I am going to make several MicroJig MatchFit jigs for my woodworking shop. The instructions tell to you to make relief cuts that are 1/4 inch wide by 5/16 inch deep. Then you cut over the relief cuts with a 1/2 inch 7degree dovetail at 3/8 inch deep.
My question is to make the dovetail bit cuts with the Shapeoko should I create a custom tool and set the depth to 3/8 depth so the dovetail grove is cut at full depth in a single pass.
For the tool path I suppose if my base is 12 inches by 12 inches I should make the project appear 13 by 13 so the dovetail bit will plunge to 3/8 outside the physical limit of the project, cut all the way across and retract again outside the physical limit of my jig. There will be a 4 inch grid of these dovetail groves cut so I will also need to plan clamps appropriately to avoid hitting them. Do you think I should make each line of the grid a separate tool path?
Please give me any feed back on how to cut these dovetail groves on the Shapeoko.
Unfortunately, dovetail geometry is not supported in Carbide Create.
It is supported in Toolpath Language: https://tplang.org/ (enter as a stub endmill I think it is, and then set the upper and lower diameter appropriately)
I wrote a bit about using them at:
I’d just set them up to match the diameter you wish to cut at the surface and note the depth which they need to make a full-depth pass at in the description. Pair them with a toolpath from a smaller endmill which clears the central channel to allow the full-depth pass.
Could be interesting to have a toolpath language postprocessor for Carbide Create, might give it a practical application and a better chance of being exercised,even if another step to convert tpl to usable gcode is required. There’s been several attempts to replace gcode but they’re so unpopular/obscure that I can’t manage the fu to find any of them.
Sort of along the same line do you have any idea when user-editable postprocessors will be allowed?
Could you use advanced vcarve to create a wide upside-down through-dovetail (i.e. one that goes through the board entirely) and then invert and laminate the cut board onto a substrate to create the dovetail? I would imagine that would work.
Invert this onto a board, laminate it, then rip off the edges where the “Vees” terminate…you should have the equivalent of what you showed above…I think
Well…that’s a whole different can of worms. I don’t know what dovetail jigs use as their angle… I know my leigh jig bits are 8, 10, 12, 14, and 18 degrees…I don’t know how a 15 degree groove would do against a 14 degree dovetail
But…if you were to machine your own clamp bases… ! Then the fit would be perfect
! Then the fit would be perfect