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For the last 18 months, I've been working on a standalone app to create g-code for woodworking joints. It'll eventually have several types of joints, but I just finished the dovetail portion.
Just wondering if there's any interest from the members here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6MnVHmr2UY
Looks okay.
When you say "standalone app", I don't know what that means anymore in light of mobile devices etc., what platform does the app run on ?
One problem is the length of timber that can be cut, the spindle really needs to hang over the end of the bed to get some height below it.
Yep i'm up for it Gerry I've played a little in the past with dovetails but would be nice to have program to make life easy. Would be nice not to have to mess around with leigh dovetail jig for one off jobs.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ger21
It's a windows program, and it runs on Windows XP to Windows 8.1. I've seen two Mach3 wizards for dovetails, but decided that a separate program was a better way to go. It outputs both Mach3 g-code and native Shopbot code. The Mach3 code should run in LinuxCNC as well, as it's pretty basic.Quote:
Originally Posted by EddyCurrent
Yes, you need a method to mount the workpiece vertically, and the spindle needs to extend out past the workpiece by about the tool diameter. My current machine can't do this, so all my testing is done with short pieces on a fixture I made.Quote:
One problem is the length of timber that can be cut, the spindle really needs to hang over the end of the bed to get some height below it.
I though you only cut aluminum? Or is it aluminium over there?? :friendly_wink:Quote:
Originally Posted by JAZZCNC
If you have a fixture on your machine to hold the stock, you can be ready to cut an infinite variety of dovetails in just a few minutes.
I'm currently writing a manual and getting the business end set up, and hope to start offering it for sale in a few more months.
maybe you could have an area of the machine's bed that you can take a trap slot out and it would allow the timber to go throu. so you can do stuff that is fairly long.
some sort of clamping system that fixes down to the T slot bed and allows you to clamp timber to be machined.
that does look awesome and would save messing about with dovetail jigs.
nice one ger21
Nope I cut everything from card board to cast iron on it but actually my machine started life as a wood router and was designed from the begining to extend past the bed for cutting hinges into doors and dove tails etc.! . . . . . Not a lot of people know this but my grand father used to work for Robert Thompson (Mouse Man) so I grew up working wood taught by master crafts man and I used to have successful bespoke furniture/Cabinet business . . I just got sick to the back teeth of whinging whining customers so closed shop and changed directions.!Quote:
Originally Posted by Ger21
Now I just make dust for my own pleasure and it's great to say No to Ex-customers "You should have thought about that when you whined and tried to screw me into ground on price.!!"
Post when your ready and I'll be along to part with a few beer tokens.!
Gerry,
like this
Attachment 13193
That's a very poor joint that I would never recommend. Too much end grain to end grain.
Also, cutting joints like that with a router in solid woods is always problematic, as the wood will tend to chip where the bit exits the cut.
That's also an issue in the wood joints you PM'd me about. Cutting a lot of those joints in solid wood is very difficult, unless you are starting with an oversized stock in both length and width, to allow trimming off the chipped edges.
I was thinking about a loose tongue now, similar to a biscuit but full width and shaped like the joint, probably plywood, that eliminates the end grain issue.
The grooves in the end of the boards could be cut with a T slot cutter so they all lie flat on the table. but . . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER1k4Pcyn0M
With regard to the other cnc joints, I would never make them myself and you are correct about oversize, I like to take at least one shaving off with a sharp hand plane.
There's an application out there somewhere that uses tapered (pointed) cutters with the work at a shallow angle allowing a huge variety of conventional and unconventional dovetails to be cut on quite long workpieces.
From what I recall it's capable of the forms you can only otherwise create with a saw & chisel, i.e. blind dovetails with sharp corners and flat bottoms in the pockets.
- Nick
Tailmaker - http://tailmaker.net/Quote:
Originally Posted by magicniner
But it does not make real dovetails joints.
Gerry, try this.
Half lap
Attachment 13212
Same joint with decorative inlay
Attachment 13213
Yeah its Tailmaker. I remember seeing some info on it on cnczone a while back.
Cutting some hardwood samples to end up as website photos. African mahogany and flamed birch.
Very clean cuts, and very tight fit.
Attachment 13220Attachment 13221Attachment 13222
After almost 2 years of working on this, I finally have a website up and running.
http://g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html
Hi Gerry
Nice to see it up and running, i would just like to make a comment.
I use an old Windows XP PC with Firefox Browser, when i go to your site i find it does not fit the size of my screen and i have to scroll left right to read it, don't know if it's a setting on my computer but it is a tad annoying. Other than that great job.
Mike
Mike, what's your screen resolution set to? Gerry's site displays perfectly on my screen with IE11.
I made a decision to make the width of the screen 1200 pixels wide, assuming that it would work on just about any screen these days.
Don't make assumptions.
I found after it was done that it doesn't fit on an Ipad2 either.
I doubt that I'll change it to accommodate a small percentage of people with old PC's.
No worries Gerry
Unfortunately i don't have a CNC router so will not be using it until i am so endowed, but have been keeping an eye on the thread for future reference.
My res is 1024x768.
Regards
Mike