Measuring Dovetail Cutters

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

Since the dovetail cutter should be used to the joint in matching versions, the actual angles shouldn’t matter:

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…