Historical and conventional techniques for jointing board edges are troublematic. I’ve tried them all with rip jointing working the best, but a surprising amount of work even with a tracksaw.
The specs on precision for the Shapeoko 5.1 Pro are tight enough it should work well, even if limited to 4 ft.
Anyone tried it? Real wood construction kinda needs joining boards together.
Yes, I’ve done this.
The one concession I made was after cutting I would alternate board orientation, so a board which was being glued up in the orientation it was cut was adjacent to a board which was flipped over.
Bought some spiffy specialized clamps for it as well:
(a while back when they were on sale)
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Yes, flipping is part of the classic techique since true perpendicular is nearly impossible for the type of joints woodworkers need.
How did you hold the board in place while milling?
Thanks
I used blue painter’s tape and cyanoacrylate glue for workholding.
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Wanted to share an alternative to the rockler clamps that are just as good imo at a third the cost. https://a.co/d/0imI2QEW
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I have a set of the Rockler clamps. They work but I find them a pain to use. To get them on the glue up you have to pry them apart and usually your joints are going to come apart in the process. That is not really a big deal to get them back together but the big deal for me is just getting the clamps positioned. I find using Bessey parallel clamps and some F type clamps easier to glue up panels.
The F clamps keep the boards even with its neighbor and the parallel camps are laying flat with your glue up on top. I did put a center clamp on from the opposite side to reduce getting a slight U shape by only clamping from the bottom of the glue up. The glue up in the picture was too big for the small Rockler clamps but they do make a bigger version but I suspect they would be even harder to get on your glue up.
Using the Shapeoko for edge jointing would work but would take a very long time to set up. Besides using a jointer I used the MicroJig dovetail clamps to straighten rough lumber. It is not for every board you may need to edge joint but it is fast and easy.
This example was a very short board but you can put much longer boards on and in a minute or two you have a jointed board that is straight as an arrow. Of course it requires a table saw.
There are methods to use a router table with a split fence to joint boards as well.
The point I am making is there are a lot of ways to do the same task. Some of those ways are simplier and some are more complicated. I like to take the road of least resistance.
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I don’t understand the setup issue: set a parallel for 1 edge to butt against, find the edge to joint and run a straight line (x or y).
The table saw requires building a holding board. And my testing finds the “straight” surface to be out by 0.015 inch in no particular order. Repeat cuts don’t fix it so it’s not stress relieving moving the board. Plus, getting the tablesaw fence actually parallel with the blade or slot is an issue. Then the shifting over for a 2nd or 3rd pass is just another painful adjustment.
The router just makes it worse since ultra-precision fence offsets are required. I never did get anything any good from it.
Big limitation on the S5.1 is the 4 ft span. If a straight edge can ever be put on a sled, your TS approach could ride against the parallel to allow longer cuts.
I guess really, if the CNC can’t cut a straight edge, why fool with it at all unless silly sayings on random bits of wood is all that is done – in which case, should just pay some other fool to do it.
I made this sign with this technique.
https://imgur.com/gallery/this-was-first-big-job-on-cnc-XkoVf4h
I got them close on the jointer, but it wasn’t exactly the way I wanted. Then I just ran a 1/4" bit down the seam of the wood while they were clamped to the spoil board. It worked for me and the sign was sealed and is currently on a coffee cart in my city.
Customer finished it but it’s been out in the world since March.
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How did you do the jointing to produce straight edges for gluing?
I ran them through my jointer first. It was close but not perfect. It was my first time using the jointer.
So I secured two pieces at a time and butted them together I would say it was 90% touching with some gaps usually on the end of the board where the jointer sniped it.
Then I created a single line toolpath and ran a 1/4" bit down the center of the joint. 5 times total inner boards both sides, outer boards only the inner edge needed to be that straight.
Jointer can work well, but technique is very important. Becomes iffy on long boards (8ft) and damn dangerous on 10inch and shorter materials → the thing will eat you.
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Once I got it close I was like got to be a safer way.
I was getting to the end of the material the customer provided. So I was determined to make it work on the CNC. I might have found a youtube video of someone doing it but most of it was the thought that the machine is going to cut straighter than I can.
I have a Delta 6" Jointer. I also use the MatchFit jig from above to do a quick and dirty joint for a single board. I have use an offset fence on a router table but that is tricky to set up. I have a Milescraft track saw I can cut up to 8’ long and if you add more extensions it is unlimited. I can cut the bark off a slab.
The point is there are many ways to get a straight edge but for small and one of projects the MicroJig MatchFit system works well and is fast and easy to
setup. If you are processing large amounts of rough lumber then a jointer and planner are the best. I process a lot of rough lumber so my big bandsaw, jointer and planner are the most productive.
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It took me a while to get the hang of the planer and jointer. I am comfortable with the planer the jointer not as much.