Old Man Learning CNC (OMLCNC)

[Ger21]

In the strictest sense possibly not,

In any sense. Real dovetails create a mechanical joint. You can put a dovetail box together without glue.
The joints made with Tailmaker are totally reliant on the glue joint.

The whole purpose of software is to save time. Yes, you can model and CAM any type of joint in any CAD and CAM program.
But if you want to create an infinite variety of joints, then specialized software has huge advantages.

With JointCAM, enter a few numbers and click a button to see what it will look like. In less than ten minutes, you could look at 20 or more different variations. Once you're ready to cut, you click one button.

Also note that the Tailmaker joints are done using 3D carving, with a small ballnose tool, and take a long time. If you have a good, rigid machine, a dovetail joint done in JointCAM takes less than a minute.

The Leigh jig has templates for some really strange-looking "dovetail" interlocking joints. Not sure how many of them are possible with CNC...

All of them, if you want to spend the time to program them.

[magicniner]

Real dovetails create a mechanical joint.

But only in one direction, and you can knock them apart fairly easily, understanding the geometry of the "Half blind Dovetail Joint" would show that this joint is as mechanical in one direction as a conventional dovetail joint ;-)

Also note that the Tailmaker joints are done using 3D carving, with a small ballnose tool.

Erm, that is not correct,
And I quote - "All G-Code is to be executed with a 30-degree engraving or V-bit." ;-)

- Nick