I am thinking about a solution to increase the Y stick out of my spindle so I can clamp boards vertically and do joinery at the front of the machine. Probably the easiest thing to do would be to add a spacer between the spindle holder and Z plate. See picture
I was thinking multiple 1/2" aluminum sheets cut to match the profile. Has anyone tried this before? I am wondering if someone went too far and found a limit I shouldn’t exceed. Ideally I would have enough room to cut two doubled up 3/4" boards at once, but that might call for too much stick out.
I did find this great thread from a while back with a lot of good ideas for work holding, so that part should be covered.
One negative consideration here is that it increases lever effects. That said, I believe you should find the file I used for mounting a Mafell FM 1000 WS of use:
I worked up a clamp design for this a while back:
which you might find of use.
My inclination here if you really want to do this would be to fabricate a clamping system which would drop in to replace a filler strip and which would be bolted to a Hybrid T-track and mate up w/ holes in that — I actually put my Pro on a pair of tables w/ a bit of a gap w/ that in mind, but I’ve decided since that it’s a lot of bother and that there should be better alternatives.
My current effort is:
which worked quite well:
and which I’ve put up a file for:
If you have difficulty w/ it, let me know what size box you would like, what thickness of stock you are using, and what diameter V endmill you have access to (it should have a diameter of less than half of the stock thickness) and I’ll work up a file for you to try.
I am mostly interested in cutting finger joints, dovetails and mortises off the front of the table, but thanks for the v-bit offer. I see what you say about removing a slat, that is a good idea. I already built my table in a way that precludes that… oops! My thought was that levering was going to be the enemy as well. It will almost all be horizontal forces. I could make a double clamp for the router that has more surface area attachment to the Z plate. I do wish the z plate had a few more random threaded holes to make that easier. I might have to add a few of my own.
The big thing is, Knapp and box and dovetail joints date back to when one had limited ability to control the tool mechanically, or one was doing things by hand and had to approach each part separately.
Transferring this to a CNC requires multiple setups:
cut boards to length/size
cut joints at one or more corners
cut joints at the opposite corners
Even if one is starting w/ stock which is exactly the correct size that’s two setups per box (if the stock is thin enough, and your joinery design allows for cutting 4 boards for two corners at once) and it can easily double to four, and if one has to cut to length/width or add features, that’s five setups.
When cutting stock flat on the machine it is possible to make all the cuts all at once — one setup per part, possibly one setup for an entire box if the box is small enough, and the stock large enough.
I hear what you are saying. Woodworking is my primary hobby. I already have a tablesaw, thickness planer, and various hand planes. Getting all the stock prepped is best done for me on those tools. I can and have hand/machine cut dovetails and other joints, but want to be able to bang out simple box joints quickly. I have done them with a dado stack on the tablesaw before, but it requires a bit of setup and jigging.
It’s a similar amount of setup on a CNC in my experience, which is why I’ve been trying to address this w/ software.
I have at least one more idea for a joint, one which would be void free, but the math for it is really hard — hopefully will be able to try it out once I’ve worked out a few more projects.
