Been looking around regarding trying to mill on both sides of a project and looking for what may be either a solid option to do this consistently or maybe someone can point me towards what I may be missing?
I mocked up my first project in a piece of scrap maple and I’m pretty happy with how it came. Out. Just a basic square soap dish with slats at 45 degrees. When I milled the outer contour I went just slightly beyond half way through the 3/4" block. When it was time to flip I flipped it on the X axis so the Y would remain the same and I squared it back up to the bed like when I started. I did run the probe operation again since the piece may have not been in the exact location and I verified that the piece itself was indeed square and the project file had everything centered in the material.
Job completed and there was minimal difference on the Y planes but the X had a good amount that shifted. My thought was to rerun the bit zero on the flip and that would keep things aligned correctly provided that everything was uniform… And I was pretty certain it was.
I’m hoping I’m just missing something simple or maybe I should just do the outer contour all the way through on one side to avoid this?
Alignment pins, 1/8" there is no way to do it without wasting material, just part of life.
You want at least 2 pins but 4 will make sure zero shift occurs and then make 1/8" through holes in your stock, you always want to zero from bottom and if you haven’t flattened your wasteboard you must do it first.
If you don’t like putting holes in your wasteboard because you make one off products you can use extended clamping methods and make a jig out of another peice of wood underneath and put the pins in it.
Thanks for the response and idea. Using alignment pins/dowels would definitely keep the part in a consistent position regardless of the edges of the material.
Pins/Dowels is one way to do it. It’s pretty accurate, but you need extra material to put the pins, or a place on the job where holes is OK.
Another method is to use a jig. It can be as simple as an “L” bracket / fence on the table.
If you are cutting the part to exact size before machining, you can align both sides to the same zero point. If your stock is a bit oversized & you are cutting the profile then your alignment is different on the 2nd side. You should be aligning to the profile you cut in the first step.
I would recommend, if you can, cutting the profile in the first step all the way through the stock, then in the 2nd step only cutting the interior details. (slats & lettering). Now the alignment isn’t as critical. You still want it very close to keep the walls of your outer pocket even.
