I will be mounting a new machine soon. I have toyed with the idea of vertical material holding. The question is … “Is it worth the effort”. Now that you have it do you really use it or doe it gather dust?
I built my journeyman table to have the spindle to extend out over a space at the front of the table where by I could cut dovetails and when I can setup a rotary fixture. I the setup includes a vertical wall with t-tracks to hold the boards for dove tails. I have seen some people leave an area in the middle of the table where the have a temporary waste board that can be removed to accomplish dove tails. Frank Howarth built his avidcnc to do dove tails and that is where I got my inspiration.
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I use it occassionaly, and when i do it is great.
All depends on what you want to make.
I’m sure that if I vertically milled a lot more than I do I would be more efficient than i am and this lack of efficiency makes me reluctant to use it as often as i would like.
Vicious circle.
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Hey Carl or Lynn,
if you consider what professionally made drawers cost, it would be crazy to own a CNC machine that is not able to mill some. Traditional joinery, adapted to CNC, makes very strong joints.
I am also a friend of tradiditional wooden drawers that run in wood since I made the experience that the modern ball bearing drawer slides may seem very convenient at first, but you have to buy expensive, thick ones so they will hold a decent load for years. I’ve overloaded some so much that the balls have fallen out.
That’s where I see the advantages of traditional wood in wood drawers that have worked well for millennia and can easily take a collection of hammers, and will do so forever.
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Espressomatic, we meet again, chuckle.
Your rule of thumb seems reasonable… 1 time or less per week, forget about it. 2-3 times per week, then consider it. More than 2-3 times, then go for it.
I have had a Woodworker/Journeyman for 18 months or so. When I started I had grand plans of a flip top bench with vertical capability. I ended up with just a 5x6 baltic table over 2x4s that I put a QCW over … I also realized that the spoilboard was just that a consumable, so don’t waste time on it.
I have drawer and the lock miter bits for the router and if I started to do a lot of dovetails then a router jig is probably more efficient. I am going to guess with a Porter Cable or Leigh jig it is probably faster than the CNC anyways.
I think I will be skipping this feature, thanks for the feedback folks.
There are bits specifically designed to flat cut dovetails with a geometry where the pins can be cut rounded to fit like this:
I’ve never used them and I understand they’re tricky to set up but does provide an option if you don’t have vertical clamping set up in the table.
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Yeah I remember those bits, if I recall about $500 for one. A little rich for my blood. But like the multi tools once the patent expires 29.95 and I am all in.
Hey Derek, hey all,
@ben posted this extremely interesting link to 50 Digital Wood Joints by Jochen Gros that are joints reconsidered and developed to be used in CNC wood processing.
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Two considerations for dovetails and finger joints.
- you will probably find you can cut wider boards with a cnc
- but you have fewer options to raise the cutting height vs a leigh jig for cutting boards that are longer than the height of your table.
Other positive of a cutout:
- milling deep items. I milled the end of skittles, i have surfaced big chunks of timber.
Hey Andy,
to circumvent this limitation, which is present with every vertical clamping on a table, I have imagined a CNC with an open frame for this purpose (like this one), but which can additionally be swiveled forward by 90°, to mill workpieces on the ends that are not limited in length (e.g. bed side panels).
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This is the first Ive seen of this type dovetil joinery. I like it. something new to test my abilities lol