I guess I don’t know how to search well or something but for the record I did try to search the forums.
Anyway, in my project I have dado cuts which run parallel to the side of the finished piece after it is cut out from the stock and the dado cut is consistent in that respect. I am using the 1/4" end mill that came with the starter pack I bought when I purchased the machine from someone local who was moving up to a Shapeoko 5.
My dado cuts are coming out 7 mm wide. I checked the shank size with my digital calipers and it spec’d 6.1mm.
The belts were recently adjusted and screws checked for tightness by the seller before I took possession of it. I have looked at the rubber Z-axis wheels on the gantry (sorry don’t know the correct terms yet), and there does seem to be some space between the bottom of the rail and the top of the lower rubber wheel guide V grooves.
Is there a video or something addressing these issues or does anyone have any advice. Thanks a lot!
An online converter says 6.1MM is .24" and that could be a calibration error of the caliper. Seems like your 1/4" bit is 1/4".
Post your file. Usually to get a dado you make a rectangle the size you want and do a pocket to the depth required for the dado. If the dado goes off the edge of the material make your rectangle about 1/4" longer than your material to get a full dado and not stop at the edge with rounded ends from the bit. The Shapeoko will cut past the edge of the material.
What is a dado in woodworking terms?
A dado (US and Canada, /ˈdeɪdoʊ/), housing (UK) or trench (Europe) is a slot or trench cut into the surface of a piece of machinable material, usually wood. When viewed in cross-section, a dado has three sides.
This is probably caused by spindle runout or deflection.
If you actually need a channel 6.1mm wide, the usual approach is to cut that with a smaller tool leaving a roughing clearance, then measure that, and based on how much material was removed by the tool, sneak up on the actual dimension using one or more finishing passes where you dial in the effective cutting diameter of the tool when making a finishing pass in the material in question.
We are talking about the same thing. Your definition matches with mine. Because there are left and right offsets and I want the dado to be as close to 1/4" as possible selecting Contour seems work fine. Top and Bottom.c2d (68 KB)
I have two good sets of calipers that I double check things with.
A Contour toolpath will allow cutting a slot just as narrow as the tool.
A Pocket will need to be a bit larger in its narrowest dimension than the endmill to allow it to calculate reliably — if you want a 6.35mm wide pocket you will need to use a tool smaller than 6.35mm.
I think this might be helpful. That dado receives a rabbeted piece of plywood. When the two pieces join, the outside edges should be perfectly aligned. IF I can count on a tool to cut within .1 or .2 mm, that is fine. The two joints will still be solid and not too sloppy.
What is reasonable to expect in terms of consistent width from a 1/4" end mill? I can “tighten the joint” by adjusting my corresponding rabbet if I know what to expect from my end mill.
I think you can see I just run whatever setting is shown for the tool. If there is slop somewhere that will lower the gap between the size of the end mill and it’s associated single path cut, that would be great.
I would use a scrap piece of your stock and cut a slot to see what your machine is giving you. It would also matter how accurate your male piece has been cut. The male can be cut to fit the slot you achieve.
Thanks for responding. I am going to do that. My build requires the sides of this box to have a rabbet on the back side. I spent the afternoon getting my router table dialed in and cut the rabbets. As Will terms it, I “snuck up” on the setting a little at a time. It turned out well.
I am going to do some test runs to see if I get the same widths on both my X and Y axis’. It got me wondering what would happen if the router cut in a counter clockwise motion if that would make any difference. (Just a total aside thought.)
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