Congratulations. Thank you for sharing your exploration on this. Looks amazing. One thing that I do in my shop is to finish sand pieces before they go to the CNC. I never mark a finish piece with a pencil but I use painter's tape so I don't have to sand the pencil marks off. Then I just need a little touch-up sanding.
Felisha Wild Sometimes the simplest things are the easiest to miss...painters tape. What a great idea. Thanks Felisha. So simple yet TOTALLY eluded me. LOL. SO Simple. Appreciate the advice.
Now I've got to cut a slot into my cnc. I've been thinking about doing it anyway, so this was my source if motivation. Great job, and I wish I had a big cammaster.
I don't have a CNC YET, but as I move toward one, a MUST is some way to vertically mount stock like this. Not many machines seem to have that ability, or even prevent it by running their drive screws underneath the center of the spoilboard. I use my Ready2Rout system for dovetail and box joints; it has the ability to add glue clearance to the joints. You might want to figure a few thousands in for that or you'll squeeze out all the glue when you put joints that are that tight together. But seriously, what you've done is amazing! No one who has seen the standard attempts at CNC dovetail joints is pleased. This is wonderful! I don't know the Vectric software well- it surprised me to hear you say that it couldn't show the undercut of the dovetail bit. Why is that? Thanks again! Larry
Great videos and nice work. I just did the same to my machine bed with the square hole in it. I am also a big vectric aspire user and love what it can do, but I did stumble uppon this software called joint cam that will take away all that tedious line layout and board sizing. Keep up the great work and thank you for the helpfull videos!
I will second this, please post some details on the jig, how you installed it on CNC, and tool path. great, great stuff in this video. thanks for sharing
Absolutely spectacular !!!!! Bravo!!! Youbare my hero i just ventured into cnc made joints today and did some basic ones but now after watching your video i will try the dove tail method you did !
Fantasic, Great job. I gave up on the dove tails but made some great bears ears. I make the joints one corner at a time with both pieces clamped into the router at once. Saves on the setup time.
Well done! Your process is right on target as proven by the final fit and beautiful outcome. If you want to leave a little room for glue you can use the Allowance option on your pin pockets to have them take off a few thousands (-.002") or so.
Nicely done. Makes me want to get off my lazy butt and do the same with my CRP-4848. I've been contemplating using the the front of the table for end cuts and mounting a fourth axis for rotational cuts along the X-axis. I would have to offset the spindle from the Y-axis to give me the overhang from the table.
I salute you sir, you’re grasping the holy grail of Woodworking skills by bending a robot to do your bidding! But could you take it to another galaxy by finding a way to make it look like a Rob Cosman’s handcut ones? With those super pins that almost end on a point?
I really love your work I have learned quite a bit but I would like if you will is show how you made or pictures of your jig that you use here on this dovetail The Jig that you put through the hole you made on your surface thank you ahead of time
Have never seen dovetails done with half tails always half pins. they look great right off the CNC. If you plan to use this alot more I would work on cleaning up that toolpath though, seems like there was lots of cutting air and retracts that were not necessary. great job in the end though.
Jeff Lalonde Thanks for the input. you are absolutely correct. I kept it simple for my own organisational purposes to avoid screwing up. Now that I "get it" I can optimize the tool paths. Thank you very much for watching and the kind words.
so happy to see you finally figured it out Jeff. hopefully a bit of weight has been lefted now that you won't be stressing to get your dove tails. keep up the great work buddy.
well done sir- i have thought about doing DT on CNC but don't want to go thru the pain of spoilboard mod. - may be worth it though Thanks For sharing your process
Great job!!!! Sorry about the negative comments below. I just wish people would not comment if they are negative. "Better to sit quietly and thought a fool than to speak and prove it". Again, good on ya!
