Dovetailed Slot Cutting

[Jerry Wilson]

I am trying to cut a dovetailed slot in wood. The slot would be 3/4" deep, at the surface it would be 3/4" wide, and at the bottom about 1" wide. AN UNDERCUT The bit is a 14 degree dovetail bit.

To make things even better, it is a fully housed cut, so I'll need to plunge, rather than comming in from the end.

Any ideas on how to do it? I'm running Rhinocam 2.0 Pro

Jerry

[Mitch Heynick]

Well, you do need to get the bit in and out - so I imagine you're going to have a 1" hole on either end of the slot - unless you've got a special cutter and a machine with spindle positioning so you could stop the spindle and turn the bit sideways to enter and leave the cut.

Assuming that's not the case, if you can plunge with the bit, then just draw a line that runs from the center of the plunge to the center of the exit and use an Engraving MOp on the line. First, you might want to cut the slot with a straight 3/4 cutter. If the dovetail bit can't plunge, you will need to drill or pocket a 1" hole on either end of the line first as a pilot hole, then change the tool and run the engraving again with the dovetail bit.

I don't know what goes in the dovetail, but you might need to make the pilot holes even bigger to accommodate the thing that will slide in it.

At least that's my simplistic way of doing this... I'm not really a wood guy. --Mitch

[Jerry Wilson]

Mitch,

I'll give that a try, thanks

Jerry

[Jerry Wilson]

Mitch,

I think that'll work, but the dove tail bit does not show a dove tail cut in my simulation.

Am I doing something wrong? I've specified the bit as a 3/4" dia at bottom 1/2" dia at the top of the carbide with a 3/4" cutting length.

Jerry

[DareBee]

I would do that like Mitch says.

Doesn't matter what sims (unless you need a 3 axis re-machining MOP afterwards).
If you have a part with a dovetail when you are done you will be happy - right?

I do a lot of programs that wont show what I am cutting. It's all about Quickest method to a finished part, just have to realize that VM doesn't know or care if you are cheating and think outside the box.

[Jerry Wilson]

Thanks, I tried what Mitch said, and it worked. I also found that using the Polygonad model rather than the Voxel Model did show a dovetailed cut. The cut stock did not look quite like the cut the bit made but we'll try it out in wood.

Thanks everyone.

Jerry