Cnc Router Making Solid Wood Dovetail Drawer Boxes
Dovetail Drawers on a CNC Router
A broad-ranging give-and-take nigh cutting dovetail drawer joints on a CNC. November 8, 2008
Question
Are any of yous cut out hardwood dovetail drawers on a flatbed CNC? If so, what are you using for a program? I know that E-Cabinets has a organization, just I've only seen them cut out plywood drawers at their demos. If any of you are doing this successfully, what are your time savings over doing dovetails with a manus router and dovetail jig? I know it'due south faster to guild them, but if a CNC could do it efficiently, I might give it a try.
Forum Responses
(CNC Forum)
From contributor M:
Nosotros take a Thermwood router and use eCabinets to cutting dovetails. Nosotros use five/eight Baltic birch plywood as our standard dovetailed drawer box. We accept also cutting dovetails using oak or maple. It is a slower process because yous have to stand at that place and keep changing your pieces of woods, merely it does work.
From contributor South:
No flatbed CNC with E-Cabinets can cutting dovetail. The terminal product is a imitation, a dovetail expect-alike. It is only a simple fat joint with no holding power. Don't write "dovetail" on your proposal.
From contributor A:
I recollect Router Cad has a dovetail drawer box option y'all can add on.
From contributor C:
Take a look at the Vortex system. I bought one most a month ago, but have non had a chance to utilise it yet. Comes with a .dxf to help programming.
From contributor J:
I just ran my start set up of solid maple dovetail drawers using our Homag CNC. I used 2 standard one/two" dovetail router bits. Ane was used for the standard vertical routing on the fronts and backs. The other bit was placed in my aggregate and did the horizontal routing on the side pieces. Worked great! Non blazing fast, just much meliorate than using a hand router and jig.
From contributor I:
For us 3axis guys, I am curious about the Vortex. Let us know when you run information technology and how potent and bonny it is.
From contributor Z:
I am really impressed past this Vortex system. This is the get-go I take seen of it. Anybody else actually using it? I'm curious how it reacts to plywood and solid in the real globe.
From contributor R:
Contributor J, could yous tell me more than about how you laid this out? I would like to attempt and practice some dovetails on my Busellato!
From contributor J:
I set it up where I have a parametric programme that I tin can specify if it is a front/dorsum or a side. If it is a side, the aggregate is used for the horizontal routing. If it is a front/back, vertical routing is performed. I�ve fix it up where information technology only does 1 side of the board at a time then I don�t accept to keep changing pods. I do have it programmed where I could do both sides if I have a task with a lot of the same size pieces. Our table has two zones, so I can place a plan on each zone and run it in shuttle mode, which speeds up the process. Overall, I get good quality parts and it�s a lot easier and faster than the old router and jig process.
From contributor M:
I accept cut thousands out of v/8 Baltic birch. They're great - not had a doctor or lawyer or factory worker offer to pay me the actress $35 per drawer I charge for solid maple that used to be my standard. I do have one cutting customer who still likes to use solid maple. He lays upwardly 37" broad or less blanks out of soft maple, brings them to our shop and nosotros run them through the wide belt to .625 and and so we put them on the router and nest them just like plywood. You accept to slow down the cut a bit and utilise precipitous tools, but they're dandy. The router might take up to an 60 minutes to run a sheet 37" x 120" depending on the drawer sizes. I think the last time we tracked information technology, we were cutting for two kitchens. Information technology took three laid upwardly blanks and cutting time was about 3 minutes per drawer over a lot of something like 50 drawers total.
From contributor U:
Contributor J, equally I'chiliad sure you lot know, when doing dovetails conventionally, the front/back piece acts equally a flake breaker for the sides. When using the aggregate to mill the sides of the drawer, do y'all feel any blowout when the flake passes through?
Contributor M, I've contemplated trying to nest the dovetails using a glued up blank of solid maple, but I always causeless that it wouldn't prevarication dead flat on the table and there would exist Z centrality issues. Hearing that you lot've had success makes me want to give information technology a try.
Have any of you nesters ever tired to follow upwardly the 1/4" straight chip with an 1/8" diameter flake? I think information technology would be a lot more pleasing to the eye.
From contributor M:
Keep in mind that nosotros pull those laid upwardly panels right out of the wide belt and run them within a hour or so. I definitely would not want to permit them set around overnight. I also utilise a .040 skin. Also a ane/iv upcut spiral flake is the but matter I plant to cut in and out of the tails in solid wood that would non interruption. Nosotros apply compression for Baltic birch, but for some reason I broke pinch bits one afterwards the other until I switched to the upcut.
From correspondent C:
For those interested, I ran a quick dovetail set this morning using my new Vortex flake. Here are a couple of pictures, and I videoed it as well, then I'll try and get that up so you can meet it in action. I'k pretty happy with how it came out. Information technology needs a little bit of tweaking. I call back it'south most .01" too sloppy a fit, but for a showtime shot, keen. I also ran a 1/iv" slow helix up-shear instead of a compression since I ran information technology in solid maple instead of ply. Likewise, I didn't spend a huge corporeality of time prepping the stock. Information technology's not cut perfectly foursquare and such, and so it'southward not perfect, but I think you tin see information technology can exist one time you go information technology figured out.
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From correspondent S:
The articulation on your photo is a bird tail joint, not a dovetail joint.
From contributor I:
Contributor C, cheers, and I will now purchase the system! It might not work, simply this is why I picket and participate with WOODWEB.
From contributor C:
Actually, it's called a half-bullheaded dovetail (encounter Wikipedia).
Information technology volition work cracking for half-blinds, or more than chiefly, my needs. For the money, it's tough to beat.
From contributor F:
Here is skillful communication for masochists: practise what I did. I made a jig that vaguely resembles the layout of the cheap manus jigs yous buy for $fifty at Rockler except that it will hold 16 pieces at a fourth dimension (bold 6" drawer sides). I also didn't stack the pieces on top of each other, rather separate of each other. I so wrote a spreadsheet plan where I can input all of the parameters that I want including actual diameter of the cutter bit, adjustments for the differences between the cups and pins (for fit), etc.
It is actually time consuming (times ten), but what I have created is a system that is flexible, can cut any width of dovetail with the change of one number on whatsoever width or thickness of drawer side (simply limited by the length of your x axis), can do blind or full dovetails or finger joint or ?, and even can trim my fingernails while it is at information technology. I programmed information technology to cut in from both sides for the pins to eliminate blowout so it works with any material. The only catch is that you take to hang one-half of the pieces vertically off the finish of the table (clamped in the jig of course). This limits the length of the drawer side to the peak of your table off the ground. I take cut them in low course plywood and even ane/2" melamine equally an experiment with actually skilful results. Once you set information technology up the kid in the shop can run it. They just have to keep the sides and faces oriented correctly. A footling pencil mark on the pieces or a piece of tape ordinarily works.
From contributor A:
How about some pictures of this setup?
From contributor F:
Sad, I am in the process of rebuilding my table so I had to tear down the jig. Nonetheless I apply some quick clamps (over center clamps, I retrieve they are called) to hold the pieces both vertically with one wide side of the board pointing toward Y and the end pointing straight upwardly and so the other boards laying flat on the tabular array with the ends sticking off a bit. Set some stops and anyone can load the rack, then to speak.
From contributor C:
Finally posted the video...
gullettgocielince71.blogspot.com
Source: https://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Dovetail_Drawers_on_a_CNC_Router.html