I think I saw a 0.001" gap there on one pin… But seriously, those are very nice dove tails. I noticed a bunch of extra moves the CNC is doing that could be edited out of the path but I can't argue with the result. And I love the idea to cut a hole in the table so you can mount the piece vertically. I wonder if there is a way to add a stop so you can mount the boards without the need to rezero the bit every time…
Thanks Fred.....Yeah the "extra" moves was me being very very careful to make sure I accounted for everything. As for the zero block, great idea. As long as stock and joints are the same no reason why you couldn't. Thanks again for watching.
Shoot me an email to jefonitoo@gmail.com and I'll reply back to you with the file. Thanks for watching. Also, watch this video, ua-cam.com/video/tq91SxlDnrM/v-deo.html shows the jig, just uses different software package.
this is 7yrs old and im not sure if im understanding but you did holes to stop blow out on the first peice then the second peice you sent the bit straight through im confused maybe ypu didnt need to do the holes on the first peice?
Great video! This is exactly what I have been looking for and I already made the modification to my table. Is the file something that can be converted modified to work with VCarve Pro?
They look GREAT!! just a thought what if you sandwich the piece between 2 pieces for scrap to prevent the tear out you could skip the drilling operation.
We make lots of CNC dovetails and sandwiching the boards between spoilboards stuck to the clamping fixture works like a champ. Once I get everything set up like I want, I change the spoilboards and run the whole job. They stay nice as long as nothing changes with the toolpath. Next time I start over.
By Jove, I think he's got it !! lovely to see perfect fitting dovetails. Lucky you didn't have any blow out when using the dovetail bit ! Nicely done, can you cut them in less than 3.5 mins to beet Rob Cosman?
looks awesome. what size is that machine it makes my 9014 look like a dog toy. unfortunately i cant cut a hole in my table because thats where the ball screw and linear rails are. might be possible to remove one section of the bed on the side and do it from a slightly different angle under where the 4th axis sits
At first I was thinking. "Man all this time to do dovetails, it would probably be easier to just use a jig. After seeing how nicely they fit together though, I have to say it must have been worth the time to get it to look so flush.
scott davis Thank you Scott. For me it has been more about figuring out how. There are guys out there a few that I mentioned that could hand cut better and quicker than I ever could with a machine. I just love CNC machining stuff and the "process" even more than the "project" itself if that makes sense. The cool part is that now that it is all set up, i can batch out drawers pretty fast. Thank you very much for watching and commenting.
Did you have a video on the vertical dovetail clamp you added to your cnc. I thought I saw a video about a month ago with more details, but can't seem to find it anymore.
Why couldn’t you lay your board down on a another board such that the end was suspended above the waste board and run a dove tail bit in and back out of the board horizontally?
I am very surprised that you, who are so well connected to the online maker communities, CNC and otherwise, took so long to implement this solution which has been used by other CNC makers for years Finally and in any case, good work latecomer b😅
I appreciate your comments and your watching the video. I published this 6 YEARS AGO, and I think you will find some of my older videos such as this one were the first of their kind. Thank you again for watching, and yes, I am very familiar with Frank's work. He is a brilliant man.
Jeff Searles just watched your gadget video. The way you did in this video is far better. Will make a modification to my CNC table to make them this way. Thanks. Keep making the great video’s. Will you be at the Denver Vectric meeting in October.
Btw, why is your CNC so slow? You can certainly consolidate the straigjt channel followed by the dovetail bit by doing it all at once with the dovetail bit
Thank you for watching. Apologies, I didn't make any plans. It's a square piece of MDF with another piece of MDF attached to left side. Hole cut thru spoilboard, then slide jig thru hole. Make sure fence on jig and table are square to each other. I used those toggle pressure clamps on top of the fence to hold work piece in place. I hope that gives some sense of it. Shoot me an email to jefonitoo@gmail.com and I'll send you the file I used. Thanks again for watching. Also, this video ua-cam.com/video/tq91SxlDnrM/v-deo.html although different software shows the jig.
That's brilliant! Very nice looking dovetails. Any way to see more info about the jig you made to hold the boards in place? Any issues with them slipping while cutting?
