jig: US12485510

Frozen microwaveable dumplings (different Henry Wang but funny that it came up): WO2025029681

How can Microjig's Matchfit products be patented?