Box Joints and Dovetails

I have never done anything on a cnc so I am expecting a steep learning curve.
I have done dovetails on my router, this also takes a lot of time to dial in the depth.

Hopefully there will be some good help videos I can plug into. And, the forum should be a good resource, I know Onefinity really has no help resources.

Thanks for the pictures Mark. I’d say that the design I currently have in mind is probably closer to what MikeH has done, minus the 2x4 support across the front and the hinge setup.

Can anyone chime in on how far back the vertical table needs to be on the machine? I guess I’d be looking for the “Y” axis measurement from the front left leg support (front or back of leg for reference) to the spindle center when the machine is at 0,0.

Josh
From what I have found on the forum, I believe the center of the router,spindle, is about 1/2" from the outside edge of the rail mounting foot.
I could be off a little, but I think that is close.
You would think the manufacturer would have this information available, not having to rely on the users who purchase the machine.

ONEFINITY Table Layout1 (1).pdf (65.2 KB)

It’s about 1.25" from the front of the bracket to 0,0 spindle position.

Mike, I just want to make sure I understand what you’re saying. From the front of the rail mounting foot to the spindle 0,0 (down the Y axis) is about 1.25"?

Yes, that’s correct. Mitz posted this for me a while back: Dimension question - front of machine to "y0" - #4 by mitzpellic

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Perfect, thanks Mike. I went from paper sketches to digtal mock-up in Sketchup tonight. The table is just big enough for the footprint plus an inch in all directions (I have limited space). The machine will be installed “flipped” with the motors towards the front. I made the design with 2x4 and 3/4" MDF in mind for materials. Vertical and horizontal tables are two layers of MDF. The waste board is 32"w x29"D and should allow for 2" for vertical milling thickness with an extra inch for bit pass through. I’ll sacrifice the 3" of Y cutting area to maintain the permanent vertical table. That’s my thought at least…for the first draft.



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I almost did something similar - but in the end decided on a removable insert. Someday (not soon), I hope to get a rotary 4th axis that will fit in this same spot.

A removable vertical insert also allows me better access to below the table top for storage - something I really need.

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Dovetail success! Put my new drop-in vertical fixture to use, made my first dovetail box drawer today. Really happy with the quality. My setup allows me to rotate and swap boards without needing to touch the 1F’s settings - ran all of the tool paths with the .25" down-cut bit first, then re-mounted the boards for the dovetail bit. Worked great!

Had to tune the settings of my probe - it was off a little bit and was messing things up. Accurately measuring the thickness of the plywood was also needed. Used a .005" clearance on both the pins and tails - these things fit like a glove, just a light tap with a hammer to get them to set.

Clamping the backer boards eliminated tear-out, at least I could reuse them for all the cuts on this box.

Need to fine-tune the cutting paths in Fusion - the 2d clearing passes work, but I think a simpler approach would be faster - something to play with next.

Here’s some photos of what I ended up with:





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Nice work Mike,
Thanks for sharing the info
Hopefully my machine will ship soon and I can get started

Those look great Mike. Nice job.

How did you set up your parameters in Fusion? Do you have it set up for different stock sizes, number of dovetails, and overall dovetail size or is it a lot more in depth than that? Is it just for through dovetails at this point?

I do have parameters that drive stock thickness, and board dimensions (length, width, height). Also have parameters for the number of pins, the width of the pins, and the angle of the dovetail bit. I followed this video tutorial to set up the main box and parameter-driven design, and then made a manufacturing model to build out the tool paths: Fusion 360 Woodworking: Dovetail Joints - Make them the easy way! - YouTube

I sold my Porter-Cable Omni-jig but now I’m wondering if I should have hung on to it and scavenged parts for a vertical board and clamp system on the Onefinity.

I downloaded the JointCAM demo software and will give it a try. Making box joints and dovetails is something I would like to do with the CNC.

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I’m still new to JointCam and there’s definitely a bit of a learning curve between the software and setting up your workpiece. I made my first (non-test) half blind dovetails tonight. Not perfect but as good or better than I could do on my dovetail jig. This will be much faster than the jig once I get the hang of things.

Which will eventually become one of these…

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Excellent. Please keep us updated with any findings, troubles and top tips. I am also just venturing into Jointcam and joints.

When you get a chance could you share some photos of your table with the removable section. I’m looking at how I can incorporate a removable section into my table which I have yet to build, just have the 44x64 Kreg frame and legs assembled so far. Still need to build the top.

I have the Journeyman coming so I figure I can give up a few inches along the front and still have a 26x48 solid surface with an 6x36 removable section up front.

I would like to add a fourth axis in the future when available. But I thought I read on here the Onefinity controller does not support that correct? So would have to move to a new controller.

Hopefully these help:





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Where did the vertical board come from in photo #4 ?

I mounted using a piano hinge but It’s not there in the 3 previous photos.

Maybe you were in the process of building this when you took the photos.

The removable section looks to be about a foot deep.

If you look closely you’ll notice that the top board is on top of the original wasteboard - I created a 2-piece unit tied together with a piano hinge - I just drop it on top of my existing wasteboard. I created a pair of spacers to ensure I can get everything square. Takes me less than 5 min to convert back and forth.

The removable section is about a foot deep - which is plenty of room for anything I’d want to put verticle and also allow for clamps.

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