G Dub I will show more in the jig, and up to 16 inches long and 6 wide the one clamp on top holds perfectly with no movement. Much longer and an additional clamp will be applied at the bottom of jig. Thank you for watching
I use Vcarve pro and love it, was considering the upgrade to Aspire, but done have the $ right now. I was wondering if you could convert an aspire file for me to DXF? You are free to keep the plans too
What speeds and feeds did you use for this, or that are recommended in general for use on a milling machine? I would like to try cutting some woodwork from pallet wood on some cnc mills at work, they run up to about 7000rpm. Ive heard that is too slow for milling woods?
Yeah 7000 is a bit too slow I'm afraid. I ran this at 75 IPM in XY 35 IPM in Z at 18000 RPM. I don't think you can get the chip load right at 7000 RPM. You'd have to feed the machine so slow and I'm afraid you would burn up your not to mention the burning of the wood. Really need 12-15000 RPM to mill wood and avoid tool burn up in my opinion.
Work Against The Grain Yeah I agree. I ended up running a piece at 6000rpm with a 4 flute carbide endmill and fed it around 15ipm for a pocketed dovetail slot. It worked quite well. I then came back through with my cheap 2 flute dovetail router bit again at 6000rpm and 5ipm with .050 stepover passes to the final slot dimensions. This ended up working rather well also, however since it is a pocket slot it has a radius at the edges which Im decided how to deal with. I can always machine the tail with a radius also to fit or I can go in by hand and clean it up. Im just cutting some old pallet wood to make a table. Thanks for the help and advice! Hopefully everything works as planned. Awesome video by the way, the best yet that I have seen regarding milling dovetails on wood.
This is great I have always wanted to do this with my cnc, but I don't have aspire can you resave the file as a vcarve pro file please? Thank you for such great content. Keep up the great work.
Hello. Seeing this video for the first time. EXTREMELY impressive. I recently got a shopbot Desktop max 2FT x 3FT and want to learn how to make dovetails on it. However Shopbot charges $400 for their vertical clamping jig. Would you be open to providing me plans for creating one?
great job with the dove tails on the cnc. can you provide a copy of the file you developed? save me from reinventing the wheel. again good job thanks, Dan
I'm a fan of your channel! You and Mick Martin have very nice tutorials! I was wondering if the hole in your plenum has a negative affect to your vacuum hold down? I also have a Camaster CNC and use Aspire.
Tracy Brookins Thanks for the kind words. No effect on plenium because there is NO plenium in the area I cut the 4x16 slot for vise. It is an area by zone 3 that was flat. Thanks for watching.
Michael Robertson Thanks. I actually have a Leigh D4R Pro and once I had this set up it was pretty close, but yes D4R probably faster. For me it was more about the process of figuring it out more than the efficiency. Thanks so much for watching.
Your background/history on this topic is funny -- I feel your pain! Nice video. Thanks for sharing! A couple questions. First, have you considered the special-purpose software for CNC dovetails as an alternative to Aspire (JointCAM, etc)? I've become a big Aspire fan, but am curious if you've explored that option. Second, any details you feel are useful to share about the jig or is it pretty obvious?
Mike Davison I have not looked at other programs. I will do that. Jig is pretty straight forward but I will do a video on a couple things that have popped up since first try. Thanks for watching.
As Mike mentioned, JointCAM would basically make quick work of exactly what you did. You already have the jig and the hole in your table... Jointcam would allow you to do all different types of dovetails with different spacing, etc. It's only like $150 for the full license, too! Thanks for the video!
moparx12 I just started experimenting with joint cam a month ago. Works pretty good. Has a couple bugs, but works well if machine is setup PERFECT. Thanks for watching.
It has bugs? Can you tell me your findings on it? I am about to make a bunch of drawers and roll out trays and will be using the software for that. If there's something I should look out for It would be great to know it advance!
