Stopped Dovetail

Hello All!
New to CNC, but a long time woodworker. I bought the 5Pro.
Using carbide create, how do you produce a stopped dovetail path?

Thanks!

here is an attempt:

here is another:

With a CNC one will not get those sharp corners that can be cut with a chisel.

I recommend to consider different types of joints:

Thank you for your response. I was not looking to make a dovetail joint for a box. I was making a dovetail path (sliding dovetail) for a carcass construction.

Carbide Create does not support that tool geometry.

One can cut them, just one has to take the 3D appearance of the cut on faith:

For what you show above, you can just assign a No Offset Contour toolpath using the dovetail tool (might want to clear the central part first) — you’ll just have to have the geometry double back on itself.

Alternately, if it’s not too long, use a keyhole toolpath.

Thanks WillAdams. I assume that i just keep the start depth and bottom depth the same for the final path? I had planned to do a roughing path to save the dovetail bit. I assume the the roughing pass I can add as a separate pocket path…unless there is a better way? For the vertically mounted mating piece, would multiple consecutive contour paths be my best bet? (I do plan on buying jointcam software at some point.)

For this sort of thing, I always draw up the tool/cut in outline/profile, then use a slightly smaller tool than the top of the cut and cut as a pocket down to the necessary depth, then you can set up the full-depth cut using the dovetail tool.

Then, test the whole thing in a piece of scrap, ideally something easily cut which won’t damage the dovetail tool.

This topic was automatically closed after 30 days. New replies are no longer allowed.