Problems flipping workpiece

Okay im drawing blanks on this, already wasted a piece of maple last night on a guitar build that went out of alignment.

My new idea for today, and now working on pine to make sure i dont waste more of the expensive stuff lol

I have a piece of 3/4" mdf, im thinking lay the workpiece on the mdf, and drill half inch holes at the top right corner, bottom left corner.

Run a 1/2" dowel rod through to maintain straight on the initial cut, now when i flip, my holes on the workpiece will be opposite. So couldnt i invert the piece of mdf and push the dowels back through to the otherside?

Also im zeroing to the center of my workpiece, so when its flipped i should be able to place back where the zero is

Using the center for zero doubles any error.

Best is to use bottom left corner for the first side, then flip from front–back and use top left for the second side.

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That seems harder to me, can you explain further?

Currently what i tried was a 1/8" hole drilled at my center point through the workpiece so my centerpoint was mirrored. I’ll fill with epoxy later.

Is your way easier than this?

Not trying to argue just understand lol. Thank you for the response :slight_smile:

Your way is fine, if you accept that fact that using the center for the origin will double any error — if the flip is perfect, it’s fine.

Doweling is good when you have the space for it.
I’m not too hip on the “upper-right & lower-left” thing though. If you have to flip your fixture (MDF) then it is moving & you’re just asking for some of that “error” that Will mentions.
I would opt for 2 dowels on adjacent corners rather than opposite. Make sure the spacing is equal from your zero point, or if zeroing lower-left that your design is flipped accordingly.
I think I might just go with doweling all 4 corners.

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When you say doweling all 4 corners, should i check each one to be say 2" in from each side and drill there. Or is it as simple as just picking a hole at random?

Part of my issue is, im using old scraps of live edge wood i had for othet projects, so its tough to find a reference point when all my edges arent square

Anywhere you have room in the stock that won’t interfere with the cutter.
My biggest point being… don’t flip the jig, position the dowels so you don’t have to.
Machine the dowel holes in the jig, and in the part with your machine.
If you don’t have room to make the dowel holes symmetrical, machine 2 sets in the jig that are mirrored so when you flip it you just swap the dowel locations.
But once the XY zero is set to machine the jig, leave it in the same place for the rest of the job.

If you share your file, we can come up with a good strategy. Lots of pretty smart folks on here with good ideas. :wink:

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