Make sure the outside pins are at least 1.5 times the width of your bit. While cutting the tails, when it is done, the Z axis retracts straight up. I found if my last pin was less than 1.5 times the width of the bit, when the Z retracts upon completion it did so in the middle of the work piece, and cuts off 1/2 the tail. Also, I found that the tail stock over cut and clearance parameters do not really help and can be confusing. Stick with 0 and 0 in these two places. Finally, unless you are dead on accurate with the spacing between your left and right boards, do yourself a favor and cut left and right separately. It's gotta be perfect to cut both sides at same time. I need to point out, it seems to be a very cool program and for the most part works great. As i said, I just started playing with it a month or so ago and hope to get a video out soon. The things I mention may be MY lack of knowledge and NOT the program itself. Good luck.
Congratulations. Thank you for sharing your exploration on this. Looks amazing. One thing that I do in my shop is to finish sand pieces before they go to the CNC. I never mark a finish piece with a pencil but I use painter's tape so I don't have to sand the pencil marks off. Then I just need a little touch-up sanding.
Felisha Wild Sometimes the simplest things are the easiest to miss...painters tape. What a great idea. Thanks Felisha. So simple yet TOTALLY eluded me. LOL. SO Simple. Appreciate the advice.
Now I've got to cut a slot into my cnc. I've been thinking about doing it anyway, so this was my source if motivation. Great job, and I wish I had a big cammaster.
Wicked cool! I just set up vertical clamping on my Laguna IQ CNC for half-blind dovetails. I must try through dovetails as well.
Those are lovely joints. I am sure if you glued them they would stick no problem. I love your videos, thanks for making them.
Nicely done Jeff. You have saved lots of fold a WHOLE BUNCH of frustration - thanks for taking on our pain.
I don't have a CNC YET, but as I move toward one, a MUST is some way to vertically mount stock like this. Not many machines seem to have that ability, or even prevent it by running their drive screws underneath the center of the spoilboard. I use my Ready2Rout system for dovetail and box joints; it has the ability to add glue clearance to the joints. You might want to figure a few thousands in for that or you'll squeeze out all the glue when you put joints that are that tight together. But seriously, what you've done is amazing! No one who has seen the standard attempts at CNC dovetail joints is pleased. This is wonderful!
I don't know the Vectric software well- it surprised me to hear you say that it couldn't show the undercut of the dovetail bit. Why is that?
Thanks again!
Larry
Great videos and nice work. I just did the same to my machine bed with the square hole in it. I am also a big vectric aspire user and love what it can do, but I did stumble uppon this software called joint cam that will take away all that tedious line layout and board sizing. Keep up the great work and thank you for the helpfull videos!
They look great !! Perseverance paid off in a big way. Congratulations.
Wow, That's awesome!, Thanks for sharing! I may have to make a hole in my CNC table soon!
Please post details to make the vertical clamp fixture shown in you video, dimensions, a vectric file to make the parts for it, etc.
I will second this, please post some details on the jig, how you installed it on CNC, and tool path. great, great stuff in this video. thanks for sharing
It's a quick release clamp screwed to a board with an edge stop, nothing technical
Worked a treat as our friends from Down Under would say.
Many thanks.
Absolutely spectacular !!!!! Bravo!!! Youbare my hero i just ventured into cnc made joints today and did some basic ones but now after watching your video i will try the dove tail method you did !
Love that jig! I'm going to have to make one myself.
Did you??
I have never been able to do anything this precise. This is great. time to sell my leigh d4r!. Thanks for posting
That should have left you with a warm-fuzzy feeling! Really great thanks.
John Colvin Thanks....it sure did. More about figuring it out than the project if that makes sense. Thanks for watching.
Fantasic, Great job. I gave up on the dove tails but made some great bears ears. I make the joints one corner at a time with both pieces clamped into the router at once. Saves on the setup time.
Well done! Your process is right on target as proven by the final fit and beautiful outcome. If you want to leave a little room for glue you can use the Allowance option on your pin pockets to have them take off a few thousands (-.002") or so.
