Finger / dovetail joints

[adcostanza (Adam)]

I have a Shapeoko Pro XXL. I want to make some larger boxes with either finger or dovetail joints. I do have dovetail cutters I’ve used minimally. What I’m wondering is if I wanted to do this often what are the best approaches? Cut at the front of the machine? Or remove a hybrid aluminum slat and mount vertically along X?

[Zman (MICHAEL ZEMANEK)]

Here is something I saw, put it aside for future plans. See if this works for you.

Taking Our CNC to the NEXT LEVEL | Avid CNC Vertical Spoil Board

[gdon_2003 (Guy Donham)]

I have a Shapeoko 3 and you get quite a bit of front machining room. So how far off the front of the newer machines can the router go for Shapeoko 4, Pro and HDM?

[WillAdams (William Adams (Carbide 3D))]

Yes, it can be done.

5-row storage box for MtG

Dovetails have the problem of Carbide Create not being able to model this tool geometry in 3D:

Sharing Carbide Create Dovetail Files

Actually, it’s been a long time since geometry in high school. Instead, it’s more straight-forward to just draw this up — we start with the endmill itself since it and the stock dimensions as discussed above are the fundamental constraints. [image] Since the dovetail bit we have selected can only cut to a depth of 1/2", we have to leave 1/4" uncut for the blind dovetails, and we have to determine if we will draw up the pins or tails first. Folks do it both ways, and there are numerous argume…

Yes, it requires some sort of vertical fixture:

Fixture for cutting vertical joints

But the problem is, it make projects more complex — each box becomes at a minimum 3 setups:

• mount parts flat on the machine and cut parts to length/width
• mount 4 boards in fixture and cut joinery in two corners
• rotate 4 boards and remount in fixture and cut joinery in two opposing corners

I find it far more workable to just cut the parts and the joinery in one operation:

Quarter Blind Miter Box Joints

A different sort of box

Building from a couple of different ideas[1][2], and giving up on the perfection of void-free, and limiting tools to a reasonable number (2), I have arrived at: https://www.blockscad3d.com/community/projects/1270618 which allows one to cut out a box in 2, 3 or 4 operations: bottom (cut to size) top (cut to size) — possibly combined w/ the bottom front/back and one or both sides (repeat once for 2 operations if need be) — this will cut the joinery blind box joints and miter as well as feature…

A box in 2 (or 3, or 4, maybe 5) Toolpaths and a few operations

Possibly a bit simpler than the Blind Miter w/ Hidden Boxjoint box: https://willadams.gitbook.io/design-into-3d/blind-miter-box-joints would be a Quarter Blind Boxjoint: https://www.blockscad3d.com/community/projects/1432012 [image] As always, we start w/ the dimensions: 204 mm wide 70 mm deep 42 mm high 8 mm thick stock Lid options are the usual: sawn sliding hinged Sliding is probably the simplest, but hinged has an interesting limitation if one wants the hinge hidden, so we’ll do …

[BubbaOriley]

@gdon_2003

I have a Shapeoko 3 and you get quite a bit of front machining room. So how far off the front of the newer machines can the router go for Shapeoko 4, Pro and HDM?

For the HDM it’s zero.

I’ve found the easiest way to do dovetails is with the Vectric VCarve Pro dovetail gadget. There’s a bit of a learning curve to using it which requires trying it out on some test pieces, but the end result is it forms perfectly fitting dovetails with just a 1/8" endmill and no vertical mounting is required. The downside is due to the nature of round endmills, you either have to use fillets on the tails, or hand finish the corners with a saw or chisel. There’s also a small fillet on the vertical corners of the pins. There’s also a box gadget that will make all 4 sides of a drawer with dovetails to your specifications and it’s ideal for this application as the pins will be hidden anyway and the tails can be easily hand finished to avoid using fillets.

[adcostanza (Adam)]

Thanks for the responses! I think I’ll give @WillAdams approach a shot as it seems like probably the least effort for me. Going to model it up in fusion though as that’s my program of choice