A lot of lifes problems could be solved if we were just willing to ask; "What would Izzy do?" Love it.
Great intor… I was intrigued... Bravo... Bravo... Bravo... Clap... Clap... Keep up!
That is perfect! it must feel good after chasing it for a while.
Peter Smith IT sure does. Thanks for watching.
good job, turned out nice
Nicely done. Makes me want to get off my lazy butt and do the same with my CRP-4848. I've been contemplating using the the front of the table for end cuts and mounting a fourth axis for rotational cuts along the X-axis. I would have to offset the spindle from the Y-axis to give me the overhang from the table.
Freeman Pascal It is well worth it. Thanks for watching.
I salute you sir, you’re grasping the holy grail of Woodworking skills by bending a robot to do your bidding! But could you take it to another galaxy by finding a way to make it look like a Rob Cosman’s handcut ones? With those super pins that almost end on a point?
I really love your work I have learned quite a bit but I would like if you will is show how you made or pictures of your jig that you use here on this dovetail The Jig that you put through the hole you made on your surface thank you ahead of time
Have never seen dovetails done with half tails always half pins. they look great right off the CNC. If you plan to use this alot more I would work on cleaning up that toolpath though, seems like there was lots of cutting air and retracts that were not necessary. great job in the end though.
Jeff Lalonde Thanks for the input. you are absolutely correct. I kept it simple for my own organisational purposes to avoid screwing up. Now that I "get it" I can optimize the tool paths. Thank you very much for watching and the kind words.
so happy to see you finally figured it out Jeff. hopefully a bit of weight has been lefted now that you won't be stressing to get your dove tails. keep up the great work buddy.
well done sir- i have thought about doing DT on CNC but don't want to go thru the pain of spoilboard mod. - may be worth it though Thanks For sharing your process
That’s amazing. Are you sharing the file? I’d love to learn how !
Chris
Wow !!!! You are my hero. Now I will have to cut a hole in my cnc. Great Work!!!
Robert Kofoed thank you. well worth it.
This is exactly what I was looking for! You, sir, have earned a new subscriber. Looking forward to check out your other content.
Great job!!!! Sorry about the negative comments below. I just wish people would not comment if they are negative. "Better to sit quietly and thought a fool than to speak and prove it". Again, good on ya!
Thank you !!!!
Very cool. Top drawer.
Awesome job !!! Glad to se it all came out so nice .
SWEET, Totally SWEET! Thank you for sharing your pain... and Your Victory. Nice work, very, very nice indeed.
Lovely
What tolerance did you add to the pins and tails to get that snug fit ? -0.1mm on each ?
I think I saw a 0.001" gap there on one pin…
But seriously, those are very nice dove tails. I noticed a bunch of extra moves the CNC is doing that could be edited out of the path but I can't argue with the result. And I love the idea to cut a hole in the table so you can mount the piece vertically.
I wonder if there is a way to add a stop so you can mount the boards without the need to rezero the bit every time…
Thanks Fred.....Yeah the "extra" moves was me being very very careful to make sure I accounted for everything. As for the zero block, great idea. As long as stock and joints are the same no reason why you couldn't. Thanks again for watching.
That is great. I have been trying to do this, but little success. Would you happen to share you Aspire file? Thank you for sharing.
Shoot me an email to jefonitoo@gmail.com and I'll reply back to you with the file. Thanks for watching. Also, watch this video, ua-cam.com/video/tq91SxlDnrM/v-deo.html shows the jig, just uses different software package.
well done. Congrats
Beautiful Dovetails.
this is 7yrs old and im not sure if im understanding but you did holes to stop blow out on the first peice then the second peice you sent the bit straight through im confused maybe ypu didnt need to do the holes on the first peice?
So you have to cut a hole in your cnc bed right? If so, I’m not sure I have the stomach to do it!!
Nicely done
incredible setup--gadget it and market it--i would love to have a copy
Great video! This is exactly what I have been looking for and I already made the modification to my table. Is the file something that can be converted modified to work with VCarve Pro?
Yes, the exact same thing at 5:23 of the video can be drawn in VCarve Pro. Thanks for watching
They look GREAT!! just a thought what if you sandwich the piece between 2 pieces for scrap to prevent the tear out you could skip the drilling operation.
Bob Heltibridle Thanks Bob, I will have to try that.
We make lots of CNC dovetails and sandwiching the boards between spoilboards stuck to the clamping fixture works like a champ. Once I get everything set up like I want, I change the spoilboards and run the whole job. They stay nice as long as nothing changes with the toolpath. Next time I start over.
Nicely Done! Kudos to you!
By Jove, I think he's got it !! lovely to see perfect fitting dovetails. Lucky you didn't have any blow out when using the dovetail bit ! Nicely done, can you cut them in less than 3.5 mins to beet Rob Cosman?
Great video! I really will make one myself. Thank you for what I think is one of the best videos on UA-cam!
looks awesome. what size is that machine it makes my 9014 look like a dog toy. unfortunately i cant cut a hole in my table because thats where the ball screw and linear rails are. might be possible to remove one section of the bed on the side and do it from a slightly different angle under where the 4th axis sits
would you share that file for others to download and use? Great job!
Very good work!
Thanks for watching !!
At first I was thinking. "Man all this time to do dovetails, it would probably be easier to just use a jig. After seeing how nicely they fit together though, I have to say it must have been worth the time to get it to look so flush.
scott davis Thank you Scott. For me it has been more about figuring out how. There are guys out there a few that I mentioned that could hand cut better and quicker than I ever could with a machine. I just love CNC machining stuff and the "process" even more than the "project" itself if that makes sense. The cool part is that now that it is all set up, i can batch out drawers pretty fast. Thank you very much for watching and commenting.
beautiful, nicely done
Congratulations on figuring it all out. What about the router and the hole?
Did you have a video on the vertical dovetail clamp you added to your cnc. I thought I saw a video about a month ago with more details, but can't seem to find it anymore.
See video here ua-cam.com/video/tq91SxlDnrM/v-deo.html and thanks for watching
Why couldn’t you lay your board down on a another board such that the end was suspended above the waste board and run a dove tail bit in and back out of the board horizontally?
IMPRESSIVE !
You are hysterical! Thank you :)
Can you get glue in there the fit is so perfect
Beautiful!!! Great work! thanks!
Good job!
Would it be possible to sister two boards in your jig so you could cut multiple tail ends in one set up?
troylonious Yes of course. You are only limited by the width of jig and clamping power of clamp. Great point, thank you.
I am very surprised that you, who are so well connected to the online maker communities, CNC and otherwise, took so long to implement this solution which has been used by other CNC makers for years
Finally and in any case, good work latecomer b😅
I appreciate your comments and your watching the video. I published this 6 YEARS AGO, and I think you will find some of my older videos such as this one were the first of their kind. Thank you again for watching, and yes, I am very familiar with Frank's work. He is a brilliant man.
Real cool. Going to make the jig and try on my home built CNC. Like how you created them. Have you ever tried the dovetail gadget?
Yes I have. There is a video before this one where I demonstrate that. THANKS for watching
Jeff Searles just watched your gadget video. The way you did in this video is far better. Will make a modification to my CNC table to make them this way. Thanks. Keep making the great video’s. Will you be at the Denver Vectric meeting in October.
@@rickmccaskill7888 Thanks. I probably will not be attending.
Btw, visit Frank Horwath to see the magnificent, creative end grain and other milling Frank does with the hole in his avid table
That is outstanding. Would love to do that set upon my Camaster. Are you willing to share the Vectric files?
Mike Grigg Email me. jefonitoo@gmail.com, I'll reply with file
can I get a copy of the vectric files too? ricoreef@cltel.net
Very impressive
Btw, why is your CNC so slow?
You can certainly consolidate the straigjt channel followed by the dovetail bit by doing it all at once with the dovetail bit
hats off to ya man! great work!! great video! thanks for sharing!
good job!!!
very clever like but its really slow, have you fine tuned the process over the last 6 years at all to make it quicker?
Oh yes. Thank you for asking. MUCH faster now. I am actually woirking on video updates.
@@WorkAgainstTheGrain ah great look forward to that
Great job!! If you are willing. Can you share the vectric file?
Thanks, and YES. If you'll go to my website, in the downloads section the file is there. www.workagainstthegrain.com
Great job!
Im a handtool guy. But i dont hate the use of CNC. Well you dont need to be them to make perfect dovetails joint. Maybe spent a week
Awesome job. I am a CaMaster owner as well and I love my machine. Do you have any plans or setup videos on how you integrated the jig?
Thank you for watching. Apologies, I didn't make any plans. It's a square piece of MDF with another piece of MDF attached to left side. Hole cut thru spoilboard, then slide jig thru hole. Make sure fence on jig and table are square to each other. I used those toggle pressure clamps on top of the fence to hold work piece in place. I hope that gives some sense of it. Shoot me an email to jefonitoo@gmail.com and I'll send you the file I used. Thanks again for watching. Also, this video ua-cam.com/video/tq91SxlDnrM/v-deo.html although different software shows the jig.
So cool! Thank you
That's brilliant! Very nice looking dovetails. Any way to see more info about the jig you made to hold the boards in place? Any issues with them slipping while cutting?
G Dub I will show more in the jig, and up to 16 inches long and 6 wide the one clamp on top holds perfectly with no movement. Much longer and an additional clamp will be applied at the bottom of jig. Thank you for watching
Outstanding !!!
Fantastic piece of work! But, I have some concerns about the hole in my table. Could the hole be used for anything else?
Great for hinge mortises on things like Paradise Boxes. Much better than a drop down leaf at the front. Wont work on some Shopbots though.
I use Vcarve pro and love it, was considering the upgrade to Aspire, but done have the $ right now. I was wondering if you could convert an aspire file for me to DXF? You are free to keep the plans too
GeppettoCreations Send to jefonitoo@gmail.com I'll see what I can do.
What speeds and feeds did you use for this, or that are recommended in general for use on a milling machine? I would like to try cutting some woodwork from pallet wood on some cnc mills at work, they run up to about 7000rpm. Ive heard that is too slow for milling woods?
Yeah 7000 is a bit too slow I'm afraid. I ran this at 75 IPM in XY 35 IPM in Z at 18000 RPM. I don't think you can get the chip load right at 7000 RPM. You'd have to feed the machine so slow and I'm afraid you would burn up your not to mention the burning of the wood. Really need 12-15000 RPM to mill wood and avoid tool burn up in my opinion.
Work Against The Grain
Yeah I agree. I ended up running a piece at 6000rpm with a 4 flute carbide endmill and fed it around 15ipm for a pocketed dovetail slot. It worked quite well. I then came back through with my cheap 2 flute dovetail router bit again at 6000rpm and 5ipm with .050 stepover passes to the final slot dimensions. This ended up working rather well also, however since it is a pocket slot it has a radius at the edges which Im decided how to deal with. I can always machine the tail with a radius also to fit or I can go in by hand and clean it up. Im just cutting some old pallet wood to make a table. Thanks for the help and advice! Hopefully everything works as planned. Awesome video by the way, the best yet that I have seen regarding milling dovetails on wood.
Good work Jeff, nice bit of coding.
This is great I have always wanted to do this with my cnc, but I don't have aspire can you resave the file as a vcarve pro file please? Thank you for such great content. Keep up the great work.
Hello. Seeing this video for the first time. EXTREMELY impressive. I recently got a shopbot Desktop max 2FT x 3FT and want to learn how to make dovetails on it. However Shopbot charges $400 for their vertical clamping jig. Would you be open to providing me plans for creating one?
Do you have a video of your Fixture set up?
Not Yet, but I am sure trying to get one made. Life has me a bit busy these days....Apologies.
good job
And for my next trick . . .
they looked perfect
I am a camaster user and have a spindle with ceramic bearings so they do not offer a z0 touch pad. What z0 touch pad do you use.
Design Department It is an aluminum pad CaMaster provided. Perhaps I don't have ceramic bearings.
Thanks.
I wasnt expecting that fit in the end... wow! Is the vectric layout scaleable? Would you share the vectric file? Well done!
Thanks for watching. Vectric file is located on my site in downloads section. www.workagainstthegrain.com
great job with the dove tails on the cnc. can you provide a copy of the file you developed? save me from reinventing the wheel. again good job thanks, Dan
Daniel Braud Sure can. Shoot me an email to jefonitoo@gmail.com I will reply with the file.
Can i get a copy oc the dovetail file? ricoreef@cltel.net
Amazing !
Islam EL-Hadidi Thank you VERY MUCH
great job. What Camaster do you have?
Cobra X3, thanks for the nice comment and for watching.
I'm a fan of your channel! You and Mick Martin have very nice tutorials!
I was wondering if the hole in your plenum has a negative affect to your vacuum hold down? I also have a Camaster CNC and use Aspire.
Tracy Brookins Thanks for the kind words. No effect on plenium because there is NO plenium in the area I cut the 4x16 slot for vise. It is an area by zone 3 that was flat. Thanks for watching.
best video that i've seen
Very nice job, is there room for glue?
Utoobhero thanks, funny you ask..there may not be. they were very tight. Thank you for watching
P.S.
There is a nice video about using dovetail gadget.
Too good
Awesome idea. Seems time consuming though. Think you could machine these faster with a Leigh Jig.
Michael Robertson Thanks. I actually have a Leigh D4R Pro and once I had this set up it was pretty close, but yes D4R probably faster. For me it was more about the process of figuring it out more than the efficiency. Thanks so much for watching.
Your background/history on this topic is funny -- I feel your pain! Nice video. Thanks for sharing!
A couple questions. First, have you considered the special-purpose software for CNC dovetails as an alternative to Aspire (JointCAM, etc)? I've become a big Aspire fan, but am curious if you've explored that option. Second, any details you feel are useful to share about the jig or is it pretty obvious?
Mike Davison I have not looked at other programs. I will do that. Jig is pretty straight forward but I will do a video on a couple things that have popped up since first try. Thanks for watching.
As Mike mentioned, JointCAM would basically make quick work of exactly what you did. You already have the jig and the hole in your table... Jointcam would allow you to do all different types of dovetails with different spacing, etc. It's only like $150 for the full license, too! Thanks for the video!
moparx12 I just started experimenting with joint cam a month ago. Works pretty good. Has a couple bugs, but works well if machine is setup PERFECT. Thanks for watching.
It has bugs? Can you tell me your findings on it? I am about to make a bunch of drawers and roll out trays and will be using the software for that. If there's something I should look out for It would be great to know it advance!
Make sure the outside pins are at least 1.5 times the width of your bit. While cutting the tails, when it is done, the Z axis retracts straight up. I found if my last pin was less than 1.5 times the width of the bit, when the Z retracts upon completion it did so in the middle of the work piece, and cuts off 1/2 the tail. Also, I found that the tail stock over cut and clearance parameters do not really help and can be confusing. Stick with 0 and 0 in these two places. Finally, unless you are dead on accurate with the spacing between your left and right boards, do yourself a favor and cut left and right separately. It's gotta be perfect to cut both sides at same time. I need to point out, it seems to be a very cool program and for the most part works great. As i said, I just started playing with it a month or so ago and hope to get a video out soon. The things I mention may be MY lack of knowledge and NOT the program itself. Good luck.